Police reportedly took four fishermen into custody for allegedly fishing and gathering coral in the protected waters of Menjangan Island, Singaraja, Bali on Tuesday.
The four men were apparently from two different groups.
The first group, I Kadek Martin Arsana, 23, and Abdurrahman, 32, are from the fishing village of Pemuteran, while the two others, Sulaiman, 56, and Sapuan, 32, are from East Java, according to Tribun Bali.
“They evidently took reefs from the waters of Menjangan Island, including fish from there. From our investigation, they only did it once, but we will continue our investigation to determine if it’s true they only did it once, or if many times,” police told Tribun on Tuesday.
One fisherman, Martin, denies that he was gathering coral from Menjangan and claims that the reef was unintentionally caught when the net was pulled forcibly by the speedboat.
While another one of the arrested fishermen, Sapuan, says this was the first he went to Menjangan and it was only to unwind, not for fishing.
If they are charged with breaking the law related to the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems, they could face five years in prison and a fine of Rp 100 million, according to Tribun.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
