Deregulating fisheries

Deregulating fisheries

Indonesia has 5.8 million square kilometers of sea. It has
been estimated that Indonesia's waters are capable of yielding
6.7 million tons of a variety of fish as well as other marine
products, although in the past few years only about half that
amount has been collected.

This sort of thing has been going on for quite a long time,
hampering the fisheries industry and repressing the export
earnings of this particular sector. At present there are about
420 processing companies in this sector with a total production
capacity of two million tons a year, although actual annual
production amounts are only about 30 percent of that total.

It is hoped that the deregulation measures that are expected
to be announced on Thursday will be able to solve the existing
problems. The fisheries industry could become the prima donna of
our export business, replacing other products which are suffering
setbacks. Next to agrobusiness, fisheries could become a leading
industry.

Hopefully the much awaited deregulation measures will also
include a simplification in regulations concerning sailing
permits, control, technical requirements, safety, and credit
allocation. We hope that the deregulation measures will be able
to boost the fisheries industry and that they will be
comprehensive in nature.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta