Jakarta begins war on illegal fishing, sinks 3 Viet vessels

Jakarta

INDONESIA has fired the opening salvo in its war on illegal fishing: a local scourge that the government says saps tens of billions of dollars from the country's economy.

But because the theft of fish by potentially thousands of foreign vessels happens kilometres out at sea and hurts some of the country's poorest citizens, living in out-of-the-way villages, the issue has largely gone unnoticed - until now. Over the weekend Indonesia's navy, at the urging of the country's straight-talking Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti, sank three Vietnamese vessels caught poaching fish.