President wants optimization of fishery potentials in EEZ
President wants optimization of fishery potentials in EEZ
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday told state-owned
firms, private sector businesses and cooperatives to act unitedly
to increase efforts to tap the fishery potentials of the
country's exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
The President said that alliance among the three economic
pillars is essential in coping with the capital and technological
shortages and in taking full advantage of the under-utilized
fishery zones.
"We should optimize the fishery potencies in the EEZ.
Otherwise, the fishing opportunity would be taken by foreign
fishing companies," he said in his address at the opening of the
joint congress of the Federation of Indonesian Fishermen and the
Association of Indonesian Fishing Companies.
The partnership of state-owned companies, private sector
enterprises and fishermen's cooperatives could be an effective
business arrangement in which the three sectors could take
advantage of the country's marine resources, he said.
He said that such cooperation among the three sectors should
be based on mutually beneficial arrangements, so that all parties
involved would be able to equally gain from the business
partnership.
He said increasingly utilizing fishery potentials in the
exclusive zones is also important in reducing fishery activities
in densely populated coastal areas.
Soeharto said that the concentration of fishery activities in
crowded coastal areas has partly resulted in environmental
damages not only in the form of pollution but also in the
shallowing of the country's seabeds.
He said that the environmental problems in the country's
coastal areas also result from the illegal use of explosives and
toxic substances for fishing.
Soeharto said that Indonesia, which consists of thousands of
small and big islands, has the potential to produce around 6.7
tons of fish per year from its over six million square kilometers
of sea areas.
He, however, said that the country is only able to benefit
from half of the marine resources due to the lack of modern
fishing fleets in the country.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said
in his address that the relationship between fishermen and
fishing companies is still weak.
"The relationship between the two groups has not been so
smooth and each party often complains about the other's
activities," the minister told reporters following the official
opening of the two-day congress.
He said that the proposed partnership between state-owned
companies, private firms and fishermen's cooperatives would be
able not only to resolve differences among them but also to forge
a stronger front in reducing the activities of foreign fishing
vessels in Indonesian waters.
Addressing the congress, which is expected to formulate the
direction of development programs in the marine sector, were
Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto
Tjakrawerdaya, Navy Chief Tanto Koeswanto and State Minister of
National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita. (hen)