11 Feb 2015

West Papua police blow up fishing boat

9:15 pm on 11 February 2015

Police in Indonesia's West Papua province have blown up another vessel seized for alleged illegal fishing.

The Jakarta Post reports the Vietnamese vessel was seized last month near Saonek Monde Island in Raja Ampat regency.

The paper reports hundreds watched as a police team exploded the 55-ton vessel which sank in ten minutes.

The province's police chief Paulus Waterpauw said the vessel's destruction would hopefully act as a deterrent to other illegal fishers.

In December the Indonesian navy exploded two Papua New Guinea-flagged vessels in the eastern province of Maluku.

Indonesia's President Jokowi introduced the so-called "shock therapy" deterrent policy last year because of an estimated $US20 billion annual loss due to illegal fishing.