Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry took punitive measures against a total of 157 fishing boats for carrying out illegal fishing activities in Indonesian waters in 2015.

These 157 boats comprised 84 foreign fishing boats and 73 Indonesian boats, Director General of Maritime and Fishery Resources of the ministry, Asep Burhanudin, said here on Wednesday.

Last year, the ministry deployed 27 patrol boats that managed to supervise 5,206 fishing boats in the countrys waters.

Of the 157 boats whose cases were taken to the courts, 118 boats were detained by the ministrys directorate general, one by the Indonesian Navy, 18 boats were detained by the Water Police, seven by the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), eight by local maritime and fishery offices, four by the customs and excise offices, and one by a local ranger unit.

Of the 84 foreign boats, 46 had the flag of Vietnam, 19 of the Philippines, 12 flew Malaysian and nine were flying Thailands flag.

The ministry, with the cooperation of the Indonesian Navy and the Police, sank a total of 121 boats since October 2014.

In 2015, 113 boats were sunk, including 53 boats that were sunk by the ministry, 51 by the Navy, and nine by the ministry and the police jointly.

The 121 boats that were sunk included 39 ships of Vietnam, 36 of the Philippines, 21 of the Thailand, 12 of Malaysia, two of the Papua New Guinea, one of China and 10 of Indonesia.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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