Govt to ban foreign fishing ships in 2000

JAKARTA (JP): The government will ban all foreign fishing boats from Indonesian waters from the year 2000 in a bid to bolster the domestic shipbuilding industry and prevent smugglers exporting fish.

The Association of Indonesian Fishermen Chairman Tuk Setyohadi said in Timika, Irian Jaya, that the government lost about US$1.5 billion a year because of illegal fish exports by foreign fishing boats chartered by Indonesian companies.

"To prevent illegal exports, the government will ban all foreign fishermen from Indonesia's territorial waters and its exclusive economic zone," he said Friday after the opening of an integrated fishing training course at the Djajanti Group's base camp in Timika.

The course was opened by Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Arief Kushariadi.

Setyohadi said that by Jan. 1, 2000, all fishing boats operating in Indonesian territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone should be registered in Indonesia and owned by local companies.

"To anticipate the ban, the government has allowed companies to import used and new fishing boats and simultaneously encouraged the development of the domestic fishing-boat building industry."

There are 7,000 foreign fishing boats of 60 to 300 gross tons operating in Indonesian waters and the exclusive economic zone, including those chartered by Indonesian companies.

"They earned about US$1.25 billion in foreign exchange (from fish exports) for Indonesia yearly," Setyohadi added.

He categorized the country's fishing areas as coastal waters, territorial waters and the economic exclusive zone.

He said coastal waters had been over-fished, resulting in small catches. "Therefore, fishermen should be trained and adequately equipped to work in territorial waters (123 miles off the coastline) and the exclusive economic Zone (200 miles off the coastline)," Antara reported him as saying.

He said there would be serious problems if foreign fishing boats, to be totally prohibited from Indonesian waters and the exclusive economic zone in 2000, could not be replaced by Indonesian ships and fishermen.

Setyohadi commended publicly listed PT Daya Guna Samudera, the Djajanti Group's fishing company, for the course it was running for 350 local fishermen. (bnt)