Establishment of Indonesian Maritime Power: Regulation of Transnational Organized Crime on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IIU) Fishing

Globally the fisheries sector's sustainability and food security are threatened by the growth of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices, depleting almost 85 percent of global fishery resources and contributing to global warming and huge financial losses to countries that rely on sea. Despite having fisheries regulations, Indonesia has not been able to prevent and eradicate illegal fishing in Indonesia. As a result, it is still exploring ways to formulate legal policies pertinent to eradicating IIU Fishing as a Transnational Organized Crime (TOC). The purpose of this study was to describe a critical set of rules governing how Indonesia defined fisheries crime. Using a statutory approach to analyze the regulation policies made by official bodies, this the data was collected by investigating primary and seconder legal material. The findings of this study indicated that while Indonesia did have a series of laws addressing fisheries, the country still lacked specific regulations addressing IIU Fishing as a TOC. Consequently, its maritime power remains vulnerable, due to these regulatory constraints. The study recommends that, as a maritime country, Indonesia should urgently improve its sea control system and fortify a sound regulatory framework to ward off all threats to its maritime resource.