Amendment to the Fisheries Law

The government has sort to reinforce its commitment to the fisheries sector and Indonesian fisherman through the amendment to Law No. 31 of 2004 on Fisheries. The Amended Law, Law No. 45 of 2009, includes amendments that have been enacted with a view to driving sustainable growth in the fisheries industry while simultaneously protecting Indonesia and Indonesians from the threat of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing practices. Aside from the above objectives, it is worth noting that the legislation was the final piece of legislation passed by the 2004 - 2009 House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat / DPR).

Despite the good intentions of the parliament in passing this piece of legislation into law there are clearly unresolved issues with respect to the effectiveness of this piece of legislation. The primary concern relates to that there is a significant amount of subsidiary legislation that is required to give force to the provisions of the Law. These subsidiary pieces of legislation have not been fully drafted. Furthermore, the Department of Maritime Resources and Fisheries is still socializing the Law amongst the major stakeholders.

Nevertheless, the government has a period of 12 months from the date of enactment of this law to put into place all the necessary subsidiary legislation.

Generally, the law deals with 4 specific matters:

For example, fisheries management stipulates 11 principles that are to apply, among others, these include:

These principles are the further enumerated in the Elucidation.

The amendments to the Law explicitly require those that own and operate fishing vessels bearing the Indonesian flag to be licensed. This license is a Fishing License (Surat Izin Penangkapan Ikan / SIPI). However, the Law clearly exempts small scale fishing vessel operators from the need to hold a SIPI. Furthermore, the Law also exempts small scale fishing vessel operators and small scale fish farmers from the need to hold a Fishing Vessel License (Surat Izin Kapal Penangkapan Ikan / SIKPI). It must be noted, that those that are required to hold these licenses are also required to be in possession of the originals at all times when fishing.

Article 28A provides explicit prohibitions on the falsifying of fishing license documents.

Interestingly, the Law requires that Indonesian-flagged fishing vessels must also use an Indonesian captain and crew. There are administrative sanctions for failure to comply with this provision.

The amended Law expands the jurisdiction of the Fisheries Courts to encompass all of Indonesia’s territorial waters and exclusive maritime zones. The jurisdiction of the court includes not only citizens of Indonesia but also foreign nationals who are charged with having committed a crime in an area where the court has jurisdiction.

With respect to law enforcement the amended Law provides for armed guard vessels that are tasked with supervising and ensuring compliance within the waters of Indonesia. The vessels have broad powers to stop, search, and detain fishing vessels that are alleged to have breached provisions of the Indonesian fishing laws and regulations. It is worth noting that these broad powers also include the power to burn and scuttle foreign-flagged vessels caught violating the law. These powers can be exercised when the guard vessel is satisfied that there is sufficient preliminary evidence of the breach alleged.

The new law also sets out some additional criminal sanctions for breaches of the provisions of the law. These include periods of incarceration and fines.

The law repeals and replaces Law No. 9 of 1985, and Articles 14 and 16(1) of Law No. 5 of 1983.

The law has been in force since 29 October 2009.