Marine security system planned to stop poaching

BANDUNG (JP): The government will require all commercial vessels bearing Indonesian flags weighing more than 2,000 dead weight tons to equip themselves with transponders next year in an attempt to curb illegal entry and poaching in the country's territorial waters.

"This is part of an integrated monitoring system to be introduced to stop theft of marine products or smuggling," Minister of Marine Exploration Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said here on Thursday.

Sarwono was in Bandung for an official visit to the state- owned aircraft maker IPTN.

The system, which will employ satellite and radar monitoring, seemed to be the best way to monitor the activities of ships in Indonesian waters, Sarwono said, adding that Peru, Morocco and India were already using such a system.

Sarwono said the new system would cost the state between US$3 million and $10 million, said Sarwono. "Not including the price of transponders, which must be made available by the owners of the vessels."

According to Sarwono, many foreign vessels hoisted Indonesian flags to poach in Indonesian waters while authorities were often unable to take legal action.

But, ironically, many times "the vessels' crews had a legal permit to use the Indonesian flag ... the permits were issued by Indonesian authorities," Sarwono admitted.

Sarwono pointed to the rampant theft of marine products, especially fish, from Indonesian waters.

"Illegal foreign fishing in our waters costs us an estimated Rp 500 million to Rp 4 billion in lost revenue annually," he said.

Sarwono said that the regulation to back up the new integrated monitoring system was being prepared by his office.

"We expect the regulations to be completed by the end of this year."

While awaiting the drafting of the regulations, a trial of the new system involving some 60 local vessels will be held in June this year under the supervision of state-owned Sucofindo.

With the trial, more input into the monitoring system is expected, he said. "Therefore, the regulations could be improved based on what happens during the trial, before its implementation."

It is hoped that once the integrated monitoring system is applied, authorities can instantly detect if a ship sailing in Indonesian waters belongs to foreign parties.

He said that several foreign companies had offered their services to run the systems, citing Argos from the Philippines and Imarsat and Racal from England.(25/sur)