Indonesia is sinking illegal fishing boats in dramatic fashion,and may be killing fish doing so

[n2doc]

For the last few months Indonesia has been making a show of dramatically blowing up and sinking fishing boats from Vietnam that were illegally fishing in its waters. The crackdown has fueled the popularity of maritime affairs minister Susi Pudjiastuti, but environmentalists are not happy about the explosions, which could potentially cause major oil leaks and otherwise damage sensitive marine habitats.

Though the government has been scuttling such vessels for years, the latest campaign started in December, when newly-elected president Joko Widodo’s government invited media to watch it launch explosives at three Vietnamese ships that had been caught fishing in its territorial waters. Numerous sinkings followed, including a Vietnamese vessel on Feb. 10.

“Camera crews filmed the boats going under in clouds of black smoke, against the backdrop of picturesque islands,” the Wall Street Journal reported in December. And it’s the presence of the black smoke—indicating burning oil— that worries some environmentalists, along with other disruptions to those very same picturesque islands.

“The use of explosives to sink the boat disturbs and threatens the fish near the location of the explosion—in a way, it has the same effect as using dynamite to catch fish,” Greenpeace campaigner Arifsyah Nasution told the Jakarta Globe. In addition, she said, debris from the boats turns into floating garbage.

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http://qz.com/346846/indonesia-is-sinking-illegal-fishing-boats-in-dramatic-fashion-and-may-be-killing-fish-in-the-process/

[riversedge]

1. Idiots.