Fisheries lost $7.3m due to long dry season
Fisheries lost $7.3m due to long dry season
JAKARTA (JP): A drought caused by the El Nino weather
phenomenon last year dried up at least 2.77 million hectares of
fishery areas, causing an estimated loss of over Rp 44 billion
(US$7.3 million), a minister said.
Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said recently
that at least 1.4 million hectares of aquacultural areas and 1.3
million hectares of fresh water catchment areas had suffered from
the drought.
The destroyed aquacultural areas included 39,527 hectares of
coastal shrimp ponds, 32,648 hectares of rice field aquaculture,
8,104 hectares of fish ponds and 349 hectares of fish
insemination ponds.
"We've suffered a great loss from the destroyed shrimp ponds
because shrimp is one of the biggest foreign exchange earners in
the agriculture sector," he said.
He declined to give an estimate on losses from the destroyed
shrimp ponds.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture shows that shrimp
exports have accounted for more than 50 percent of foreign
exchange earnings in the fishery sector since 1979.
Despite the decline in aquacultural and fresh water catchment
areas, the volume of fish and fish-related exports increased 6.74
percent to 636,380 tons last year from 596,200 tons in 1996.
The value of fish and fish-related exports, including shrimp
exports, also increased 9.32 percent in 1997 to over $2.05
billion from $1.89 billion in 1996, he added.
But he said shrimp exports had the smallest growth, compared
to other fish exports, such as tuna and skipjack.
"The volume of shrimp exports in 1997 only increased 2.27
percent to 97,280 tons while its value increased 2.54 percent to
over $1.08 billion," he said.
Indonesia exported 95,120 tons of shrimp valued at $1.05
billion in 1996, he said.
He said the export value of tuna and skipjack was $269.56
million last year, a 1.64 percent increase from $241.45 million
in 1996. Export volume increased 10.34 percent last year to
105,300 tons from 95,430 tons in 1996.
However, Sjarifudin said the value and volume of fish and
fish-related exports last year did not surpass its initial target
of 656,700 tons worth $2.26 billion.
1998 projection
Sjarifudin said the ministry had set a target of 683,340 tons
worth $2.27 billion for fish and fish-related products in 1998.
Indonesia mostly exports its fish and fish-related products to
the United States, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany
and other European countries.
Sjarifudin said Indonesia could still increase its export of
fish and fish-related products since demand by importing
countries was still high, increasing an average 10 percent per
year since 1990.
The increase in demand was triggered by changing consumption
patterns in those countries from meat to fish.
"People have been changing their meals from red meat to fish
because they consider fish a healthier food," he said.
Sjarifudin said there were plenty of opportunities for
Indonesian fishing companies to exploit the country's fishing
resources and increase exports.
"Currently Indonesia taps only 44 percent of its fishing
resources, or about 3.2 million tons of its potential of 6.7
million tons per year," he said.
He projected that fish production would reach its target of
5.07 million tons this year, a 6 percent increase from 4.79
million tons last year. (gis)