The fishermen, mainly from the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang and south central province of Binh Dinh, were detained on Pontianak island of Kalimantan province for between 5-7 months. 

On this occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia completed procedures to return home a total of 111 fishermen, the largest number since the beginning of the year. 

The number of Vietnamese fishermen captured by Indonesian authorities for illegal fishing has been on the rise. Since the beginning of 2017, 42 fishing boats with 392 fishermen have been arrested.  

The embassy has coordinated with Indonesia’s competent agencies to repatriate 390 fishermen. At present, 370 other fishermen are still being confined on islands of Indoensia.

To prevent similar violations, the embassy has worked with domestic authorised agencies to increase communication campaigns to raise Vietnamese fishermen’s awareness of strictly abiding by legal regulations on fishing of the two countries.