Four questioned over operation of trawlers

JAKARTA (JP): Tanjung Priok port police have questioned the four owners of 11 trawlers docked at Sunda Kelapa port in North Jakarta for allegedly operating the banned fishing boats.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said on Friday that the four -- identified only as AK, M alias N, B alias H and JT -- had been questioned since Tuesday but none of them was detained.

The police have confiscated the vessels, he said.

"The operation of the boats, which are equipped with nets of an inappropriate size, is feared to endanger the lives of small fish," he said.

"Local fishermen through representatives of their association had actually warned them in June not to operate their trawlers."

The association and the four people had signed an agreement in which the latter pledged to halt operation of the trawlers.

"In practice, however, they just ignored the deal and kept operating their boats," Aritonang said.

He said the suspects were accused of violating Presidential Decree No. 39/1980 on instruments used for fishing in the country's waters.

"It's clearly stated in the decree that ships can sail off on the country's waters as long as their instruments, including the nets, weight of anchors and the type of engines, are adjusted with the environment."

According to Aritonang, traditional fishermen had informally lodged a complaint to the local police over the illegal operation of the trawlers.

"The trawlers surely can be used to obtain more fish catches than traditional boats, but we're not just responding to the fishermen's complaint as the case is that trawlers are endangering the marine ecosystem," he said.

Aritonang was noncommittal when asked whether police would summon officials from the city's fishery agency who authorized the operation of the trawlers.

"First we have to handle the four suspects's cases, before going deeper into the possibility of any alleged collusion between the ship owners and government officials," he said. (emf)