Jakarta (Antaranews Bali) - The US government has expressed its commitment
to support Indonesia in its fight against the illegal, unreported, and
unregulated (IUU) Fishing, an official said in his written statement,
received by ANTARA here on Tuesday.
"Indonesia has launched an impressive effort to fight against IUU
Fishing," Matthew Burton, Environment Director of United States Agency
for International Development (USAID), said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Burton noted that for the last three years, the Indonesian
government has stepped up its efforts in capturing the illegal fishing
boats. However, illegal fishing remains a common challenge that should
be resolved effectively through joint action.
Earlier last year, the Indonesian Maritime and Fishery Ministry and
the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had
endorsed the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and
Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA).
The two countries also had partnered up to implement the agreement into a concrete measure.
The agreement calls on the signatory states to conduct regular
inspection of the fishing boats operating at all the ports, in order to
prevent the IUU Fishing.
The agreement is also aimed at preventing the distribution of fishes
collected illegally to the ports in Indonesia as well as other
signatory countries.
"The partnership between Indonesia and US is intended to bring PSMA
into an actual action and halt any products of IUU Fishing from entering
the local and global market," Burton remarked.
Hence on Tuesday (Jan 16), USAID and the NOAA Office of Law
Enforcement (OLE) initiated a workshop on PSMA, which was attended by 21
officers of the ministry`s Maritime and Fisheries Resources Monitoring
Directorate General (PSDKP).
"The advance workshop on PSMA is expected to raise the knowledge and
the capacity of our officers at ports. We have acknowledged that the
Indonesian government has ratified the agreement into the President
Regulation No.43 Year 2016," Nilanto Perbowo, an acting PSDKP director
general, remarked in his opening remarks.
The ministry has assigned representatives of five main ports, namely
Jakarta, Bungus, Bitung, Ambon, and Sukabumi, to attend the workshop,
he noted.
During the eight-day training, the USAID also invited some NOAA
experts to introduce the PSMA to the participants. On August 2016, a
similar workshop was hosted, and the trainers launched a simulation
aboard the boat on the inspection standard procedures.
Enforced worldwide on June 2016, the PSMA is the first-ever binding
international treaty that focuses specifically on illicit fishing, the
Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) remarked in
its official website.
The US and Indonesia are among the signatory countries that have ratified the pact since it was first introduced in 2016. (WDY)
US backs Indonesia in fight against illegal fishing
Pewarta : Reported by Muhammad Razi Rahman 17 Januari 2018 07:17 WIB