Ministry hails WWF`s guidelines for sustainable fisheries

Antara News, Sun, June 10 2012

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Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - The maritime affairs and fisheries ministry hails the recent publication of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)`s sustainable fisheries guidelines for Fisheries Better Management Practices.

(ANTARA/Yusran Ucang)

The guidelines are in line with the current fishery trend which follows the code of conduct for responsible fisheries (CCRF), Endroyono, an official of the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry, said here, Sunday.

The guidelines will be distributed among others to fishermen, farmers, and fishery companies in Indonesia, he said.

WWF-NTT officer Yeni Nomeni said the Fisheries Better Management Practices (BMP) guidelines, the first ever published in Indonesia, are very applicable by fisheries actors; fishermen, farmers and fisheries companies.

The guidelines have been drafted from learning experiences of a WWF-Indonesia team when they worked with fishermen and farmers in several regions such as in Tarakan and Berau in East Kalimantan, Aceh, Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi, Solor Alor Isles in East Nusa Tenggara, Bali, and Bitung in North Sulwesi.

WWF-Indonesia`s National Fisheries Program Leader Imam Musthofa Zainuddin said WWF`s BMP for Sustainable Fisheries are different with other similar guidelines since they emphasize both sustainability aspect and operational level.

The complete set of sustainable fisheries guidelines for Fisheries Better Management Practices concern a number of major fisheries commodities, for instance groupers, snappers, shrimps, tuna and tilapia.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

West Sumatra to export frozen fish to US

Padang, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) - an Indonesian fish processing industry PT Denpo Andalas Samudera (DAS) in West Sumatra will start exporting frozen fish to the United States as of December 2007.

"In the initial export, we will ship 10 tons of frozen fish to the US," President Director of PT DAS Subakti Kurnia said here on Thursday.

West Sumatra will export tuna, grouper, and sea perch in 20 containers which will be shipped to the United States through Teluk Bayur Harbor, West Sumatra Province, he said.

The joy of fishing

Arief Suhardiman, The Jakarta Post

Sixty fishers from the fishyforum mailing list, most have never met each other before, gathered on Peucang island in Banten. The spirit of fishing united the fishers, whom consisted of beginners to experts (hardcore).

They are made up of 30 fishers in a speedboat and four wooden vessels while the rest on land of the Peucang island.

Fishers conducted almost of the technical aspects of fishing, such as trolling, jigging, popping, casting, drifting and bottom fishing.

For two days, they have caught various fish, such as Baronang (Rabbitfish), Kerapu (grouper), Barracuda, Tenggiri (Spanish Mackerel), Tuna and Giant Trevally.

On the first day at the area of Karang Copong and Karang Ajar, they caught tens of fish, which were enough to feed all of the crew. The next day, fishers at Noah's Ark vessel caught a Giant Trevally of about 20 kilograms before released it again to the sea.

Although exhausted after the trip, several of them heading back to Jakarta and Bandung in West Java, all were already looking forward for their next adventure.

High int`l demand for Indonesian fishery commodities

New York (ANTARA News)- International market demand for Indonesian fishery commodities is quite high but producers in Indonesia find it difficult to meet the demand, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry spokesman Martani Huseini said in Boston on Wenesday.

Martani said overseas market demand for fish from Indonesia, especially fresh water white-flesh fish, was quite high at present.

He said "Nila" or Tilapia fish, a genus of an African fresh warter fish, from Lake Toba in North Sumatra was the best in the world.

According to Martani, fishes from Lake Toba were of high quality.

"That is the difference. Nila fish from Indonesia does not smell muddy," Martani said on the sidelines of an "International Boston Seafood Show & Seafood Processing America" at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachussets.

He admitted that international market demand, especially from the United States, for Indonesian Nila fish was high but in its ability to meet it, Indonesia was lagging far behind Vietnam, China and Thailand.

Meanwhile, the agriculture attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC, Metrawinda Tunus, said US markets were wide open to Indonesian fishery commodities.

He said 80 percent of sea food products in the United States was imported.

"So, markets are not a problem. The problem in Indonesia is lack of raw material and therefore fresh water fish cultivation in the country should be stepped up," Metrawinda said.

He said the lack of raw material was experienced by at least three fishery companies, namely PT Kemilau Bintang Timur, PT Dharma Samudera Fishing Industries Tbk, and Windika Utama Group which are participating in the Boston exhibition.

PT Kemilau Bintang Timur President Director Lalam Sarlam said international market demand for "Ikan Kakap Merah" (Red Snapper) was high but his company was unable to meet the demand all the time.

According to latest data, the total value of fishery products exported from Indonesia to the United States in 2006 was US$785.97 million or up by 7.39 percent from the previous year.

RI needs economic growth-oriented marine policies: Minister

The Jakarta Post

Over half of Indonesian territory consists of water. The successful maintenance of the aquatic ecosystem will benefit not only the people who depend on it for their livelihoods, but the environment of Indonesia as a whole, if not that of the world. The Jakarta Post's Agustina Wayansari recently talked to Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi about the country's marine resources and their importance to the Indonesian people.

Question: Marine resources are the most abundant natural resource in our country. How can we help this sector help the people?

Answer: We impose policies which are pro poor people to alleviate poverty, pro job provision, and pro growth, which means they are economic growth-oriented. All these policies are implemented to improve the welfare of fishermen and people in coastal areas.

We also try to contribute more to the national economy through the maritime and fishery sectors, as well as to shape quality maritime natural resources and supporting resources.

Another program is to increase the consumption of fish among the people in this country, which is still considered very low despite the fact that we're a maritime country.

In short, the development programs in the maritime and fishery sectors include: empowering fish farmers and other people active in the maritime and fishery sectors; a program for the management and development of maritime and fishery resources, and a program for the conservation and monitoring of maritime and fishery resources.

Could you elaborate on the poverty alleviation policy?

It is a policy that aims to provide jobs and alleviate poverty. I'll take catfish cultivation in the dry area of Gunung Kidul regency in Yogyakarta as an example. Considering that the demand for catfish in the province is very high, we introduced catfish cultivation in 2005 and so far it has financially benefited the community. The people, including women, have developed a number of processed foods, such as dried shredded catfish and catfish crackers.

I am pretty sure that this kind of cultivation program will be useful in eliminating poverty in coastal areas. I also believe that the program will run smoothly if we continuously motivate the people by showing them that the program will bring economic benefits; that they will get money, so they can send their children to school. In Gunung Kidul, one pond can generate between Rp 1 million (US$108.9) to Rp 1.5 million during the harvest. It takes approximately 45 days for a new batch of fish to be ready for harvest.

We also introduced this cultivation program in other regions with different fish. In Jambi, patin (big catfish) is the choice, while in Riau people like grouper. In several other regencies in Sumatra, nila (orechromis niloticus) fish is the favorite.

How big is our fishery potential? Or have we already utilized it fully?

We haven't made the most of our potential. Let's say for fisheries, that we have a potential of 6.4 million tons per year, yet we now only take 3.8 to 4.8 million tons per year.

I think this happens because we still use traditional equipment. Therefore, the ministry is running a modernization program for fishing equipment to help fishermen maximize their catches. We assist them with modern boats, nets, and other equipment. However, we have found fishermen in several places in Indonesia refuse this modernization. They prefer their old traditional boats rather than the motorized ones. This happens in Sibolga, North Sumatra.

In order to maximize the impact of modernization, we also run empowerment programs among fishermen in several places. We provide them a big boat enough for a group of 15 people. The group will be given training for management of their catches, so the fish will still be fresh when they are sold in the market. With traditional boats, fishermen go to the sea in threes and thus catch fewer fish than when they use modern boats that are equipped with better facilities.

It's rather difficult to impose this modernization policy in eastern Indonesia and we have to do it. We have no problem in Java.

That about the budget for this modernization program? Could you tell us more about the allocation?

Last year, we had Rp 2.6 trillion, while this year we have Rp 3.2 trillion.

The budget is not enough of course, but we understand and keep trying to allocate an adequate amount for the modernization program. We have managed to do it gradually and by turns in different places across the country. Recently, we granted 600 motor boats to fishermen in Padang, West Sumatra.

We hope that fishermen can increase their productivity with modern equipment because they can go fishing twice a day. With a traditional boat, they can only make one trip. So, modernization is very important.

What is this biggest problem in regards to destructive fishing practices?

I have seen that the problem lies in the regulations. We need to make better regulations that can accommodate business interests but with better rules of the game. Previously there was no regulation requiring fishing companies to build factories in Indonesia. Foreign fishing companies just caught and took the fish away from us, which was not helping to alleviate poverty in our country. Thus, we need to change the pattern, requiring the companies to open factories here because it would have more value by providing job opportunities for the people. We accommodate their business interests, but at the same time they provide job opportunities for the people and pay taxes. That's what we call a multiplier effect. I hope this policy can increase investment from countries like Taiwan, the Philippines and China.

How is progress so far?

So far so good. We have found that a number of the factories built lack raw materials because many limited their boats' activities after the fuel price increase. We are still glad, however, that our exports remain good. This year, our exports from the fishery industry have been increasing and reached US$ 3.5 billion.