Indonesian Minister Promotes Blue Revolution to Boost Sea Potential
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries plans to
hold many events, exhibitions, workshops, seminars and
culinary festivals in the hopes of helping the Indonesian
maritime industry grow through the Blue Revolution - An
Awakening of Indonesia’s Oceanic & Fishery Resources in the
Global Market. These events will take place in a series
leading up to Archipelago Day 2010, a grand event which will
take place at the Jakarta Convention Center from December 7
to 10, 2010.
The first step is the publication of the official agenda.
A specially appointed committee held a launching ceremony at
the Mina Bahari Building III with many members of the
Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries in attendance. Many
in the maritime industry were also invited, such as those in
the fishing industries, shipping and port services, deep sea
miners and those from the marine tourism industry,
institutional government officials associated with these
industries, such as ministers and government officials from
provincial, city and district levels, as well as academics
concerned about the health of the Indonesian maritime
industry. Other guests in attendance included those from as
far away as Thailand, the U.S. and Norway.
The Indonesian Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries,
Fadel Muhammad, said that the designs of the revolution
entail several steps meant to strengthen and integrate human
resources and their development, correctly manage maritime
fishery resources and improve overall productivity and
competitiveness on the basis of knowledge. Every effort will
be made to expand both domestic and international market
access to fish products.
The Blue Revolution is partly a revolution of the mind
based on observing and addressing issues in order to spark a
boost in economic opportunity by changing the focus of many
industries from a continental approach to a marine approach.
Another aspect is a determination to increase production by
promoting and helping fisheries to grow. Furthermore, the
Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) has also
created a fleet restructuring program and will give a
proposal to the president requesting 1000 additional fishing
vessels.
The Blue Revolution’s goals are (1) to strengthen and
integrated the human resources, (2) to create added
sustainability for managing marine and fisheries resources,
(3) to increasing productivity and competitiveness based on
knowledge and (4) to expand domestic and international
market access.
The MMAF has settled on five development locations on
catfish Minapolitan that will be push to produce 30 tons a
day. The business center locations will be in Bogor,
Boyolali, Pacitan, Gunung Kidul and Blitar. The Indonesian
government is hoping MMAF will have the largest fisheries in
the world by 2015. Presently, Indonesia is the sixth largest
fish producer in the world, under Peru, Malaysia and
Thailand with China at number one.
For 2011, MMAF will propose a budget of 5 trillion. Part
of this fund will be used for buying large vessels for
fishermen and fish farmers. The MMAF will try to develop a
special fishing zone with minapolitan concept. This concept
is an economic development concept based on fishery
integration, added efficiency, quality and the upgrading of
zone management systems. Every fishing zone will build fish
product factories, ice factories and fish cool storage
facilities. The main goal is to give the fishing industry
added value.
For aquaculture, MMAF is provided a budget of 1.5
trillion Rupiah and expects aquaculture production to
increase by 500%. Meanwhile, national fish production in
2009 reached 10.65 million tons and from 2010 to 2014 it is
projected to go from 10.75 million tons to 22.39 million
tons.
Fadel said that we have a great potential to step up our
national fish production and therefore we have to design it
well. The national fishery fleet will also be restructured
to enable it to operate in exclusive economic zones.
(SAILINGS/RI/ERIC)
