For perhaps a couple of decades now governments in Southeast Asia, and the Australian Government have been sinking or otherwise destroying boats seized because of alleged people smuggling and illegal fishing activities. The motive behind this action seems to have been to deny perpetrators the opportunity to reuse these vessels for unlawful purposes.

Most of these boats originate from Indonesia and are made from high quality Indonesian or Malaysian hardwood timber. Some contain teak.

To their credit the Malaysian Government has recently permitted confiscated boats to be disassembled,… Read more “Disassembling and recycling confiscated boats saves trees”