Archived Media Release
16 October 2006
Joint Indonesian-Australian Visit to Jayapura & Merauke to Oppose Illegal Fishing
The Indonesian Department of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (DKP) and the Australian Embassy will conduct a joint visit to Jayapura and Merauke in the Province of Papua from 16 to 19 October. The visit reflects the decision of Australian and Indonesian Ministers to run an awareness-raising campaign in Indonesia on the impacts and consequences of fishing illegally in Australian waters.
The outreach visit will involve an open discussion forum with the local community and discussions with grass-roots community leaders and local government officials.
In relation to the joint visit, Mr Aji Sularso, Head of the Centre for Data, Statistics and Information at the DKP, welcomed the campaign against illegal fishing being carried out by the Indonesian and Australian governments. This campaign helps fishing communities understand how to manage their activities in line with the existing regulations in both countries. The shared objective, looking to the future, is no more illegal fishing and therefore no need for arrests.
Deputy Head of Mission to Indonesia, Ms Louise Hand, said, “The awareness campaign is an important part of our efforts to ensure the sustainability of fisheries resources on both sides of the border. We also want to inform Indonesian fishing communities of the consequences of illegal fishing in Australia’s northern waters.” Both Indonesia and Australia suffer from illegal fishing by foreign nationals. “We are determined to work together to stamp out illegal fishing activities that ruin the fish stocks on which we all depend,” said Ms Hand.
During the recent Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum in Bali, in June 2006, Ministers agreed that Australia and Indonesia would convene a regional Ministerial Meeting to discuss measures to address the shared problems of illegal fishing. The Ministerial Meeting will be preceded by a senior officials meeting in Jakarta.
In June 2006, Australia’s Parliament passed legislation allowing for jail terms of up to three years for illegal fishers caught in Australia’s territorial waters, in addition to fines of up to Rp 5.7 billion (AUD$825,000).
Between 1 January and 31 July 2006, Australia caught 234 foreign boats fishing illegally in its waters - more than double the number of boats caught during the same period in 2005. Forty were caught in July 2006 alone. Australian maritime law enforcement authorities recently received a boost of Rp 2.7 trillion (AUD388 million) of additional resources to prevent illegal foreign fishing in its waters, bringing total resources to around Rp 3.5 trillion (AUD500 million).
Further information:
Bernard Lynch (Australian Embassy) mob. 0811986930