W

a href="http://">Well fed: A bluefin tuna, sold for a record price, is moved using a trolley at the Tsukiji market after the New Year’s auction in Tokyo. The tuna sold for a record price of US$396,700.Reuters/KyodoAlthough Indonesia has the potential to be a leading exporter of tuna, a lack of investment in infrastructure and illegal fishing have stalled the development of its tuna industry.

“This situation is regretful because Indonesia has the potential to be a top tuna exporter,” said Purwito Martosubroto, the chairman of Indonesia’s Tuna Commission.

According to Purwito, Indonesian waters are a great habitat for tuna because of their high level of salinity. Indonesia is also close to world’s largest tuna market, Japan.

“Ironically, tuna products cannot be shipped directly to Japan because of transportation problems,” said Purwito.

Hartono, who owns a tuna exporting company, said he has to fly his sashimi products to Jakarta first before exporting them to Japan. For other products, such as raw tuna, he has to transit through Jakarta first as well where shipment costs are prohibitive.

“I don’t know why it’s so expensive to ship goods to Jakarta,” said Hartono, president director and owner of PT Nutrindo Freshfood International.

Only two or three shipping companies ship products from Bitung to Jakarta, according to Hartono.

According to Purwito, local government officials could come up with innovative solutions to address this transportation problem. In one of the regions of West Sumatra, for example, a local government gave an airline incentives to transport passengers or tourists from Singapore to the region in the province so that on outbound flights (to Singapore), the airplane could transport local products.

“If a similar scheme could be implemented in Bitung, we might see transportation costs come down,” said Purwito.

Another area the government has been neglecting is public infrastructure. Hartono said the cost of electricity was very high and the supply was often unreliable. The company had to set up its own generator to protect itself from blackouts that could disrupt tuna factory operations.

Another industry player, Basmi Said, complained about illegal fishing negatively affecting the supply of tuna. In 2007 and 2008, all raw tuna products used to come from Bitung, but since 2008, Basmi’s company has had to import raw tuna from other seaports in the country to sustain its canned tuna business.

“I still don’t understand how Thailand, which has no tuna resources, manages to get hold of 500 tons of raw tuna per day,” said Basmi, plant manager of PT Delta Pacific Indotama, which exports 95 percent of its canned tuna products to Middle Eastern countries.

The company employs over 1,000 workers, mostly locals.

Basmi suspects fishermen sell tuna to foreign vessels because the latter offer more money for the catch.

To address these issues faced by local tuna industry players, Purwito said the regional government needed to improve local infrastructure, such as provide reliable electricity supply. The local government could also ask the central government to pay more attention to Bitung’s tuna industry, by providing incentives to stakeholders there, for example in the form of tax holidays.

Purwito also added that the government needed to tighten its supervisory role and minimize the presence of foreign vessels. In this area, the government has been relatively successful, as some fishermen said they had seen the number of foreign fishing vessels decrease.

— JP/A’an Suryana