NATUNA ISLANDS • Mr Dedi knows where the fish run strongest in Indonesian waters off the Natuna Islands. The Chinese know, too.
Backed by armed Chinese coast guard ships, Chinese fishing fleets have been raiding the rich waters of the South China Sea that are internationally recognised as exclusively Indonesia's to fish.
While Mr Dedi catches the traditional way, with nets and lines, the steel Chinese trawlers scrape the bottom of the sea, destroying other marine life. So not only does the Chinese trawling breach maritime borders, it also leaves a lifeless seascape in its wake.
"They come into our waters and kill everything," said Mr Dedi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. "I don't understand why our government doesn't protect us."
Wary of offending its largest trading partner, Indonesian officials have played down incursions by Chinese fishing boats, trying to avoid conflict with Beijing over China's claims in those waters.
But with the Chinese presence now more aggressive, fishermen in the Natunas are feeling vulnerable.
"There was a vacant period, then China came back," said Mr Ngesti Yuni Suprapti, the deputy regent of the Natuna archipelago. "Our fishermen feel scared."
The latest episode was in February, when Chinese boats flanked by Chinese coast guard vessels dropped their trawl nets yet again.
Indonesia's Fisheries Ministry, however, denied any intrusion by the Chinese.
China's illegal fishing near the Natunas has global consequence, reminding regional governments of Beijing's expanding claims to a waterway through which one-third of the world's maritime trade flows.
But local leaders in the Natunas do not control what happens near their shores. "We only have authority over our land," said Mr Andes Putra, the head of the Natunas Parliament. "The provincial and central governments handle the seas."
Yet with multiple agencies responsible for protecting the seas - the navy, coast guard, marine police and the Fisheries Ministry, to name several - decision-making is diffuse, analysts said.
"There is a lack of a single coherent lead agency or a single coherent policy for maritime security," said Mr Evan Laksmana, a senior researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. "The Chinese can take advantage of that."
NYTIMES
