Marine Affairs Minister Set to Battle Illegal Fishing
29 October 2014 15:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – In a bid to prevent illegal fishing,Marine and Fishery Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said she would collect data on all commercial vessels entering Indonesian waters.
"I will start with online data collecting. Vessels that enter Indonesia will be monitored, same as aircraft data," said Susi on Wednesday.
The data collection will be conducted on all vessels that are on Indonesian waters. "Every vessel; including foreign boats, local ships, and those owned by the ministry. If a vessel is catching fish without permit, 'we will cut them off'," she said.
According to Susi, the ministry would be transparent in implementing its policies, allowing the public to access said data. "I have asked the Directorate General of Fisheries to have the data open for public, so that the media would know about the number oh ships there are in Indonesia, and who own those vessels," said Susi.
As a nation with 70 percent of water territory, Indonesia should be economically independent. She lamented on the fact that "our export rate is lower than Thailand and Malaysia" when the size of Indonesia's oceans is five times bigger than Thailand.
AMOS SIMANUNGKALIT
