Indonesia has announced it has stopped between 40 and 60 tuna fishing boats from Taiwan that were fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.
An official with Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. The official said although the fishing vessels in question were registered as Indonesian, they were built outside of Indonesia and were crewed by non-Indonesians, violating regulations. The Indonesian government decided to stop the boats from continuing to fish in Indonesian waters.
In response, an official with Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency said Wednesday that Indonesia has the right to stop foreign vessels fishing illegally in its waters. But he said Taiwan would try to enhance cooperation with Indonesia in the area of fisheries through government-to-government talks.