Marine sectors promising

Marine sectors promising

SEMARANG (JP): The country could earn about US$10 billion in
foreign exchange annually from the fishery and marine sectors in
the next four years if they are professionally developed, local
economist Soetoyo Abadi said on Friday.

"They could become an alternative source for the country to
repay its huge foreign debts. That's why the two sectors must be
given priority," he said.

He said illegal fishing caused losses of about $4 million a
year.

"This is a significant amount of money, so special attention
must be given to the matter," said Soetoyo, who is also a member
of Commission B dealing with economic affairs of the Central Java
legislature.

"Thailand which has only 2,400 kilometers of coastline could
earn $4.5 billion in foreign exchange from fishery, while
Indonesia with more than 80,000 kilometers of coastline has only
been able to obtain $2 billion in foreign exchange a year from
the sector. It's ironic."

He estimated that fish caught illegally in Indonesian waters
by foreign fishermen amounted to an annual value of about $4
billion, or around Rp 32 trillion. (har/sur)