Saving Seafood

Indonesia’s President Visits Island in Waters Disputed by China

January 9, 2020 — President Joko Widodo visited an island in waters disputed by China on Wednesday to assert Indonesia’s sovereignty amid a standoff between Indonesian and Chinese vessels.

The confrontation began in mid-December when a Chinese coast guard vessel and fishing boats, entered waters in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone, off the coast of the northern Natuna islands, prompting Jakarta to summon Beijing’s ambassador.

Widodo told reporters on Natuna Besar island that the disputed waters belong solely to Indonesia.

“We have a district here, a regent, and a governor here,” he said. “There are no more debates. De facto, de jure, Natuna is Indonesia.”

Widodo also met with fishermen on the island. Earlier this week, Indonesia deployed more ships and fighter jets to patrol the surrounding waters. Nursyawal Embun, the director of sea operations at the Maritime Security Agency, said as of Wednesday morning that two Chinese coast guard vessels remained, while 10 Indonesian ships were on patrol.

Read the full story from Reuters at The New York Times

Tensions flare as China claims historical right to Indonesian waters in the South China Sea

January 8, 2020 — Tensions are flaring on the waters of the South China Sea as a sovereignty dispute between Indonesia and China heats up.

Tension between the two countries rose following a series of naval maneuvers by the Chinese coast guard and Chinese fishing vessels in the  waters off the coast of the disputed northern islands of Natuna, The Jakarta Post reported 5 January. The islands are located between the Malaysian peninsula and Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Indonesia Mobilizes Fishermen in Stand-Off With China

January 6, 2020 — Indonesia will mobilize fishermen to join warships in the South China Sea to help defend against Chinese vessels, the government said on Monday, as the biggest stand-off with China for years escalated off Southeast Asia’s largest country.

In an unusually strong statement, President Joko Widodo told reporters: “There is no negotiation when it comes to our sovereignty.”

The stand-off since last month in the northern Natuna islands, where a Chinese coastguard vessel has accompanied Chinese fishing vessels, has soured the generally friendly relationship between Jakarta and Beijing.

Indonesia’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, told reporters that around 120 fishermen from the island of Java would be sent to the Natuna islands, some 1,000 km (600 miles) to the north.

Read the full story from Reuters at the New York Times

Indonesia to Sink 71 Foreign Fishing Boats Amid South China Sea Tensions

August 16, 2016 — Indonesia will cap Wednesday’s Independence Day celebrations by scuttling as many as 71 impounded foreign vessels — mostly Vietnamese but also a handful of Chinese — to signal its determination to protect its sovereignty over lucrative fishing grounds in the South China Sea.

The destruction of the boats comes amid simmering regional tensions over territorial disputes in the water. Former Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said the main challenge facing the country was to ensure the message wasn’t misinterpreted.

Natalegawa said the signal has to be conveyed that Indonesia is determined to protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. “But some of the risk in our region nowadays is precisely the risk of misperception, miscalculation, minor incidents becoming bigger crises,” he said in a telephone interview last week. “The region as a whole should not lose the habit of open dialogue and diplomatic communication.”

Since the end of 2014, Indonesia has destroyed more than 170 foreign vessels from various nations as it has tried to fend off Chinese claims that waters surrounding the Natuna Islands are part of traditional Chinese fishing grounds.

In June, President Joko Widodo held a cabinet meeting on the KRI Imam Bonjol, a warship that patrols the waters, and last month Indonesia’s popular Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said she wanted to “celebrate Independence Day this year in Natuna, where I will witness the sinking of many foreign vessels,” later declaring that only Indonesians “can catch fish in Indonesia.”

Read the full story from Bloomberg

Indonesia Accuses China of Treating Fishing Waters as Own

June 21, 2016 — Indonesia signaled a harder stance over incursions by Chinese fishing boats in its waters, saying the encroachments appeared to be part of an effort by Beijing to extend its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Indonesia’s navy last week detained a vessel fishing off the Natuna Islands and arrested seven fishermen after firing warning shots in the air, according to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. China’s foreign ministry said the men were operating in “China’s traditional fishing” grounds, “where China and Indonesia have overlapping claims for maritime rights and interests.”

“We suspect that this is structured activity because they were guarded, which means that it was blessed by the government,” Rear Admiral A. Taufiq R., commander of Indonesia’s Western Fleet, told reporters on Tuesday in Jakarta, adding the fishing boat was shot at when it refused to stop and that no one was injured. “That was why China raised a protest, because they think that the area is theirs.”

More Chinese fishing boats have been detected in the vicinity this year, he said. “We need to resolve this issue. If not, they will make a one-sided claim to the waters.”

Read the full story at Bloomberg