Several neighboring countries are taking a cue from Indonesia’s laws restricting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing inside the territory, which have increased fish catches.
“Several countries such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia are also implementing moratorium policies to curb illegal fishing. A task force on fisheries has also been established,” said Minister of Maritime and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti on Saturday.
Other countries equivalent to Thailand, China and Vietnam have also implemented moratorium policies on restricting the issuance of fishing vessel licenses.
The minister noted that Indonesia has turn out to be a number one country in banning IUU fishing and provoking other countries to guard their marine resources.
“I see that China and Thailand have tightened their fishing regulations. China has also issued a moratorium on the issuance of licenses for its fishing vessels,” Pudjiastuti noted in a press release.
Since the top of 2014, the Pudjiastuti administration has destroyed over 200 foreign boats that entered the country, a few of which were said to have sunk concurrently and even captured in live broadcasts.
Last week, the federal government destroyed 81 boats caught illegally fishing in Indonesian waters at 12 locations across the archipelago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nprbFuWNM
“We catch them and sink them,” Pudjiastuti said of the boats. “It’s a brand new rule, a national consensus.”
“Fishing in my exclusive economic zone is illegal,” she said, referring to Indonesia’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. “If this fish is in my exclusive economic zone, it is mine. If that fish swims past the EEZ, it belongs to whoever.”
Thanks to the repression, fish stocks will return to normal in two to 3 years. Restoring fish stocks will help Indonesia’s economy as other growth aspects weaken, Minister Pudjiastuti said. Its role is to defend an industry that, along with agriculture and forestry, makes up 14 percent of the economy of the world’s largest archipelago and employs thousands and thousands of Indonesians. The decline in fish stocks in North Asia has resulted in boats entering the territorial waters of Southeast Asian countries equivalent to Indonesia.
Source : Bloomberg | Asian correspondent | Between
