Chief of the PR Division of Riau Islands Police Office Adjunct Senior Commissioner Hartono stated here on Monday that as the ships crew had failed to present legal documents or permits to conduct fishing in the Indonesian territory; hence, they were escorted to the local authority office in Sekupang, Batam, for investigation.
"During a patrol on Friday (June 17) in the Natuna waters, our officers found four vessels, with all Vietnamese crew members, conducting suspected illegal fishing," Hartono revealed.
The Police Patrol Ship KP Baladewa 8002 detained the vessels at different locations.
The operation to detain the vessels lasted from 3:30 p.m. local time until around midnight.
The four Vietnamese-flagged vessels --- MV BV516275, MV 4557TT5, MV BV92639TS, and MV BUC 459TS --- have now being detained at the Water Police Command Headquarter of Sekupang, Batam.
Several foreign vessels had been detained on suspicion of conducting illegal fishing activities in the waters of Lingga, Bintan, and Natuna in Riau Islands.
The local authority stated that the waters were prone to illegal fishing, and foreign vessels were often drawn to the regions due to their huge fishery potential.
Indonesia has been taking key steps in line with the trend of sustainable fishery management policies, including the efforts to fight illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing practices.
Despite the governments policy of detonating and sinking illegal foreign fishing vessels, the authority continues to encounter vessels trespassing into and poaching in the Indonesian waters.
The Indonesian government has, since October 2014, sunk at least 151 foreign ships caught conducting illegal fishing practices in the countrys waters, Minister of Marine and Fishery Susi Pudjiastuti revealed.
The vessels involved in IUU fishing that were sunk comprised 50 ships from Vietnam, 43 from the Philippines, 21 from Thailand, 20 from Malaysia, two from Papua New Guinea, and one from China.
The government has also sunk 14 Indonesian-flagged ships involved in IUU fishing.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
