Report: La Nina to stay in Indonesia until March

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 01/09/2009 6:02 PM 

 

A forecast by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that Indonesia will remain affected by La Nina conditions until at least March.

 

"Based on current observations, recent trends and model forecasts, La Nina conditions are likely to continue into the Northern Hemisphere's spring of 2009," a NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) statement said, as quoted by state news agency Antara on Friday.

 

The CPC said the impact of the La Nina development, which came unusually late for those in the northern hemisphere, would include above-average precipitation across Indonesia.

 

As it is located on the equator, Indonesia feels the impact of climate developments from both the northern and southern hemispheres.

 

The impact of La Nina will include an increase on Indonesia's already high rate of rainfall.

 

A separate report from Jakarta's meteorology and geophysics agency confirmed the CPC report, saying that some parts of the city are likely to suffer from flooding until February.

 

So far, the water level remains safely below the normal level of floodgates across the capital. (emh)

Bali suitable for Nila fish breeding

DENPASAR (The Jakarta Post) : Freshwater lakes in Bali offer an ideal habitat for breeding the economically valuable Nila fish (Tilapia nilotica), a researcher said Thursday.

"Based on our 2006 research on Bali's economical potential there are 19 main commodities in the fishing sector, including Nila fish," said I Wayan Windia, a lecturer of the Agriculture Faculty of Udayana University, as quoted by Antara.

Bangli, the only regency in Bali without any beach, is the best region for Nila's breeding, he said, adding that lakes such as Batur Lake were especially suitable.

Windia said breeding Nila fish would encourage the development of the fishing sector in the regency.

Jambi flooded as Batanghari River overflows

Jambi, Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Batanghari River in Jambi Province overflowed and inundated Jambi City, forcing 166 residents to flee their homes.

The water level of Batanghari River has reached a height of up to more than 13 meters, Head of the Jambi provincial social welfare service Jazid Idris said here on Tuesday.

The Jambi authorities were on alert to anticipate the flooding of spreading to wider areas, he said.

The local administration has prepared among other things a number of emergency tents and tens of rubber boats, to help flood victims.

At Legok kampong, two large emergency tents have been set up to accommodate the 166 flood victims.

The Jambi province also has a stock of 75 tons of rice to be distributed to local people in case of emergency.

Indonesia will continue to experience above-average precipitation under the impact of La Nina in the period December 2007 - February 2008, according to the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA)`s National Weather Service (NWS) recently.

In addition to Jambi, floods also hit several other provinces in Indonesia recently, such as in Gorontalo, Central Java, East Java, West Java and South Kalimantan.

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.