REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KENDARI -- The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries plans to provide the fishermen of Southeast Sulawesi with five fishing boats to boost the fishery sector in the region.

Head of the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Office of Southeast Sulawesi Askabul noted here on Wednesday that the five fishing vessels of 50 gross tonnage will be provided by the ministry through the 2015 national budget.

"The five vessels are built by the Marine Affairs Ministry and will be delivered to five fishermen groups," Askabul revealed.

The fishing vessels are equipped with the latest technology that will allow the local fishermen to fish in the deep sea.

Askabul said the fishery potential in the Southeast Sulawesi is high, reaching 1.5 million tons per year and is spread across 1,114,479 square meters of water territory.

"However, of the total potential, only 234,230 tons are harnessed annually, or around 15.14 percent," he pointed out.

Askabul hoped that assistance provided in the form of fishing vessels to the local fishermen will help to tap the region's fishery potential.

Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti has vowed to improve the national maritime sector and to curb illegal fishing in Indonesian waters, which has caused losses worth trillions of rupiah to the state and has disadvantaged the traditional fishermen.

She expressed regret on the rampant illegal fishing practices occurring in Indonesian waters such as in the waters of Maluku, Sumatra and the Indian Ocean, and has called on Indonesian fishing businesses to become more self-reliant.

"Do you not want to become independent in your own waters? Why should any foreigners take advantage of it (Indonesian sea resources)," she said.

Indonesia had earlier detained at least 155 foreign fishing vessels and sunk three of them, a stringent measure lauded by all sides at home to clear the country's waters of foreign fish poachers.

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