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.