Fishing deregulation criticized
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)