"In general, the violations committed by the foreign fishing boats are the same. They trespassed into the Indonesian waters and caught fish without fishing permits."Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has apprehended two other Malaysian-flagged fishing boats in the North Natuna Sea in Riau Islands Province.
Indonesian maritime officers onboard a marine guard vessel seized the Malaysian fishing boats in the Strait of Malacca on Apr 3, Agus Suherman, the ministry's acting director general of marine and fishery resources control, noted in a press statement released on Thursday.
These arrests were made just 24 hours after the Indonesian guard vessel Hiu 011 seized two Vietnamese-registered fishing boats in the North Natuna Sea on Apr 2.
With this latest development of two Malaysian fishing boats being seized, the ministry's marine guard vessels have succeeded in catching 25 such illegal fishing boats since early 2019.
"Eleven of the seized foreign fishing boats were Vietnamese-flagged ones, while nine were carrying the Malaysian flag," he revealed.
The marine guard vessel Hiu 08 apprehended the two Malaysian fishing boats -- PKFB 1852 (64.71 GT) and KHF 1256 (53.02 GT) -- during its sea patrol.
The PKFB 1852 carried onboard four crew members comprising two from Cambodia and two from Thailand, of which one was the skipper, while the KHF 1252 was carrying three crew members from Thailand.
The fishing boats were using fishing gear, including trawls, that the Indonesian government had banned.
"By and large, the foreign fishing boats have been found to commit similar violations. They trespassed into the Indonesian waters and were catching fish without fishing permits," he pointed out.
EDITED BY INE
Translator: M Razi Rahman, Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
