JAKARTA, April 12, 2013 (ANTARA) -- The Ministry of Marine and Fisheries Affairs (MMAF), has once again managed to repatriate6 (six) Batubara Regency, North Sumartra-originated fishermen detained by the 2nd Maritime Zone, Penang's Malaysian Maritime Agency (PMMA), dated March 19, 2013. This success strengthened the serious attempt of MMAF in providing protection to the Indonesian fishermen. "The protection to fishermen is an inevitable effort that must be performed by MMAF. This duty is the implementation of the Presidential Instruction No.15 of 2011 on the Protection to the Fishermen. Wherever they set sail, the government shall always protect them," said the Director General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Monitoring (MRFM), Syahrin Abdurrahman, representing the Minister of Marine and Fisheries Affairs, after the welcoming and handover ceremony of the 6 (six) fishermen, in Medan (April, 4).




Syahrin explained, the detainment of the Indonesian fishermen, according to the reports of Malaysia's PMMA, was occurred on March 19, 2013 at 13.00 local time, at position 04 ° 55.23 'N - 099 ° 38.21' E, or about 40 Nautical Miles (NM) of southwest of Kendi island, Malaysia. They were arrested on charges of the illegal fishing in the territorial waters of Malaysia. The fishermen were aboard a nameless vessel, with a length of around 10 meters and a width of around 2 meters, with a total crew of 6 (six) Indonesian citizens. "The process of the repatriation of 6 (six) fishermen were directly conducted by the MMA through Directorate General of MRFM assisted by the Consulate General in Penang, Malaysia," explained him.




Syahrin continued that the 6 fishermen had through the investigation process in the PMMA's 2nd Maritime Zone, Penang and had been submitted to the local investigator or Timbalan Pendakwa Raya (TPR). Based on the decision of the PMMA's TPR Northern Territory of Malaysia, there was no further prosecution against the six fishermen to the tribunal/court. They were even set free and repatriated immediately. "Therefore, the coordination and further steps were implemented to repatriate as immediate as possible all of the fishermen. Thanks to the Consulate General of Penang, the repatriation process was undertaken by MRFM," stated him.







Preventive measures




Syahrin asserted, to anticipate the recurrence of such a thing, MMAF keeps on striving the preventive action by providing socialization and dissemination of the fishery management area of Republic of Indonesia. It's expected that the number of troubled fishermen abroad may continue to decrease as the increasing understanding of the fishermen on the fishery management area of the Republic Indonesia. MMAF also urges the local government to jointly implement the development efforts and the fast action response to the problems faced by the fishermen, "But if it turns out that the fishermen were arrested abroad, then we will proactively cooperate with the competent parties, in this case is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to seek the repatriation solution of the fishermen as soon as possible," said him.




Syahrin added, between 2011 until the early of 2013, the MMAF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has managed to repatriate 340 fishermen arrested or detained abroad. Of that amount, 179 among others were successfuly repatriated from Malaysia, 115 from Australia, 20 from the Republic of Palau, seven from Papua New Guinea, 14 from Timor Leste and 5 fishermen from India. "So, from 2011 to 2013, there were 376 fishermen were abroad. Of these, we have managed to set free 340 fishermen, while the rest has still been undergoing the process of liberation," explained him.




For more information, please contact Indra Sakti, SE, MM, The Head of Statistic and Information Center, The Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries Affairs. (Ph. 0818159705)




Editor: PR Wire
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