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)