Experts told to help fishermen

Experts told to help fishermen

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman
Djojonegoro called on experts in ocean engineering this weekend
to retrieve Indonesia's many fishermen from the jaws of poverty.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the new board members
of the Indonesian Association of Engineers' Vocational Council
for Ocean Technology, Wardiman said the major issue was how to
seek realistic solutions to their problems.

"The major issue is how we can make their commodity into a
product which can bring significant income to our country's
earnings" he said.

Indonesian fishermen and their families make up the largest
group of people living below the poverty line, with living
conditions worse than those of farmers.

Although two-thirds of Indonesia is made up of seas, natural
resources from the sea have yet to become a major contributor to
national earnings.

Wardiman said that the low levels of skill and technology are
to blame for the acute poverty facing Indonesian fishermen.

Wardiman, who earned his bachelor degree in ship engineering,
asked the engineers to come up with concrete proposals on how to
alleviate the seamen's poverty.

He stressed the importance of ocean studies in light of
Indonesia's recent gains from a number of international laws
concerning its territorial waters.

"The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea...gives a great
opportunity for Indonesia to explore its natural resources in the
area," he said.

Indonesia's territorial waters, the continental shelf,
transfer of technology and scientific research on the ocean were
among the concepts broadened and adopted internationally on Nov.
16, 1994.

Indonesia's 37 years of struggle to gain international
recognition over its territorial waters has increased the area
from 1.9 million square kilometers in 1945 to five million square
kilometers in 1957. With the 1982 convention, the area increased
to 4.9 million square kilometers.

Soegiono, rector of the Surabaya 10 November Institute of
Technology, reported from his scientific paper that ocean
technology and marine sciences still face a severe lack of human
resources and facilities.

He added that experts in these areas should conduct their
studies in relation to the current job market.

"They should also anticipate advancements in technology which
change rapidly. In this field, developing countries are often
left behind," he pointed out.(pwn)