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)