TUESDAY, 13 MARCH, 2018 | 18:18 WIB
Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti: I`m Alone
Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti: I`m Alone
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The past few months have proven tough for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, with a barrage of criticism for some of her policies. Last January, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Maritime Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitanher boss asked her to stop blowing up illegal fishing boats and to focus instead on boosting fish production. Recently Fadli Zon, Deputy House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker from the opposition party Gerindra, lamented that fishermen had encountered difficulties with the ban on cantrang (trawl net).
Since her appointment by President Joko Widodo in 2014, Susi has used the shock therapy tactic of sinking illegal boats to deal with fish thievery. From thousands of illegal vessels caught, 363 are now at the bottom of the sea, while more than 7,000 illegal foreign boats have managed to flee. Susi also prohibited the use of cantrang-equipment made with thousands of meters of nets that trawl the seabed-via ministerial regulation No. 2/2015 on trawls and seine nets. However, last January, Jokowi extended the permit to use the gear after meeting with representatives from pro-cantrang demonstrators.
Susi, 53, said the pressure came from foreign fishing companies who had lost their golden goose. They, she said, want her ministry to loosen up the fight against illegal fishing, and are doing that through various maneuvers behind her back. "Meanwhile, I get very little support," the former fishing business owner from Pangandaran, West Java, pointed out.