Five Thai ships nabbed for poaching off Bawean island

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya, East Java

The Indonesian Navy has apprehended five Thailand-registered ships for alleged poaching in Indonesian waters near Bawean island, about an hour by boat from Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, an official said on Tuesday.

The five ships, all displaying the Thai flag, were arrested on Sunday morning by the Navy's Tanjung Dalpele warship.

Lt. Col. Prasetyo, the captain of the Tanjung Dalpele, said that the names of the ships were the Siriwan Pen, the Cucut Gergaji IV, the Cucut Martil II, the Cucut Martil III and the Delta Pusaka 9.

The Siriwan Pen was the largest of them, measuring 40 meters long and eight meters wide, he said, adding that the ship had 29 crew members. "Most of the crew members are Thai citizens," he said.

The ship can accommodate 250 tons of fish.

During the arrest on Sunday, the Navy also seized hundreds of tons of fish from the ships.

Separately, Lt. Col. Guntur Wahyudi, the spokesman of Indonesian Navy's Eastern Fleet, said that the crew members had allegedly violated a law on fishery that carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Fish poaching, especially by foreign poachers, has been rampant in Indonesia for years, and accounts for huge losses.

Arrests have become more frequent in the last two years as foreign poachers, often using far more modern ships and equipment than local fishermen, seek new fishing grounds.

Local authorities often complain about a lack of vessels and to guard Indonesia's vast waterways from foreign encroachment.

The number of foreign boats illegally fishing here was estimated to have reached some 5,000 boats annually, causing yearly losses of US$4 billion to the state, according to Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri recently.

But with greater emphasis and a larger budget to combat the poaching, he added, the number of boats had decreased.