Indonesia, UK expand ties in marine development

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian and British governments took steps to expand ties in marine development on Tuesday through a number of programs, including the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and cooperation in integrated coastal zone management.

"In addition, we have been developing cooperation in aquaculture and on processing technology for marine products," chief of the Marine and Fisheries Research Agency Indroyono Susilo said in his address in a Marine Resource workshop here.

The VMS assessment was conducted between June and December in 2000, he said.

"We are ready to implement this system this year and all industries and parties participating in the VMS scheme, including the United Kingdom, will be joining a team to develop the downstream component of the VMS," Indroyono said.

Also attending the workshop was British ambassador to Indonesia Richard Gozney.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said in his opening remarks that Indonesia is pushing for aquaculture development since data indicates that the current 20 million tons of increased production in world fisheries is due to aquaculture instead of offshore fishing.

"Currently Indonesia produces some 5.3 million tons of fish per year, 82 percent of which are from offshore fishing. We need to push for aquaculture to boost fish production," he said.

The minister also proposed further legislation regarding the use of coastal areas for aquaculture.

"Aquaculture sites are also suitable for agriculture, mining, oil drilling, surface transportation and tourism.

"Therefore one way to deal with this is to create 'demarcated fisheries rights', which is the right to use the marine area for certain activities. Further information must be provided and arrangements set in place to avoid excesses, such as uncontrolled domestic and industrial wastes," Sarwono added.

The minister also stressed the importance of health management practices to prevent the outbreak of diseases which hit shrimps or fish such as white spot spiral diseases and severe vibrosis.

"So far measures taken to prevent these illness have not produced significant improvement," he said. (edt)