Antara 30 Jan 10;
Batam (ANTARA News) - It is difficult to monitor foreign ships dumping waste in international waters that has eventually polluted the Batam coastline, navy chief of staff Vice Admiral Agus Suhartono said here on Saturday.
"Because the area is narrow it will be our waters that will suffer the pollution from wastes dumped by ships in the waters outside ours," he said.
He said the activity had so far been carried out in the waters outside our territory while our patrol boats only operated in the country`s territorial waters.
"We have the boats standing by in our territory," he said.
He said the naval patrol boats had never known the ships that had dumped wastes in the sea causing pollution on the coast and waters of Batam island.
"Our boats only find the waste but not the ships that have dumped it," he said.
He said the Indonesian navy was eager to seize the ships that have caused pollution in the country`s waters.
He said the navy would probably develop a radar system to monitor the movement of ships likely to dump wastes. "We will also stand by. We will implement it," he said.
Seven navy ships conduct patrol between Indonesia and Singapore waters and four others in the Malacca Strait every day.
He said the number is sufficient to patrol the narrow area.
Every north monsoon oil sludge flows in the Batam island waters. Tons of oil sludge polluted Tanjung Memban in January this year. When discovered the sludge had reached the coast and stucked to the sand so that it was difficult to remove. The waste has damaged the waters ecosystem of the coast of Batam island.(*)
