To tackle the global economic recession all nations should join hand in hand to create quality economic growth that can provide substantial employment opportunities and prosperity, particularly for poor citizens.  

This can be done by revitalizing existing real sectors, boosting new sources of economic growth and improving the global financial system.  One of the most promising sources of new economic growth is the ocean (marine) biotechnology industry.

Oceans cover over 70 percent of the earth’s surface and account for 95 percent of the planet’s

living space. They are a huge reservoir of high-quality food, biomedical compounds, renewable energy and many other important products.

Marine biotechnology, which is defined as “the application of scientific and engineering principles in the processing of materials by marine biological agents to provide goods and services beneficial for human beings,” is the primary tool used for tapping into the

tremendous economic potential of the oceans. Its industrial applications include the aquaculture, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, bio-energy, paper and agriculture industries.

Marine biotechnology may significantly increase aquaculture production in a sustainable fashion in two ways. 

First, it can enhance the growth rate, procreation proficiency, disease resistance, and ability to endure adverse environmental conditions of cultured organisms (e.g. fish, crustaceans, mollusks and seaweeds).

The organism’s ability to grow and survive in intensive aquaculture will thus be improved, increasing yields.

Second, through biotechnology, vaccines can be developed against bacterial and viral diseases that commonly afflict marine biota. Vaccines protect cultured organisms from disease outbreaks that have periodically resulted in lower production and even harvest failure.  

As part of their metabolic system, many marine biotas secrete bioactive compounds which incidentally have properties beneficial to human beings.

Various types of bioactive compounds extracted from marine organisms posses antibiotic, antitumor, antiviral or antiinflammatory properties.  

As technology improves, marine biota producing antiparasitic, pesticidal, immune-enhancing, growth-promoting and wound-healing chemicals will surely be discovered. In the last two decades, all these bioactive compounds have been used in the global pharmaceutical, food and beverage and aquaculture industries, generating more than US$100 billion annually.

Since less than 1 percent of potentially useful chemical-producing marine organisms have been screened so far, the room for expansion of these industries is extraordinarily large.

Through marine biotechnology, we can transfer characteristics inherent to marine plants and animals to their terrestrial counterparts.  For instance, the antifreeze gene of winter flounder fish has been synthesized and inserted into yeasts and terrestrial higher plants which enable agricultural crops to survive sudden-winter freezes in cold and temperate regions.

Eventually marine biotechnology will influence, in one way or another, virtually all of mankind’s productive activities, whether they be agriculture, health services, industry, energy production, or environmental remediation.  

Marine biotechnology will fuel this exciting new frontier and provide enormous economic potential for future generations to take advantage of.  

Although industrialized nations have benefited greatly from this new frontier, developing nations have as much or more to gain from advances in marine biotechnology.  

With 5.8 million square kilometers of sea (three-quarters of its total area) Indonesia is the largest maritime country in the world and is blessed with the highest marine biodiversity on the planet, giving it the largest potential for the development of marine biotechnology. Harboring more than 4,500 fish species, 20 percent of the world’s coral reefs and over 600 species of hard corals (out of the global total of 800), the archipelago is indeed the center of our planet’s marine biodiversity.

These facts legitimate Indonesia’s position as the center of the world’s coral triangle.  

Moreover, Indonesia’s coastal zone is home to the most extensive mangrove forests as well as the most diverse seaweed and seagrass beds on earth.

At least 30 cetacean species, ranging from whales to orcas and Irrawaddy dolphins can be found

in Indonesian seas; six of the world’s seven sea turtle species also live here.

the tremendous economic potential of Indonesia’s marine biotechnology industry is reflected by just two marine commodities: Shrimp and seaweed.  

Currently, 1.2 million hectares of coastal land area is suitable for shrimp cultivation, 200,000 hectares of which is already used for this purpose, with an average productivity of 1.5 tons per hectare per year. Biotechnology could easily increase the productivity to 5 tons per hectare per year.

It is therefore strongly believed that if Indonesia focuses its economic development on renewable resource-based industries through biotechnological applications, not only we will be able to handle the adverse impacts of the global economic recession but will also become a newly developed nation by 2030.

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