TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - First Admiral Dicky R. Munaf, the acting First Secretary to the Maritime Security Board (Bakamla), said his office had rolled out eight raids against poacher boats in a number of areas in the country’s waters. He added the Bakamla had thus far investigated some 8,200 boats comprising both domestic and foreign ones.
“From our investigations, we arrested 27 foreign fishing boats,” Dicky told reporters at the Bakamla headquarters on Wednesday, May 20, 2015.
Dicky said the Bakamla had drowned 14 of the boats, while the fate of the other 13 was still awaiting court rulings.
He added the 27 boats were seized on the absence of fishing permits, and that the Bakamla had prevented potential state losses worth at least Rp90 billion from the seizure of the boats.
Dicky said the Bakamla also often caught local fishermen for fishing in areas not designated in their permits. “They were supposed to fish in the A waters, but instead they went to the B location. But we didn’t arrest them, we just gave them warnings.”
INDRA WIJAYA
