NOAA statelite station opens

DENPASAR, Bali: The Ministry of Sea Exploration and Fisheries along with the BPPT and Superintending Company of Indonesia (Sucofindo) launched on Monday the country's first earth satellite receiver station for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"The technology is used mainly to provide accurate information on fishing ground mapping along with two existing satellites, namely Topex Poseidon and SeaWifs ," Director General for Sea Research and Exploration Indroyono Soesilo said on the sidelines of the ceremony inaugurating the station here.

Minister of Sea Exploration and Fisheries Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said the information gained from the satellite could help security forces deal with illegal fishing in the country's waters.

"The fishing ground mapping also shows details on the position of plankton and possible fish gathering through measurement of water temperature, pressure and climate. This way the fishermen can obtain information on the best fishing locations as the data is spread through the cooperative in the villages," Sarwono explained.

"When we first conducted a trial of this technology with local fishermen they told me that they caught 34 tons of fish in seven days instead of only the usual 10 tons of fish within 10 days," Sarwono said adding that the station in Denpasar was built at a cost of about Rp 300 million.

Similar ground satellite receiver stations will be set in Pekanbaru, Riau and Manado, North Sulawesi later this year. (edt)