JAKARTA: The Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Ministry has apprehended six Vietnamese-flagged vessels for allegedly conducting illegal fishing operations in Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) areas in Anambas, Riau islands.
“Patrol vessel Hiu Macan 005 raided the vessels in an operation from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time on Saturday,” the ministry’s director general for marine resources supervision, Asep Burhanudin, said as quoted by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Asep said the ministry’s patrol ship caught the Vietnamese fishing vessels when they went fishing in Indonesian waters; after an examination, it was found that the vessels had no fishing permits from Indonesian authorities.
He said 43 Vietnamese citizens who had 9,171 kilograms of fish on their vessels were later taken into custody.
Asep said the ships’ operators would be charged of violating Law No. 45/2009 on Fisheries and could face a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a Rp 20 billion (US$1.48 million) fine.
He said all the vessels were taken to Batam Maritime and Fisheries Monitoring Task Force (PSDKP) station for further investigation.
