Indonesia banks on aquaculture for growth

Indonesia will pursue aquaculture development in order to increase fish exports, an Indonesian official said in a Jakarta Globe report.

Aquaculture is a viable solution to boost revenue amid decreasing populations in the world’s oceans, said Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif C. Sutardjo.

In Indonesia, the quota for commercial fishing is five million metric tons a year out of a populationof six million metric tons fish. Meanwhile, aquaculture production reached 7.9million metric tons in 2011 with an estimated potential of 40 million metric tons a year. Sharif said that aquaculture is predictable, thus making it more attractive than commercial fishing.

“Aquaculture will spearhead the ministry [program] in the future. There are plenty of available lands and shallow water that can be utilized for aquaculture,” he said.

Sharif added that the ministry will emphasize properplanning and management for its aquaculture program. The government has introduced several pilot projects, including a 1,000-hectare demonstration farm for shrimp cultivation in Banten.

“These demonstration farms apply the technology to measure shrimps’ growth rate and can provide a better chance of success for cultivation,” he said, adding that the government plans to establish at least 135,000 hectares of fish farms within four years.

Rokhmin Dahuri, president of Indonesian Aquaculture Society, said that the government must also look into the finances of aquaculture development.

“There are too few fish farmers that are committed to aquaculture development, despite the country’s huge potential,” said Rokhmin. “The government needs to provide a guarantee to the banking sector, while on the other hand, the farmers need to show that this business is sustainable.”

Indonesia’s fish exports reached $4.5 billion (€3.5 billion) last year, way below regional peers like Thailand with $8 billion (€6.2 billion) and Vietnam with $5 billion (€3.9 billion).