"In the past month five boats from the KKP (the ministry) have been patrolling in the Malacca Strait," the ministry's head of fisheries resource supervision in the Belawan station, Mukhtar, said here on Tuesday. Previously, the office operated only two patrol boats.
He said the boats would conduct routine patrols in the waters from Aceh to Lampung provinces.
So far, he noted, a fishing boat from Thailand was caught entering Jambo Aye in Aceh on February 7.
The boat, weighing around 100 gross tons (GT), its skipper and 10 crew members were arrested at Gabion pier in Belawan, Medan, North Sumatra.
Based on initial questioning, it was found the boat had entered the country's waters with a proper permit.
The head of the ministry`s statistics and information center, Yulistyo Mudho, recently told newsmen in Jakarta, that illegal fishing was widespread throughout the country's waters.
The illegal fishing has so far involved fishing boats from Malaysia, Thailand and China.
He said to minimize the illegal fishing, the maximum number of routine patrols must be continued and increasing the number of patrol boats would be a must.
"So far, only around 26 small patrol boats are available, which is the minimum for monitoring the whole country's waters," he said.
He added that, ideally, each province must have two patrol boats to monitor the country's waters against illegal fishing.
(KR-JRD)
Editor: Ade P Marboen
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
