Govt to ban foreign fishing ships in 2000
Govt to ban foreign fishing ships in 2000
JAKARTA (JP): The government will ban all foreign fishing
boats from Indonesian waters from the year 2000 in a bid to
bolster the domestic shipbuilding industry and prevent smugglers
exporting fish.
The Association of Indonesian Fishermen Chairman Tuk Setyohadi
said in Timika, Irian Jaya, that the government lost about US$1.5
billion a year because of illegal fish exports by foreign fishing
boats chartered by Indonesian companies.
"To prevent illegal exports, the government will ban all
foreign fishermen from Indonesia's territorial waters and its
exclusive economic zone," he said Friday after the opening of an
integrated fishing training course at the Djajanti Group's base
camp in Timika.
The course was opened by Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral
Arief Kushariadi.
Setyohadi said that by Jan. 1, 2000, all fishing boats
operating in Indonesian territorial waters and the exclusive
economic zone should be registered in Indonesia and owned by
local companies.
"To anticipate the ban, the government has allowed companies
to import used and new fishing boats and simultaneously
encouraged the development of the domestic fishing-boat building
industry."
There are 7,000 foreign fishing boats of 60 to 300 gross tons
operating in Indonesian waters and the exclusive economic zone,
including those chartered by Indonesian companies.
"They earned about US$1.25 billion in foreign exchange (from
fish exports) for Indonesia yearly," Setyohadi added.
He categorized the country's fishing areas as coastal waters,
territorial waters and the economic exclusive zone.
He said coastal waters had been over-fished, resulting in
small catches. "Therefore, fishermen should be trained and
adequately equipped to work in territorial waters (123 miles off
the coastline) and the exclusive economic Zone (200 miles off the
coastline)," Antara reported him as saying.
He said there would be serious problems if foreign fishing
boats, to be totally prohibited from Indonesian waters and the
exclusive economic zone in 2000, could not be replaced by
Indonesian ships and fishermen.
Setyohadi commended publicly listed PT Daya Guna Samudera, the
Djajanti Group's fishing company, for the course it was running
for 350 local fishermen. (bnt)