Govt to imposes levies on fishing permits, catches
JAKARTA (JP): Fishing companies, depending on their vessel types and capacities, will have to pay between Rp 11,250 (about US$1.18) and Rp 109,773 per gross tonnage (GT) when applying for a fishing permit beginning this year.
The levy requirement is stipulated in Regulation No. 141/2000, one of two new regulations announced by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries on Wednesday.
The other directive, Regulation No. 142/2000, requires fishing companies to pay levies of 2.5 percent on their fish catch. The amount of the payment is to be based on a reference price set by the government.
"Both regulations were issued on Dec. 15, last year and became effective 30 days after their issuance," the ministry's spokesman Zukafril told The Jakarta Post.
He said that before issuing the two regulations, the government did not impose any levies on either permits or production.
According to him, the government can earn an estimated Rp 290 billion annually in non-tax revenue through the two levies.
Aside from raising its revenue, he said, the government also wanted to better control the fishing industry.
"One consideration for imposing them (the levies) is to achieve a more sustainable development of the fishing industry," he explained.
He said the growing number of vessels operating amid depleting fishing resources, required a tighter control of these natural assets.
"We have many interested parties but limited fishing resources," he stressed.
He said that with the levies on fishery production, the catch of a fishing vessel would be counted each time it unloaded it at a harbor.
To supervise the implementation of these new regulations, he said, his ministry would cooperate with the navy and other related government offices.
Because the regulations would become effective as of next week, he hoped the fishing industry had enough time to discern the new policies.
"There is some time left, we can still do some publicity on the regulations," he said.
Data from the ministry estimates Indonesia's fishing potential at 6.7 million tons of fish per year, which makes up about 10 percent of the world's fishing resources.
Last year, fish exports from Indonesia are estimated to have grown by 8 percent from the 1999 figure to US$1.74 billion.
In terms of volume, the country's fish exports rose by about 9 percent to 700,000 tons.
New investments in the fishing sector between January and September last year were estimated at Rp 1.46 trillion.
Most of these investments were in fishing operations, fish farming and fish processing.
Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sarwono Kusumaatmadja has said his office was preparing new investment schemes to lure in foreign investors, especially from China, Japan, India and Europe.(bkm)