The ministry's Director General of Capture Fisheries, Lotharia Latif, stated that KKP Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono has taken this new initiative in handling foreign fishing vessels that steal fish in Indonesian waters.
"We will no longer blow and sink vessels engaged in IUUF (unreported and unregulated fishing), which poses environmental risks in the waters," Latif noted in a statement from his office on Saturday.
The vessel handover took place at the Masami Fisheries Port, Ketapang Village, Kalipuro Sub-district, Banyuwangi, on Friday (December 27). It also aimed to increase traditional fishermen's capacity to use larger vessels.
Latif lauded the Directorate General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervision of the KKP Ministry for capturing and securing the vessels that would be renovated, donated, and used for traditional fishermen.
The ex-IUUF fishing vessels, now named Kalamo Wangi 01 and Kalamo Wangi 02, were handed over to the Pasir Mutiara Pancer Cooperative and the Mina Blambangan Muncar Cooperative.
Meanwhile, Ipuk Fiestiandani Azwar Anas, head of Banyuwangi District, thanked the KKP Ministry for providing fishing vessels. She considered this assistance a form of real government support for the fishermen's welfare.
"This is an opportunity for the central government's policy, which made Banyuwangi a pilot project for recipients of the first confiscated vessel grant in the long history of IUUF handling in Indonesia," she remarked.
She was optimistic that these vessels could serve as a model for successful cooperation between the central and regional governments in managing marine and fisheries resources in Indonesian waters.
Earlier, Minister Trenggono highlighted that his side was implementing a "capture-benefit" policy in handling foreign fishing vessels stealing fish in Indonesian waters to be used to improve the welfare of fishermen.
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Translator: Muhammad Harianto, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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