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)