Govt to tighten permits for foreign fishing vessels

Govt to tighten permits for foreign fishing vessels

JAKARTA (JP): The government said on Tuesday that it would
soon issue new fishing regulations to tighten up the regulatory
scheme governing the operation of foreign fishing vessels, in an
effort to curb illegal foreign fishing.

Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries spokesman Zukafril
said that the foreign fishing permits issued under the new
regulations would be more difficult to manipulate or misuse.

"To date, many foreign fishing vessels have abused or
falsified their permits," Zukafril told reporters during a
seminar on the Indonesian fishing industry that was held by the
daily Bisnis Indonesia.

He said that under the new government regulations, foreign
fishing vessels would only be allowed to operate under joint
venture arrangements with local partners.

Foreign fishing vessels operating here must also sell 30
percent of their catch to the local fish processing industry, he
added.

"This will provide them (foreign fishing companies) with the
right incentives to invest in Indonesia's fishing industry,"
Zukafril explained.

According to him, foreign fishing companies would then be
encouraged to invest in local fish processing plants.

To reduce the manipulation of fishing permits, Zukafril went
on, foreign vessels must also have their permit numbers painted
on their hulls.

Zukafril said that in order to control the activities of
foreign fishing vessels, they would be required to have a
transponder on board that would allow the government to monitor
their routes.

The government recently announced that it was developing such
a monitoring system, under which all ships, including local
vessels of more than 2,000 dead weight tons, must equip
themselves with transponders next year.

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja has said that the system would employ satellite and
radar monitoring similar to that in use in Peru, Morocco and
India.

Sarwono estimated that the monitoring system would cost
between US$3 million and $10 million excluding the price of the
transponders, which must be purchased by the owners of the
vessels.

According to him, several foreign companies had made bids to
run the system, including Argos from the Philippines, and Imarsat
and Racal from Britain.

Sarwono has long complained that the rampant poaching by
foreign fishing vessels was causing the state losses of about $2
billion per year.

Up until May of this year, the government reported that fish
exports had generated total earnings of $1.9 billion, and might
hit $3 billion by the year's end.

The seminar also discussed the creation of what the government
calls Indonesia Incorporated, which is the concept of marketing
Indonesian fish products under the coordination of one
institution.

"We need to combine our strengths to be able to penetrate the
international market, individual companies can no longer just
rely on themselves," he explained.

Under the concept, fish processing companies like the publicly
listed PT Dharma Samudra Fishing Industries would join forces
with other firms to market their products under one brand name.

Zukafril said that these companies have responded well to the
government's proposal and were now fleshing out the technical
details. However, he did not say how many companies would become
involved in the plan.

The government, he added, would issue guidelines next month
for the implementation of the scheme. (bkm)