Jayapura, Jubi – Fishermen from Papua province often fish illegally in the waters of Papua New Guinea, the head of the Border and Foreign Cooperation Agency of Papua Province, Suzanna Wanggai, told reporters in Jayapura last week.
Therefore, she said it was necessary to find out the reason behind this violations. “The government has to be sensitive about this. Does it mean we are lacking of fishes in our territorial? If so, what is the problem? Is that because of our sea has been destroyed or what?” she said.
However, she explained the fishermen from Merauke and Papua New Guinea used to do barter in trading. “For the time being, the fishermen from Papua New Guinea frequent do barter than ours in Merauke. They looked for sea cucumbers or bubbles or shark fins through barter with our fishermen because they need for food such as rice,” said Wanggai.
But the cases of illegal fishing reduced within last two months compared with few months ago when many Indonesian fishermen passed the PNG’s waters. “It is much more happened in the early of this year when it was the highwave season. It caused our fishermen to entry into their territory,” she said.
Earlier, the Ministry of Marine Fishery launched a program to clean the Indonesian marine territorial from illegal fishing, especially of the foreign fishermen. It is made as an attempt to force Indonesia as axis of maritime.
The Minister of Marine Fishery Susi Pudjiastuti asked people, in particular fishermen, to make a report to the government if they caught the foreigners in the act doing the illegal fishing. “If necessary, the security personnel can immediately destroy the ships that caught in Indonesian waters,” the minister said. (Alexander Loen/rom)
