Fishing deregulation criticized
JAKARTA (JP): An academic criticized yesterday the government's regulation on the operation of foreign fishing boats, saying it proved that deregulation of fisheries was done "half-heartedly".
Bonar Pasaribu, a lecturer at the Bogor Agricultural University's (IPB) Faculty of Fisheries, said the decree did not encourage businesspeople to develop the industry.
He said that, if the government wanted to boost the growth of the national fishing industry, it should introduce better measures such as the provision of real facilities and incentives.
"But so far, (the government) has not done this and the latest decree of the agriculture minister shows nothing of the kind. This has been a long-time complaint of many businessmen in the industry," he said.
The minister of agriculture issued Decree No. 957/1996 last month on the operation of leased fishing vessels bearing foreign flags in Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The decree, dated Dec. 27, 1996, was made public on Tuesday.
Under the decree, chartered foreign fishing boats are now restricted to operating in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean parts of the country's 200-mile EEZ.
It states that leased foreign vessels are allowed to operate in the EEZ only after they have gained a fishing permit from the Ministry of Agriculture's Directorate General of Fishery and a foreign vessel operating license from the Ministry of Transportation's Directorate General of Sea Transportation.
The decree, which expires Dec. 31, 1999, states that foreign vessels allowed to operate in the EEZ must have a capacity over 800 gross tons (GT).
The decree also stipulates that fishing permits and foreign vessel operating licenses can only be issued if a fishing company has at least two Indonesian-made fishing boats of at least 30 GT each, a cold storage with a minimum capacity of 100 tons, a canning factory, a dockyard with a minimum capacity of 150 GT or an ice plant with a minimum daily capacity of 10 tons.
Last July, the minister of agriculture issued a decree allowing local companies to import fishing boats.
Although the government considered that this was a deregulatory measure, many businesspeople and observers have said that its terms were too hard and that it did not help develop fisheries.
Pasaribu said that, as long as red tape and several requirements prevailed, deregulation would have no meaning.
"I think there were conflicts of interest when deregulation was designed, which is probably why it's not working very well," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said the government should prove it is serious about developing the domestic ship-building industry.
"Large amounts of capital, technology and expertise should be invested (in the shipping industry). For this, incentives should be provided to attract investors," he said.
"This has become more urgent now because the government requires a fishing company to own locally-built vessels before it can import," Pasaribu added.
He said that some shipyards, such as those in Bagansiapi-api (North Sumatra) and Ambon (Maluku) which build wooden ships, had operated for decades and only needed more capital and new technology to improve.
He said ships of up to 250 GT were economically feasible and large enough to operate in the EEZ.
He suggested Indonesia concentrate on building fishing boats measuring 40 GT to 60 GT. (pwn)