Susi Pudjiastuti, Minister for Marine Affairs and Fisheries was in Singapore to share her maritime perspective and the government’s commitment to fight Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in Indonesia
An Indonesian fishing boat off the coast of Sumatra. (Photo source: GIV/MB)
Singapore, GIVnews.com – For the past months, Indonesia has been bold in tackling the problem of illegal fishing in its water. “It is for deterrent effect”, Minister Susi Pudjiastuti explained the decision of her Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to sink and to blow up illegal vessels in Indonesian water territory
The highly popular minister also denied that the blowing up of ships has caused any pollution. “We did not blow the ships into many pieces like what the media has reported, perhaps only 1-2 pieces at most. As you know the media sometimes sensationalizes the news, “Pudjiastuti added.
Pudjiastuti was at Singapore last Thursday (29/08) to deliver a keynote address with the topic: Understanding Indoensia’s Marine Policy: Economic and Security Challenges at Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) Distinguished Public Lecture.
The entrepreneur turned minister reiterated in the lecture her commitment to fight the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. From losing up to twenty billion USD revenue per year, the discouraging of fishermen to catch fish which has led to other serious crimes such as money laundering, corruption, human trafficking, to the loss of the sovereignty of Indonesia as a maritime country, the outspoken minister explained a long “shopping list” of problems of the IUU fishing which had adversely affected Indonesia.
“We have the longest coastal line in the world but we are only number three for fisheries exporting country in ASEAN”, Ms. Pudjiastuti reflected on the ironic situation faced by the Indonesian marine and fisheries industry.
Furthermore, with the moratorium for ex-foreign fishing vessel, the ban on trans-shipment, the ban on the use of seine net and trawl, the compliance audit of 1132 ex foreign vessels, and the strengthening of law enforcement, the Ministry is optimistic that all these actions together can combat the perennial problem of IUU Fishing.
While discussing the issue of law enforcement, which is a classic problem in Indonesia, the 50-year-old minister said that sometimes it is not really about the enforcement itself, whether by police, navy, or other law agencies.
“It is also about the regulations, some of them are not sufficiently tough as they only impose a very low fine. Hence, we need to strengthen these regulations”.
Other than that, Minister Pudjiastuti also explained that her ministry has been coordinating with the police, military, Interpol, and also other ASEAN countries. “I had a meeting with the ambassadors from Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, etc, and we agreed that this IUU fishing was really harming every country’s national interests and we need to fight it”.
Meanwhile, regarding the nationalist economic policy by Joko Widodo’s administration, Pudjiastuti explained that the policy is not against investors coming to Indonesia. Her ministry is welcoming foreign investments but the fishing sector is closed for foreign vessels.
“We need to give more chances to our local fishermen who are fighting poverty in order to reach social equality and stability. I think neighbouring countries including Singapore really understand the problem if Indonesia is having instability,” Pudjiastuti shared to the mostly academic audience.
Foreign investors are more than welcome to invest in technology such as processing plants, marine food technology, seaweed farming technology, and many more.