Plan to allow trawlers in local waters delayed

JAKARTA (JP): The government has delayed its plan to lift a ban on the operation of trawlers fishing in the country's territorial waters due to resistance from traditional fishermen, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday.

Director General of Fisheries Untung Wahyono said recent social unrest in several fishing towns was partly responsible for the government's plan to lift the ban.

"The plan has caused jealousy among traditional fishermen toward large fishing boats. So we have decided not to lift the ban yet," he announced after signing an agreement on fishery cooperation with Trisakti University.

Untung said the ministry would instead study a mechanism to forge a better relationship between state companies, private fishing companies and local fishermen so that the three parties would be able to equally gain from the country's marine resources.

Last month, thousands of fishermen ran amok in Cilacap, usually a quiet fishing town facing the Indian Ocean in Central Java.

The fishermen reacted violently to what they saw as unfair distribution of their daily catch with their bosses and by the presence of trawlers used by big fishing companies and fishing boats from other regions.

They burned at least 10 trawlers, four cars, 10 motorcycles and 20 houses belonging to residents of Chinese descent.

The use of trawlers is banned under a 1980 presidential decree aimed to protect the country's marine resources from over exploitation and to avoid further ecological destruction.

The use of trawlers is only allowed for deep-sea fishing outside of the country's 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

The government eased the ban under a presidential decree in 1985, which states that the use of trawlers is allowed only for shrimp catching in eastern Indonesia waters. Other types trawling are still banned.

Minister of Agriculture Soleh Solahuddin said early last month that the government was considering revoking the ban on trawlers, reasoning that using trawls wisely, correctly and effectively would not destroy marine resources.

But Soleh said that only small trawls would be allowed.

Untung said Indonesia was able to tap only 62 percent of its marine resources due to a lack of sound fishing technology and modern fishing equipment.

He said Indonesia had a potential fishery catch of 6.18 million tons a year and there were plenty of opportunities for Indonesian fishing companies to exploit the country's supply of fish and fish-related products.

"We should become a main player in the tuna fishing industry because Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic country and we are very close to the Indian Ocean, which is teaming with tuna," he said.

"The sector currently relies on traditional fishermen who use conventional equipment. They don't travel out further than 80 miles from the shore."

Untung said Indonesia's export of fishery products was expected to reach US$10 million in 2003.

This year, the country expects to earn $2.04 million from fisheries exports, an increase by 7.3 percent from $1.9 million recorded last year. Indonesia exported most of its fishery products to Japan, the United States and European countries. (gis)