"Our team also detained the ship bringing the imported fish, using Indonesian and Malaysian flags. It is clearly a violation, with no official documents at all," the ministry's Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervision, Pung Nugroho Saksono, noted in a press conference on Monday.
Furthermore, Saksono remarked that the confiscated fish would be handed over to orphanages around the arrest location as had been the practice earlier followed by his side.
Meanwhile, the ministry's Director of Violation Handling, Teuku Elvitrasyah, drew attention to two indications of violations in this case.
"The first indication is no permit, which will be subject to (violation of) Article 26 of the Job Creation Law. It could also be related to the import of fishery products, according to Article 88 of the Fisheries Law," he remarked.
This practice came to light when fisheries supervisors received information from the public regarding illegal fish import activities from Malaysia.
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Elvitrasyah stated that in Sebatik, North Kalimantan, the team conducted monitoring and secured the ship carrying the fish.
The perpetrators did not possess health certificate documents for the fish brought from Malaysia into the Indonesian waters.
The action against illegal fish imports from Malaysia to Indonesia is taken in response to concerns raised by the Indonesian public and business actors over the presence of ships bringing in fish illegally from Malaysia.
Based on research in the field, these fish are the pelagic variety caught in the Indonesian waters and then brought into Malaysia by the perpetrators, with some of them being sold at the border.
Saksono said his side is paying serious attention to securing the Indonesian waters, especially in processing marine and fishery resources. His side would ensure no fish theft occurs in the border areas, such as in the Tarakan area.
"We are not sitting by idly. We will continue to maintain the sovereignty of this nation related to violations of marine and fishery resources," he emphasized.
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Translator: Aji Cakti, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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