ANN/THE STAR – The Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has seized a Philippines-flagged vessel allegedly engaged in illegal fishing in state fisheries management area 716 in the Sulawesi Sea.
Marine and Fishery Resources Management (PSDKP) Director General Rear Admiral Adin Nurawaluddin from the ministry said the arrest was made during a surveillance operation by the Marine and Fisheries Monitoring Vessel Hiu 15 under the control of the Tahuna PSDKP Base.
“Based on the reports from the incident, the Philippines ship is suspected of conducting illegal fishing by using a pump vessel with handline fishing tools in the Sulawesi Sea without legitimate permit documents from the Indonesian government,” said Adin on Tuesday, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia.
Adin said the Hiu 15 first detected the ship, identified as the FB.CA.AM 02, in the Indonesian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) less than two nautical miles (3.6 kilometres) from the Indonesia-Philippines EEZ border on November 22.
The Hiu 15 started a pursuit of the illegal fishing ship until the patrol ship seized the fishing vessel at 5.29pm local time.
In a search of the fishing vessel, PSDKP officials discovered two crew, 10 kilogrammes (kg) of dried mahi-mahi fish, and 2kg of dried squid. The patrol ship also secured pieces of evidence, including four handlines, one Furuno GP-32 GPS navigation tool, one Uniden Pro 520 XL radio communication tool, and one sheet of a fisherman’s licence.
