Source: Mongabay
- Indonesia’s fisheries ministry has pledged to target the ultimate beneficiaries of fisheries-related crimes in the country.
- The move comes in the wake of a court ruling that empowers ministry officials to act as investigators, including the authority to look into cases of money laundering.
- For a long time, the only people who faced any kind of prosecution for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing were typically the crews of the vessels caught in the act; the owners of the vessels, where they could be identified, avoided any kind of punishment.
- Indonesia hosts one of the world’s richest fisheries, but the industry is notorious for its convoluted webs of corporate ownership and vessel registration, often spread across various jurisdictions, which help mask the beneficial owners of fishing activity, both legal and illegal.