EU Team to inspect RI's fish cultivation centers

Surabaya (ANTARA News) - A fisheries team from the European Union is to visit some fish cultivation centers in Indonesia between January 22 and October 27 to see whether the methods used at the centers meet certain standards and are safe for human health, a senior fisheries official said.

If the team gives a negative evaluation of just one fish cultivation region, all cultivated fish exports from Indonesia to the EU risk being embargoed or even scrapped from their list of cultivated fish suppliers, Prof Dr Martani, director general of fishery product processing and marketing at the marine resources and fisheries ministry, said here Thursday.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives of East Java fish farmers and fish-feed makers associations, Martani therefore called on all parties concerned to prepare themselves well for the EU team`s inspection.

He said last year antbiotic residue was found on a fishery product from Indonesia and his office had therefore drawn up a draft ministerial regulation providing for measures to detect chemcial residues , biological and pollutant substances on cultivated fish products.

His office had also prepared regulations to guarantee the quality and safety of cultivated fish products at the stages of production, processing and distribution as well as regulations on conditions to be met in proper fish cultivation, regulations on technical guidelines for the application of systems to guarantee quality and safety and programs to control and monitor the quality of fish products."

Meanwhile, Ir Kardani MM, head of the East Java marine resources and fisheries service, said the use of drugs or chemicals in fish cultivation was actually already regulated in Law No 31/2004. The law proibits the use of drugs in fish cultivation that endanger fish reources, fish resource environments and human health in fish cultivation areas.

Violations of the articles in the law carry penalties of a maximum of six years in prison or fines of up to Rp1.5 billion.

He said the marine resources and fisheries ministry had also issued a regulation on the provision, distribution, use and supervision of the use of drugs in fish cultivation in addition to a ministerial decree on classification of drugs in fish cultivation.

Prof Kardani said the EU was a very strategic fish export market where prices were much higher than in Japan and the United States.

About 10 percent of Wast Java`s cultivated fish exports was going to the European Union, he noted.