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By Ahmad Almaududy Amri
Given the controversy over the policy, it is worth considering its legality.
Since the appointment of Indonesia’s new marine affairs and fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti, the country’s decision to employ a ‘sink the vessels’ policy against illegal fishing has emerged as a significant and controversial issue.
The policy itself is not new. As the director general of marine resources supervision at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry Asep Burhanudin has previously noted, 33 illegal foreign were sunk between 2007 and 2012, with 32 of them being from Vietnam.
There have also been differing estimates floated in terms of the annual losses Indonesia suffers due to illegal fishing in its waters. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has mentioned on numerous occasions that the losses are around 300 trillion rupiah ($25 billion), while Susi has stated that it is around 240 trillion rupiah. Putting aside the debate on the losses Indonesia incurs annually as a result of illegal fishing, the important question that should be addressed is whether its ‘sink the vessels’ policy is legal or not, a question that some others have also attempted to answer previously. To do so, let us examine both Indonesian domestic law and international law.
Read the full story at The Diplomat