REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Deputy Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Arif Havas Oegroseno said that he has proposed Indonesia's success in combating illegal fishing as a model at the global level in an interview via text message received by Antara here on Monday.

He said that the proposal was delivered at a meeting with ambassadors of Fiji and Sweden, as facilitators of the Group of Friends of Oceans and Seas, which was formed by the ambassadors at the United Nations to maintain marine life. His meeting with the ambassadors was aimed at discussing the issue at the organization of the UN

Conference on Oceans and Seas, which will take place in Fiji in June 2017.

Havas proposed the possibility of Indonesia to showcase its success in handling illegal fishing at the conference, as well as measures to deal with plastic waste in the ocean. "We've been successful in the context of the fight against illegal fishing, and we want to make this policy a benchmark on a global level," he said.

According to data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2014, Indonesia was the second largest marine fishing destination with 6 million tons, or 6.8 percent of the worldwide fishing.

The illegal fishing causes Indonesia to suffer an economic loss of US $20 billion per year and threatens 65 percent of coral reefs in Indonesia. So far, the government has detained and sank at least 236 illegal fishing boats in Indonesian waters.

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