The Jakarta Post, Bogor
The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has announced plans to reduce the bureaucracy surrounding exotic aquarium fish exports at the Cibinong Fish Breeding Center by placing customs experts at the center.
""One of the problems facing this industry is processing permits for exotic aquarium fish exports,"" said fisher product development and marketing secretary general Martani Husaini last week during the national tropical fish competition in Bogor, West Java.
""Filing permits and other bureaucratic procedures then can be done at the local fish breeding center,"" Martani said.
She said that exotic aquarium fish exports had to increase because demand was always high.
The Cibinong Fish Breeding Center will also build a genetic engineering facility to further raise the quality of local species to international levels.
Indonesia is ranked seventh worldwide for exotic aquarium fish exports, while Singapore is ranked first.
Meanwhile, the director for agricultural management at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Arief Daryanto, told The Jakarta Post that customs leniency would be useless if the government failed to open more export routes.
""So far, our fish only go to Singapore. Singapore takes advantage by selling Indonesian fish to other countries because they have great distribution channels all over the world,"" said Arief.
Sriyadi, who has been selling dragon fish, known locally as Arowana, for five years, said that the prospects looked bright for local businesses. He said he made Rp 2 billion a year selling just 200 dragon fish.
""I sell them to exporters from Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and China,"" he said of the species, which he originally bought in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.
A 35-45-centimeter-long dragon fish can sell for about Rp 7.5 million.
Sriyadi currently has 300 Arowana at home, 11 of which were entered in the Bogor competition, and one of which won third prize.
