Those institutions include the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL), the National Police (Polri), the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), and the Directorate General of Customs of the Ministry of Finance.
"Cooperation with these relevant institutions is the keyword. We cannot do it alone," the ministry's Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervision Pung Nugroho Saksono said in a press conference here on Friday.
Through collaboration with various ministries and institutions, information about lobster seed smugglers can support the eradication measures through several entry and exit points prone to smuggling activities, including ports, airports, and land routes in several areas in Indonesia, according to him.
By collaborating and sharing information about smugglers, the authorities located closest to the lobster seed smugglers can move to arrest them, he said.
Information about the location of lobster seed smugglers is also obtained through the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry's partners, including the Public Service Agencies (BLU) and Community Monitoring Groups.
On the same occasion, the ministry's Director of Fishery Resources Supervision Drama Panca Putra noted that the ministry faced limitations in terms of human resources, so collaboration with other parties is able to optimize operations to thwart lobster seed smuggling.
He noted that through cross-ministerial collaboration, 20 operations to thwart smuggling were carried out in 2023, with a total of 1.6 million lobster seeds being secured.
"This year, in the last two months, through optimal cooperation with our partners, we have been able to secure around 1.3 million lobster seeds, with almost 13 arrests," Putra remarked.
He expressed hope that the sale of lobster seeds can be carried out through legal means in accordance with the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister's Regulation Number 7 of 2024 on lobster management.
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Translator: Sinta Ambarwati, Raka Adji
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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