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With its current term coming to an end today, the House of Representative is set to pass a new fisheries bill that would require the government to establish special fisheries tribunals in five major fishing ports around the country.

It also would require the owners of vessels above a certain size to fit and use vessel monitoring systems that will allow port administrators to check on their positions.

However, analysts said they doubted the new legislation would improve overall conditions in the fishing industry, given its lack of clarity on two important matters — the promotion of sustainable fishing to combat overfishing and the recognition of the rights of traditional fishermen.

Riza Damanik, the secretary general of the Fisheries Justice Coalition (Kiara), said both issues needed to be addressed in the bill.

“The bill only states that people are prohibited from carrying and using prohibited fishing equipment, but doesn’t explain what that is,” Riza said. “It only says that this will be explained by the ministerial regulations.”

He said the new law would not be effective in combating overfishing in most key fishing grounds because the government had permitted trawler nets to be used under a 2008 ministerial regulation.

“The wording needs to be more precise, including the prohibition of fishing equipment and methods that are against sustainable fishing principles, such as the use of cyanide, bombs and trawl nets,” Riza said.

“This would help prevent conflicting interpretations in the future and would show the government’s commitment to preventing the use of all types of non-sustainable fishing equipment.”

Overfishing is a serious problem around the country, but the government has done little to prevent it, Riza said.

Arifin Djunaedi, the chairman of House Commission IV, which oversees the fisheries, forestry and agricultural sectors, said the commission and the government would discuss the question of which forms of fishing equipment should be prohibited.

Aside from the question of sustainable fishing, Riza said he also regretted that the bill failed to address the rights of traditional fishermen.

However, he commended the government’s move to establish special fisheries tribunals in Medan, Pontianak, North Jakarta, Bitung and Tual.

Based on the draft legislation, the tribunals will have jurisdiction over crimes in the fisheries sector, including violations of permits, fishing-zone rules, maximum allowable catches and the use of sustainable fishing equipment.

The new tribunals must be up and running within two years of the implementation of the legislation.