Deadline set for North Sumatra unregistered fishing boats
Deadline set for North Sumatra unregistered fishing boats
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
The North Sumatran authorities have issued a final ultimatum to
more than 12,600 fishing vessels that lack the necessary
documents to fish in the province's waters, saying that any
vessels ignoring the warning will be arrested.
Ridwan Batubara, chief of the North Sumatra provincial fishing
agency, said that 12,600 of the 14,000 vessels fishing the
province's waters had yet to be registered in Belawan seaport, or
licensed by the provincial fishing authorities.
"We will give the illegal fishing vessels one-and-a-half
months until Dec. 31, 2001 to register themselves and obtain
licenses from the relevant authorities. From Jan. 1, 2002
onwards, all fishing vessels in the province must have the
necessary documents as required by law," he said here over the
weekend.
Ridwan said that all fishing vessels were obliged to have the
necessary documents so as to assist tax collection by the local
administration, and to help eliminate piracy and smuggling in
North Sumatran waters.
"So far, our local governments have collected only Rp 600
million of the Rp 850 million targeted from the fishing sector
this year because most of the fishing vessels have yet to be
registered," he said.
He said that rampant piracy and smuggling in North Sumatran
waters also had a lot to do with the numerous unregistered
fishing vessels.
"We have detected 47 piracy and smuggling cases in our waters
over the last eleven months, and most of these involved the crew
members of illegal fishing vessels," he said.
He claimed that many local fishermen had moved to Riau or
Muara Baru in Jakarta because of the high incidence of piracy in
North Sumatran waters.
First Lt. Arief, spokesman for the naval base in Belawan, said
the Navy had yet to take firm measures against illegal fishing
vessels as the provincial administration was still popularizing
the registration program.
He claimed, however, that naval vessels based at Belawan had
arrested dozens of illegal fishing boats whose crew members were
involved in piracy and smuggling.
"Several cases have been brought to trial," he said.
Ibrahim A.S., the owner of an unregistered fishing vessel in
Asahan, called on the government to take action against the local
and foreign trawlers that, he claimed, were looting the
province's marine resources.
"The regional authorities discriminate in enforcing the law as
they don't arrest the local and foreign trawlers that are looting
marine resources here," he said, alleging also that many
fishermen from Thailand had passed on the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) to local people living in coastal areas.
He also asserted that many local trawlers were free to fish
North Sumatran waters after bribing local officials.