Fishing reform not contradictory

Fishing reform not contradictory

JAKARTA (JP): The government has dismissed critics alleging
the recent deregulation in the fisheries sector as contradictory
to earlier rulings.

The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said the deregulation,
which, among other things, allowed the importation of fish and
shrimp trawlers, did not contradict Presidential Decree No.
39/1980 which banned the operation of trawlers in territorial
waters.

According to the ministry, earlier rulings on the operation of
trawlers, which also include Presidential Decree No. 85/1982 and
Ministerial Decree No. 930/1982, specifically determine the
fishing grounds for trawlers.

"The 1982 rulings, which are a follow-up of the 1980
Presidential Decree, state that shrimp trawlers may only be
operated in the waters of the Kei, Tanimbar, Irian Jaya and
Arafura islands, or east of 130 degrees east latitude, except
where the ocean exceeds a depth of 10 meters," said a ministry
statement signed by spokesman Bambang Subiantoro.

The 1982 Ministerial Decree also stipulates that permission to
operate trawlers in these waters only be given to foreign,
domestic and private firms and cooperatives which already have
fishing licenses. Fishing licenses are issued by the directorate
general of fisheries.

The ministry added that a 1982 decree issued by the director
general of fisheries also stipulates that shrimp trawlers that
are to be operated in Indonesian waters must be equipped with
fish segregation devices.

"Therefore there is no contradiction between the recent
deregulation -- Ministerial Decree No. 508/1996 -- and the
earlier Presidential Decree No. 39/1980," the ministry said.

The government's announcement yesterday came in response to
questions over the consistency of the government's policy on the
operation of trawlers in Indonesia's territorial waters.

In Ministerial Decree No. 508/1996, signed by the minister of
agriculture on July 4, the government officially allows
Indonesian fishing companies to import, albeit on a limited
basis, new steel long-liners weighing 100 gross tons to 350 gross
tons (GT), tuna and skipjack purse seiners of 100 GT to 800 GT,
fish and shrimp trawlers, bouke ami and squid-jiggers of 100GT
and 300 GT, and fish-lading vessels of over 100 GT.

But academicians and observers questioned the decree, saying
that the operation of trawlers, particularly in west Indonesian
waters, could endanger the subsistence of small-scale fishermen,
whose fishing ground overlaps with that of the trawlers.

Observers said the fishermen must be protected as they would
not be able to survive competition with large-scale, modern
equipment and fishing fleets which are mostly incapable of
selective fishing. (pwn)