Erwida Maulia and Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post 6 Nov 09;
A number of countries concerned by fish poaching activities in the region kicked off a meeting Wednesday aimed at reducing the frequency of such practices.
Taking place on Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara for two days, the second coordination meeting of the Regional Plan of Action (RPoA) is expected to produce an agreement among country members to jointly reduce “illegal, unreported, and unregulated” fishing practices in the region.
The RPoA was set up in 2007, with members consisting of the 10 ASEAN members plus Australia. Indonesia has been appointed as the secretariat of the forum.
The two-day meeting in Lombok is being attended by delegates of all RPoA members excluding Malaysia. Also attending were delegates from East Timor and Papua New Guinea.
Director general for surveillance and control at Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Aji Sularso said the RPoA enabled the sharing of information between country members, on issues such as the new poaching-related regulations enacted in a country.
“Indonesia, for example, can inform other RPoA members that we now apply firm measures against poachers, and that we will shoot and drown their vessels if they’re found to poach in our water areas, so they can inform their fishermen,” Aji, the meeting co-chair, told reporters after opening the meeting.
While Indonesian fishermen have often been found poaching in Australian waters mainly because of a lack of information on boundaries, Indonesia is a victim of poaching by fishermen from China, the Philippines and Thailand, among other countries, he said.
“Indonesia is estimated to lose Rp 30 trillion [US$3.15 billion] per year to poaching,” Aji said.
“We have an average potential to catch 6.4 million tons of fish annually, but it has shrunk by 25 percent thanks to the illegal fishing.”
Aji said his office had caught at least 185 foreign ships for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters in 2007, saving some Rp 435 billion from possible state losses. There were 242 foreign ships caught in 2008, saving some Rp 650 million in losses.
“This year we have discovered more than 200 cases of illegal fishing already, excluding those handled by the police and navy,” he said.
“This means that our waters are still very prone to illegal fishing practices.”
Although only Indonesia and Australia will benefit from reduced poaching activities, other countries in the region also joined the RPoA because they share the responsibility of preventing their fishermen from poaching in their neighbors’ territories, said Aji.
“No countries would want their fishermen to poach in other countries’ areas.
“For example, we [Indonesia] feel embarrassed that some of our fishermen intrude into Australia’s waters, while we have fish in our own territory,” he said.
Head of the Australian delegation, Ian Thompson, said the RPoA had provided a “very good” mechanism for Australia to work closely with Indonesia and other countries in ASEAN to prevent irresponsible fishing practices.
“We’re pleased with the progress we’re making in legislation, in the sharing of information, and in helping each other build our capacity to address illegal fishing,” he said, referring to the aftermath of the 1st coordination meeting of the RPoA that took place in Manila last year.
Thompson said that while the first meeting was aimed at making country members understand the poaching-related problems of each country; the second meeting was expected to “reinforce the efforts everybody is making to reduce illegal fishing”.
“We also hope there will be sharing of more practical measures such as legislative responses to illegal fishing and opportunities for training or capacity building programs within each nation to address the problem,” he said.
Aji expressed hope the RPoA would become a permanent forum.
