Jakarta, IO – From April 23-25, 2024, the third Technical Meeting on the Implementing Arrangement concerning the Area of Overlapping Jurisdiction between Vietnam and Indonesia was held in Ha Noi, Vietnam. There remains some pending issues, one of which is the obligations to protect the marine environment as Vietnam is reluctant to share responsibility.
Quoting from Viva co.id, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Sakti Wahyu Trenggono has revealed, “There are three countries of origin for foreign fishing vessels that often enter Indonesian waters to catch fish illegally, one of which has a Vietnamese flag. Vietnamese fishing vessels usually enter via LCS.”
Illegal fishing raises various problems regarding responsibility for the marine environment and the Exclusive Economic Zone / ZEE agreement. First problem, Vietnam rejects Indonesia’s proposal to identify more specific obligations of both sides on marine environment protection, regardless of the obligation to address marine pollution issues and protect marine environment in the area of overlapping jurisdiction. Instead, Vietnam proposes obscurer obligations than those in 1982 UNCLOS.
Besides, Vietnam violates the 1982 UNCLOS provision on sedentary species by including demersal species, such as eels, morays, whip tail stingrays/butterfly ray/skate ray, flatfish and stone fishes/scorpion fishes in the list of sedentary species in an attempt to utilize more living resources, which undermines the international law of living resources conservation and damages biodiversity.
Also, Vietnam proposes to use frame-trawl when catching sedentary species like pink fish sea cucumber and shellfish, which will cause harm to the marine environment. According to the research by Greenpeace, the use of frame-trawl can cause overfishing and by catching, and even damage the seabed and disturbs marine sediments, the largest pool of carbon storage, if it is dragged along the seabed.
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In addition, Vietnam claims its exclusive sovereign right to explore and exploit the natural resources, including petroleum operations in the continental shelf of the area of overlapping jurisdiction, which, however, may pollute and deteriorate the marine environment.
Vietnam and Indonesia share the common goal of sustainable use of marine resources, marine environment preservation and biodiversity conservation. Vietnam should take on responsibility to protect the marine environment in the area of overlapping jurisdiction and push to reach an agreement in good faith. (des)