Foreign vessels told to pay 'tax' of 70% of catch
Foreign vessels told to pay 'tax' of 70% of catch
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Bangkok
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries will require all foreign fishing vessels to give 70 percent of their catch to the domestic processing industry, an official said on Tuesday.
Aji Sularso, the ministry's spokesman, said that under the new regulation the foreign vessels in Indonesian waters would be allowed to take with them only the remaining 30 percent overseas.
"Such a regulation will constitute a prerequisite for any foreign fishing company intending to invest in Indonesia in cooperation with local counterparts," he said in Jakarta, as quoted by Antara news agency.
As has been reported earlier, the government, starting this year will stop all quota allocations given to foreign companies cooperating with local fishing companies in Indonesia.
Cooperation will be in the form of bilateral arrangements between Indonesia and Thailand, the Philippines and China, but a quota allocation on the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone will not be extended, Aji explained.
The bilateral arrangement with the Philippines, for example, will expire next December, with Thailand in September next year, and with China to be extended in July next year so that there would no longer be foreign fishing vessels operating under license arrangement starting from 2007, he said.
But they can still operate in Indonesia under a joint investment or joint operation scheme, he added.
Besides setting aside 70 percent of the fish for the domestic industry, the foreign vessels would also be obliged to employ local fishermen -- up to 40 percent of the total crew members -- he said.
In Bangkok, Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand Ibrahim Yusuf told The Jakarta Post that the Thai government would be informed of the new regulation.
"Both countries need a good, win-win cooperation. We have the resources while Thailand has the capital and technology in fish processing," he said on Monday evening during a dinner with the visiting Indonesian Navy chief.
With 5.8 million square kilometers of sea, Indonesia has the potential to yield 6.4 million tons of fish per year. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has set catch limits at 80 percent of the total potential yield of the area, or some 5.12 million tons per year.
However, the practices of illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing reportedly cause the country to lose up to US$1.9 billion per year, in the form of declines in revenue from legal fishing.
Last year, fishery production contributed 2.12 percent to the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) and fishery-related industries 7 percent.