JAKARTA – The policy to sink foreign illegal fishing vessels in Indonesian waters is deemed discriminate. The policy is only implemented for small vessels while big vessels using trawl net have not been touched yet.
Maritime law expert, Chandra Motik, said so far, the government’s policy is not fair since not all illegal fishing vessels are sunk. “The government only shoots small vessels illegally fishing small fish amount,” she said in Jakarta on Sunday (12/28).
Meanwhile, big vessels are not touched whereas it inflicts great loss since most of it uses trawl nets. The policy will not make them surrender significantly. “The sunk vessels must be big vessels,” she said.
Moreover, to secure Indonesian seas and coasts from illegal fishing practice, the government needs to activate Sea and Coast Guard Agency. “It can secure Indonesian waters and eradicate authority overlapping occurring in Indonesian water area,” she added.
Chandra added implementing illegal fishing vessel sinking policy in Indonesian waters needs legal process before the vessels are sunk. “Therefore, we should not directly shoot and sink them,” she added.
On the other hand, the government needs to re-enforce cabotage law in Indonesian shipping industry. So far, cabotage law does not run well so foreign vessels dominate Indonesian waters. “Look at Indonesian waters. We can count Indonesian-flagged vessels by fingers while foreign vessels really dominate it,” she added.
Meanwhile, House’s Commission VI Member and Deputy Chairman of River, Lake, and Ferriage Transportation Employer Association (Gapasdap), Bambang Harjo, said the policy to sink illegal fishing vessels by shooting needs to be reviewed. “The policy stands against Law No. 17/2008 about shipping,” he said.
The government should implement punishment by publishing its doers and the total stolen amount. “Therefore, such punishment mechanism is expected to make them surrender. Moreover, the government also needs to conduct prevention efforts so illegal fishing in Indonesia can be eradicated,” he said. (Bisnis Indonesia)
