Jakarta – Indonesia losses US$1.5 billion in revenues due to poaching of fish every year, according to Maritime and Fisheries Minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja.

Sarwono said that every year, around 2000 foreign fishing vessels operated illegally in Indonesian waters each stealing an estimated US$750,000 worth of sea fish. "This is almost as much as the country's exports of US$1.6 billion a year," he said.

He quoted a Hong Kong report as saying that foreign fishing vessels carried 20,000 tons of stolen fish worth US$400 million from Indonesia to that former British colony.

He said that to prevent foreign fishing vessels from freely poaching in Indonesian water, the government plans to expand monitoring controlling surveillance.

The government will also take stricter measures against foreign poachers and companies violating fishing rules. He said that currently, the government was seeking legal action against 40 Thai fishing vessels found illegally operating in Indonesian waters and punishment had been meted out to 229 Indonesian companies misusing fishing license.