Antara News, Saturday, April 24, 2010 13:41 WIB
Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesian naval patrol boat KRI Kakap-811 caught four Filipino fishing boats poaching in Sulawesi waters this week, a navy officer said.
The fishing boats and their crew had been brought to the Nunukan naval base in East Kalimantan for investigation, the Eastern Fleet`s spokesman, Lt.Col.Toni Saiful said here Friday.
The captured boats were identified as FB-Conie 5, FB-Conie 4 FB-Conie 10, and FB-Philcon 3, he said.
"The boats did not have permits for fishing in the Indonesian economic zone. Their skippers and crew members are all Filipinos," he said.
When questioned, they confessed their offense. They sailed from General Santos in the Philippines for fishing operations in Indonesia, he said. Indonesia is vulnerable to illegal fishing activities of foreign trawlers.
From January to March 2010, for instance, the Tanjungpinang immigration had deported a dozen foreign fishermen from Riau Islands, including 15 Thais, 17 Vietnamese, and two Malaysians, for poaching in the waters of Natuna Islands.
Lots of foreign fishermen on their trawlers have been poaching in Indonesian waters for decades.As a result, Indonesia suffers a loss of at least US$ 2.136 million a year.
