JAKARTA: Indonesia needs to maintain the momentum in fishery exports as its strict measures against illegal fishing contributed to an increase in exports last year, a researcher said on Monday.
Center for Policy Analysis fishery researcher Suhana said the moratorium on permits issued to foreign fishing vessels in 2014 and 2015 had contributed to an increase in tuna exports to the US last year, while neighboring Thailand and the Philippines saw decreases. “We need to take this opportunity to become the largest fishery product exporter,” Suhana said at a press conference held by the People’s Coalition for Equal Fisheries (KIARA).
Citing latest data from the Maritime Affairs and Fishery Ministry on tuna fish exports to the US, Suhana said that Indonesian exports booked a 7.73 percent increase year-on-year from January to September 2015, while exports from Thailand and the Philippines decreased 17.36 percent and 32.59 percent, respectively.
He added that the main markets for Indonesian fishery products were faraway, such as Japan and the US. Southeast Asian countries were export-oriented and did not import from each other No country had a percentage of imports from other ASEAN countries higher than 50 percent except Brunei, which was at 81.89 percent, Suhana added.
