Fishery exports may net $2.04b

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign exchange earnings from fishery exports are expected to increase by 7.3 percent to US$2.04 billion this year from $1.9 billion last year, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday.

Director General of Fisheries Untung Wahyono said the increase was partly due to the rise in prices and demand for shrimp, tuna and skipjack on the world market.

"But the value and volume of exports this year are below the target," Untung said in a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission III for agriculture, forestry and plantations, transmigration and food affairs.

The government earlier estimated that the value and volume of fishery exports would increase to $2.13 billion and 800 metric tons respectively.

Untung said the export volume of processed fish products was estimated to drop by 44.7 percent to 13,649 tons from 24,696 tons last year, with its value projected to decline by 26.7 percent to $50.5 million from $68.9 million in the same period due to increased production costs.

"The production cost has increased by over 300 percent due to the increase in prices of imported packaging materials." He named Japan, the United States and European countries as the main export destinations.

Untung said the nation's export of fishery products was expected to reach $10 billion in 2003.

The country had a potential fishery catch of 6.18 million tons a year, he added, and there were plenty of opportunities for Indonesian fishing companies to exploit the supply of fish and fishery-related products.

But Indonesia is only able to tap 56 percent of its marine resources due to a lack of sound fishing technology and modern fishing equipment.

"The sector currently relies on traditional fishermen who use conventional equipment. They don't travel out farther than 80 miles from the shore," he said.

"They are also being hit by the increase by between 200 and 300 percent in fishing equipment and boat spare parts."

Untung said the development of the fishery sector would be focused over the next few years on exploiting resources in Eastern Indonesian waters and outside of the country's 200- nautical mile exclusive economic zone, which has an abundant supply of fishing resources but few firms.

"Western Indonesia waters are already suffering a surfeit. The area is small but there are too many players there," he said. (gis)