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Illegal
Thai Fishing Robbed Indonesia off Billions of Catches and Cash
By: Anucha Charoenpo
JAKARTA -- Each
year, more than 3,000 Thai vessels set sail to Indonesian waters near
Malacca Straits, South China Sea and Arafura Sea to fish illegally for
tuna and mackerel, a source of billion-dollar earnings for Indonesian
fishing industry.
According to Indonesian
officials, marine police and navy patrol units allow Thai fleets to forgo
hefty license fees and taxes in return for bribes.
The activities have
been robbing Indonesia of US$ 1.2 billion to US$2.4 billion worth of potential
catch.
This illegal business
not only poses threat to the Indonesian economy but also raised security
concerns related to the arrest and detention of Thai fishermen as well
as their frequent shootings with Indonesian fishermen.
Indonesia’s Maritime
Affairs and Fisheries Minister Rokhmin Dahuri said as of May this year
3,018 illegal Thai vessels avoid paying license fees amounting from US$75
million to US$90 million a year.
And by not selling
their catch in the Indonesian market, Thai vessels effectively evade annual
taxes worth about US$30 million to US$60 million. The amount represents
2.5% of the value of their catch, a requirement that the Indonesian government
imposes on foreign vessels that have been issued licenses to operate in
its seas.
Thai trawlers started
exploring the Java Sea in 1960, but their presence in Indonesian waters
became a concern for the Indonesian government only in the early 1980s
when their number shored up dramatically and started posing a threat to
the Indonesian economy.
Unsustainable fishing
industry in Thailand has squandered marine resources in the Gulf of Thailand
and posed a limit for the country to compete in the fisheries export
Worsen by the closure
of neighboring Burma’s territorial waters in 1999, Thai fishermen had
no other logical choice but to look up to Indonesia where opulent marine
resource is opulent and the distance is proximate to Thailand.
Since 1953, Indonesia
has allowed foreign vessels to operate in its waters, but under strict
regulations.
To fish there, a
Thai vessel has to obtain a license from the Indonesian government for
up to US$30,000, depending on its size. The Thai vessel is also required
to sell its catch in the Indonesian market—to form part of Indonesia’s
exports to Malaysia and Singapore, which in turn will process and export
them to Japan.
This regulation is
meant to keep the earnings within Indonesia. Once Thai vessels get to
sell locally, they are expected to pay taxes equivalent to 2.5% of the
value of their catch.
Thai fishermen choose
to skirt those regulations to save operational costs and to rake up more
profits.
Rokhmin says, Thai
illegal vessels alone are responsible for the biggest loss of 60 percent
of between US$ 2 billion to US$4 billion worth of earnings expected from
the Indonesian fishing industry.
Worse still, these
catches were brought home and exported directly—and at less cost—to Japan,
which is Indonesia’s end market.
The conflict arising
from illegal fishing activities has taken its toll not only on the Thai
fishing companies running this illegal business but also on the lives
of Thai fishermen they employed.
Over the past years,
more than a hundred illegal Thai fishermen have been arrested and detained
by Indonesian authorities. Their trials would normally proceed from seven
months to a few years before they are released. In some instances, Thai
fishermen engaged in gunfire exchanges with Indonesian fishermen whose
livelihood was also threatened by the invasion of Thai fishermen.
Witthaya Chaisuwan,
agricultural representative of Thai embassy in Indonesia, believes that
hundreds of Thai crews are being detained in local jails. Once released,
the Indonesian authorities do not return the seized Thai ships and just
put them on auction.
The Indonesian government
has tried several measures to curb the illegal activities of Thai and
other foreign vessels- from licensing foreign vessels to undergo, using
satellite communication devices, establishing community-based surveillance
system; and increasing marine patrol.
Illegal vessels nevertheless
know how to get around these measures by conniving with corrupt government
officials and businessmen.
Crooked Thai fishing
companies have paid hundreds of million dollars a year to Indonesian government
officials especially the navy and marine police to clear their way into
the Indonesian waters. Under the Indonesian flags, their vessels could
freely fish to the ignorance of the officials.
Under the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, foreign vessels’ off-limit access
to Indonesian waters is within Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, but
not beyond 12 sea miles off the shores.
The Indonesian fishing
companies are partly to be blamed for selling their fishing licenses to
their illegal Thai counterpart fishermen.
This fishy deal nevertheless
has a price to pay. Many Thai fishing companies were deceived into buying
licenses from their Indonesian counterparts that never got license from
the government.
The fee for each
fake license is much cheaper than that of the genuine one. Still it could
cost the purchasers between US$10,000-20,000 per year, according to Mr
Budi Antoko, an information officer of the Maritime Affairs and Fishery
Ministry.
The normal fee is
between US$ 25,000-30,000 a year. Aji Sularso, a senior navy officer attached
to Navy headquater in Jakarta, admits many naval officers were on the
take.
“It’s not easy to
control them from Jakarta, Indonesia is a big country and it’s difficult
to prove bribe-taking, especially when it happens at sea,” he said.
Songsang Patavanich,
president of the Thai Overseas Fisheries Association, asked Indonesian
government to reduce fee for fishing operation in the country because
it was too high like about US$ 55,000 for a 300 –ton trawler per year
for Thai fishing companies to afford during the economic slump.
“The fee reduction
will be another efficient solution to stimulate a number of Thai fishermen
into legislation system of Indonesia.
Indonesia accused
us of being offenders for a long time. That’s because our ships have been
equipped with more high-tech fishing devices than those of local vessels.
And we can yet catch fishes more than them,’’ he said.
Belawan
Fishing Haven Turned Futile
By: Anucha Charoenpo
NORTH SUMATRA --
Belawan sea was long known to the Thai fishermen as a popular illegal
fishing destination since 1988. The area is 35 kilometer away from Medan,
the capital city of North Sumatra province.
Thai fishermen sailed
for a week to reach the destination and took about twenty days to collect
their catches and return to Thailand.
Until now the invasion
of the Thai trawlers on this remote fishing ground has not only significantly
reduced the number of fishes there but also changed the way local fishermen
survived themselves.
Some villagers may
not like the Thai for robbing them a mean of living they deserved but
others are adept to the reality change by entering into business contact
with the Thai for survival.
There are currently
about 20,000 people living in Belawan, most of them are traditional fishermen.
They work with no
boats of their own. Profits from the catch are divided between the fishermen
and the boat owners.
Traditional fishermen
commonly use single layer nets or simple fish hooks. Thus their income
is very low compared to foreign fishermen employing ships with modern
equipment and technology.
According to Mr.
Wahidin, for years ago, Belawan traditional fishermen have ever caught
fishes about 200 kilograms per week or about 3,300,000 Rupiah (US$
330), excluding operational cost which stood at 700,000 Rupiah
(US$ 70) per week.
But today the fish
quantity considerably dropped to 70 kilograms per week, equivalent to
500,000 Rupiah (US$ 50) worth of earning they fetched per week.
In contrast, the operational cost has so far soared up to 1,200,000 Rupiah
(US$120) per week. This meant that if they can not fish and sell them
more than the operational cost, the big loss is likely to follow.
Sofian, 40, captain
of a small fishing boat said Thai fishing trawlers were equipped with
high-tech fishing devices that destroyed coral reefs. Sofian said many
coral reefs in Belawan Sea were badly damaged that he and other fishermen
barely catch a lot of fishes these days.
M. Syafri, 38, chairman
of Mitra, the Independent Traditional Fishermen Group in Bakan village
of Belawan, said most of his fishermen have so far turned to catch seashells
other than fishes.
Fishes are not available
to catch in the present time due to the illegal fishing operations. The
country’s coral reefs are badly damaged and fishes are nowhere to live.
He said seashells
were actually sold with higher price than fishes but it was very difficult
to catch because they were in the deep sea, or more than 18 meters from
the surface.
Most of the fishes
and seashells caught by traditional fishermen were later exported to Malaysia
and Singapore.
Mr Syafria has many
times seen illegal Thai fishermen operating about 10-15 miles from the
shores of his village.
He said these Thai
fishermen did not moor their ships along the shores for their security
reason. Ironically, it was more logical for local fishermen and villagers
themselves that should be scared of the Thai.
Syafria said local
villagers were in fear because the Thai fishermen had “guns” on the ships.
Another fisherman
Rami, 40 recalled the shooting incident of 1996 when a local fisherman
was shot dead by a Thai fisherman at sea, some 15 miles of shores after
he refused to compensate for a damaged fishing net.
“Today local fishermen
call the area “shooting area. No local fishermen dared to pass the route
as they wanted to forget it,’’ he said.
Nevertheless, some
of local fishermen make contact with illegal Thai fishermen by supplying
consumption goods such as soap, shampoo, rice and fruit to them in exchange
for fishes they hoped to sell to provide for their family a day.
Local villagers quickly
pointed out four illegal Thai fishing ships seized in Belawan area since
1998 were still there to remind. Three fishing trawlers are still left
at the navy port in Belawan, and another one sank after leaving unused
for years, said Rami, 40, another traditional fisherman.
Rami estimated 50
Thai crews arrested and sent to a navy prison in Belawan. Today no Thai
remains in the prison but the illegal fishing in Belawan seas is still
rampant.
Belawan traditional
fishermen have long insisted the arrest of foreign poachers but to no
avail.
They accused navy
and marine police officers here of allegedly accepting bribe from Thai
fishing companies in order to let them to freely fish in the area.
Navy and marine officers
here declined to comment, saying that they were very busy.
Wahidin, 42, chairman
of Anera, the traditional fishing association in Belawan Lama village,
said he has seen navy officers approaching the illegal Thai ships in Malacca
Straits many times but never seen them arrest the Thai.
“ I have ever asked the navy officers about the incidents and they said
to me that they were working and it was not my business,’’ he said.
Legal
Thai Fishermen Cry foul: Crooked Business Spoiled the Good
By: Anucha Charoenpo
JAKARTA -- At
11 PM, the Thai fishermen at Muara Baru fishing port in Jakarta gather
for a ritual to worship god of the sea, asking her to bless them for big
catches and protect their life before they set sail again.
Afterwards, it was
Jaroon Sangthong, a skipper of “Silmanee” trawler from Songkhla fishing
port who spoke to a Thai visitor first,
Jaroon said he and
his ten crews have never returned home yet for several months.
They regularly came
in and out of this fishing port in northern Jakarta to unload catch and
sell them to local market here.
Jaroon, 41, and his
crews have been working for a Thai fishing company having a legal joint
venture with an Indonesian fishing company for years.
Every 20 days after
each catch, Jaroon and his crews returned to the market to sell fishes
and pay fee as required by the Indonesian law. They moored the ship at
the port to take a rest for a few days to be back on for fishing grounds
again.
Their company is
allowed to fish in the Java Sea and the South China Sea near Kalimantan
Island.
Jaroon says he did
not know how much his boss has to pay to the domestic company and the
government in order to get the fishing license. The only think he knew
was to catch as many fishes as possible in one trip. Meaning the more
he caught fishes, the more he got money to support his family in Thailand.
“Working hard also
helps me overcome home-sick feelings,” Jaroon said. His red-burnt face
could tell.
“I don’t even know
every time he was out at work that I will ever had a chance to see my
children and wife again,” he said.
“Working at sea always
implies that we are ready to die. You could never phantom the sea. Some
time it is calm and smooth but when it’s crazy, you could never tell,”
he said.
Jaroon encountered
a big storm and huge wave many times at sea while fishing near Kalimantan
Island but he and his crew managed to survive.
Each of the trip,
lasted between 2 to 4 months, he would return to Thailand to take a rest
for twenty days or more and then got back to work again. It goes on and
on for years.
He admitted he wanted
to quit this job many times but had no other job skills.
If he resigned, he
had no money to pay for his children’s education and family. Such life
normally happens with Jaroon for years long that he traveled in and out
of Indonesian waters.
Jaroon earned between
Bt8,000 and 10,000 a trip and the income was also up to the volume of
catches. “In some trips, I had no much money left to return to his family,”
he said.
Moored next to Jaroon’s
ship was “Veerasamutr” fishing trawler from Rayong, an eastern province
of Thailand, Daoluek Kliewphan, 35, said he did not yet return home for
5 months.
His ship normally
moored at this place every month after finishing fishing operation in
South China sea near Kalimantan. Daoluek said all fishes caught at the
sea were unloaded and sold at the port’s market.
Daoluek earned about
6,000-7,000 baht a trip. The money was not enough to cover high cost of
living in Jakarta. Furthermore, he had to collect part of the money for
his family in Rayong.
“Everyday I miss
my family so much but I have no choice, how can I do I am under-educated.
So I have to be patient and wait for time to come back home,’’ said the
small while helped massaging his skipper’s legs on the ship.
Daoluek also said
his ship was twice arrested by navy officers despite the fact that owner
of the ship had paid fee to the government. The navy officers charged
the ship and its crews for violating Indonesian waters.
“ We have shown them
a fishing license but they did not believe and arrested us. Until we bribed
them, we got released,’’ he noted.
“Not only his ship
was arrested, but there are also many legal ships. This phenomenon is
prominent evident in the Indonesian sea. I don’t quite understand ,” he
said.
He asked the Indonesian
government to take drastic measures against navy and maritime police officers
who arrested legal Thai fishing vessels as a ploy to extort money from
them.
Moreover, legal Thai
fishermen had to encounter with local mafia at the fishing port who liked
to prey on foreign crews when their ships moored at the port. If resisted,
they would be beaten up to death.
Several foreign crews
had been beaten and stabbed to death here over the past few years.
To this unfortunate
incident, Thai fishermen were staying together on their ships.
Suchart Thammasujit,
40, who is working for Indonesian fishing ship, said he could not sleep
and stay alone on his ship since he was afraid of local mafia gangs.
Suchart said his
Indonesian colleagues returned their homes shortly after the ship arrived
at the port, leaving him to stay alone on the ship. He said every night
he had to sleep at his Thai friend’s ship.
Suchart never returned
his hometown, Prachuab Khiri Khan for four years. He said his passport
had one year left to expire and he will take this chance to return home.
“ I miss home so
much,’’ he added.
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