Indonesian fishing vessels ready to depart for Natuna

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN): Some 35 vessels weighing more than 75 gross tonnes owned by fishermen from Rembang, Central Java, are set to leave for the Natuna Sea following President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo’s instruction to utilise Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for the welfare of Indonesian fishermen.

Jokowi recently paid a visit to Natuna regency in Riau Islands — his fourth since taking office in 2014 — in what observers described as a determined signal of Indonesia’s territorial integrity and defense of its sovereign rights in the area amid tensions between the country and China over the latter’s manoeuvres in the North Natuna Sea.