Thai boats sunk by Indonesia

30 ธันวาคม 2557

Indonesia is getting tough on fishing boats found encroaching its territorial waters. Two Thai boats are the latest to be destroyed in the crackdown.

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Two foreign flagged fishing boats registered in Papua New Guinea are destroyed by the Indonesian navy after they were seized earlier for supposedly illegal fishing off the coast of Ambon, Maluku, on Dec 21, 2014 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Reuters)

Indonesia sinks two Thai boats

Online reporters

The Indonesian navy sank two Thai fishing boats found to have encroached its territorial waters on Sunday.

The Jakarta Post on Monday reported the officers used bombs to sink the vessels in Anambas waters near the South China Sea.

The move followed a court verdict on Dec 23 that they were involved in illegal fishing near Anambas Island in Riau Islands province.

The 70-gross-tonne MV Kour Son 77 was caught by the Indonesian navy on Nov 14 with six crew on board — two from Thailand, three from Myanmar and one from Laos. The 103-GT Chawat 5, which could not provide any legal documents to operate in Indonesian waters, was seized on Dec 11.

Earlier this month, a Thai fishery group warned of the risk.

Praporn Ekuru, chairman of the Songkhla Fisheries Association, told boats registered in the southern province on Dec 11 that, since Dec 6, Indonesia had begun sinking foreign fishing boats caught exploiting its territorial waters. The Thai Overseas Fisheries Association already alerted its members around the country the same day, he said.

Mr Praporn admitted Thai trawlers might be undeterred by sinking threats and would continue risking an incursion into Indonesian waters. "Fishermen have to survive. They could not bear the loss in every trip out to the sea and we have to admit that almost no fish are left in Thailand," he said. "Sometimes they have to take the risk."

Indonesia vowed to sink all ships stealing its fish in a bid by President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, to protect domestic marine resources.

He said during his presidential campaign such thefts cost Indonesia 300 trillion rupiah (780 billion baht) a year and 5,400 illegal trawlers illegally plied Indonesian waters, according to the Antara news agency.

Jakarta backed up its threats by capturing 155 foreign boats through Dec 9 and sinking three Vietnamese trawlers a day before the policy's official launch date.

After taking criticism from foreign governments, Jokowi again defended his decision on Dec 9, calling it a necessary deterrent. "I asked our foreign minister to explain that this is a purely criminal issue and has nothing to do with neighbourly relations," Mr Widodo told AFP.

On Dec 21, another two vessels from Papua New Guinea were destroyed on the shore of Ambon, Maluku, according to the Jakarta Post.