Indonesia is facing the twin threats of excessive marine resources exploitation and environmental degradation because of illegal fishing, and it is therefore necessary for the government to take tough measures, its Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister said yesterday.

“Illegal fishing has been taking away most of the fisheries’ resources. They destroyed all our reefs. They destroyed everything that can be our future resources of the sea,” said Ms Susi Pudjiastuti during her lecture titled Understanding Indonesia’s Marine Policy: Economic and Security Challenges.

Among the various measures put in place, the most controversial is a moratorium on foreign fishing vessels, which empowers the Indonesian authorities to sink vessels that are caught fishing illegally in the country’s waters.

“When you are in a situation of desperation, realising your patrol, coastguard, navy, army, police and our own patrols by the Marine Affairs Ministry are not enough, not strong enough … the deterrent effect has to be in place,” Ms Pudjiastuti told an audience of more than 130 academics and businesspeople who attended the lecture organised by Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.