2016 is a revival moment in the fisheries industry. Once the government has succeeded to eradicate illegal fishing and sunk hundreds foreign-flagged vessels, now, all look forward to its new blow – a revival of national maritime and fisheries industries.
The government ensured that illegal fishing eradicating aimed to increase sustainability in fisheries business, social welfare, and a larger employment.
Nevertheless, the government needs to manage a threatened to fail procurement program of 1,179 support vessels for 170 fisherman cooperatives worth IDR900 billion.
Until mid-December, it has recorded that merely 300 vessels finished or 17.45% from the target. Meanwhile, 60 domestic shipyards are only able to finish 1.219 vessels, the 500 remainings confirmed cannot be accomplished as it preconcerted due to limited time.
The great fear arises, the dark past – when 1.000 Inka Mina vessels in 2010-2014 worth IDR1 trillion had stalled, misdirected, and had poor specification – would recur.
Related to the fisheries industry, President Joko Widodo, in his Presidential Instruction Number 7 Year 2016 on the Acceleration of National Fisheries Industry Improvement, has assigned 25 ministries, agencies, and district heads to speed up the rising in maritime and fisheries sectors.
Investment of Industry
The easiness to attain license, industrial raw material transportation, supply, and business scale improvement of fishermen, salt farmers, fish farmers, and also processing and marketing small and midsize businesses are things that boost the fisheries industry.
President also instructed the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to establish the fisheries industry road map, location-allocation, and fisheries main area plan as the national strategic projects.
Ministers Transportation and Industry have also being instructed to evaluate regulations that prevent fisheries industry improvement.
For the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, the President assigned him to balance the policy, to coordinate the plan of fisheries industry acceleration, and to report the President the presidential instruction implementation at least every six moths. But in fact, after four months, the implementation progress of the presidential instruction had not been socialized yet.
Within policy level, the acceleration of industrialization is to start managing the investment for the small and outermost islands by co-operating with the domestic and foreign investors. At the first stage, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has boosted investment for 12 small and outermost islands. (Ast)
Source: Kompas
