Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) has returned 16 fishermen to Indonesia who had been detained by the Australian government. "The repatriation of the detained fishermen demonstrates that the MMAF is always pro-fishermen. When our fishermen are detained overseas, the MMAF will be the first to respond and help free them," the ministry's director general of marine and fisheries resources surveillance (MFRS), Syahrin Abdurrahman, said in a statement on Wednesday. The fishermen were detained by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) on October 11, 2013 for fishing illegally in Australian waters. The repatriation was carried out in stages from October 30 to November 3. The fishermen were sent to Denpasar, Bali by Jetstar and Air Asia and later proceeded to their home town, Sinjai, South Sulawesi. The repatriation was part of the ministry's Fishermen Advocating Program initiated by the MFRS directorate general, and was conducted with the assistance of officials at the Indonesian Consulate in Darwin. The program started in 2011 and has repatriated 384 fishermen who had been detained in Malaysia, Australia, the Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and India. The Indonesia-Australia Fisheries Surveillance Forum (IAFSF) was established in 2007 to monitor fishing activity in both countries ' waters. The Forum, which involves the Department of Australia Fishery and Forestry (DAFF) and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, also conducts a program to educate Indonesian fishermen living in the country's south about fishery management areas in both countries. "We will do what it takes to prevent our fishermen from sailing outside the Indonesian fishery management area," he said. (*)

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