EU lifts bans on RI fish exporters

EU lifts bans on RI fish exporters

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Rokhmin Dahuri
announced on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) had lifted
bans on 13 of the 16 tuna exporter companies previously forbidden
to export fish to the region.

"We have sent an explanatory letter to the EU that most of the
companies have complied with the standards set by the EU,
including those regarding storage and quality control

"Just recently, I received a letter from the President of EU
stating that there would be no more problems with most of the
companies," Rokhmin said.

He acknowledged that three companies were still banned from
exporting fish to the EU as they still could not meet the
standards set by the grouping, but he declined to name them.

The EU imposed the ban following the discovery of Indonesian
tuna in the EU market that failed to meet the EU standards.
Representatives from the EU were in Indonesia to inspect tuna
exporting companies from April 15 to April 22 this year.

Rokhmin said that the bans had had little impact on Indonesian
fish exports as a whole as Indonesia and the EU had cooperated to
quickly resolve the problem.

Indonesia is the fifth largest fish producer in the world with
a total production of 6 million tons in 2003. The country
exported 696,290 ton of fish, worth over US$2 billion, in 2003,
an increase of 11 percent over 2002.