Jakarta, (Antara) - Marine and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti has lauded the Task Force 115 for its successful performance in seeking to stamp out illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.
The task force has succeeded in increasing the contribution of the fishery sector to the country's economic development, the minister said.
"What the Task Force 115 has done was extraordinary in result. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the fishery sector grew nearly 40 percent," Susi Pudjiastuti said here on Monday.
She said the Task Force 115 had also contributed to improving the welfare of fishermen and families.
Task Force 115 was formed, necessitated by the situation where the state is facing a big fight against illegal fishing , the minister said.
"The war against illegal fishing has become an important program asked by President Joko Widodo. No one is allowed to intervene in the execution of the program," she said.
She said Task Force 155 constitutes a synergy in law enforcement in Indonesia particularly in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Earlier Susi together with the members of Task Force 115 held impromptu inspection visit to the port of Benoa, Bali and found activity strongly believed to be illegal in the fishery sector.
"I say thanks to the investigators of the water police Task Force 115 for the hard work in uncovering the fishery crime in Benoa," Susi said in a news conference here .
She said among the alleged crimes committed in Benoa were modification of former foreign fishing boats to look like local boats , and the use of local fishing boat documents for foreign fishing boats to operate freely without paying fee to the state.
She said foreign fishing boats, earlier detained for illegal fishing, were allowed to flee without proper registration.
"These practices have directly caused a loss to the state such as in taxes," she added.
Nine fishing boats were found by the Task Force 115 involved in the alleged crime in the fishery sector in Benoa.
The government has launched big crack down on illegal fishing, which had been allowed almost freely in the past .
The government said illegal fishing had caused a loss of hundreds of trillions of rupiahs a year to the state.
Hundreds of foreign fishing boats, caught illegally operating in Indonesian waters, have been exploded and sank in the sea over the past two years of the present regime.(*)
