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ndonesia'€™s maritime and fisheries industry will be given a new twist, as the government aims to focus on helping the industry become more business-oriented, the new maritime affairs minister has said.

'€œWe need to inject commercialization to improve fishermen'€™s welfare,'€ Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said in her opening remarks during a hand-over ceremony Wednesday at the ministry in Central Jakarta.

Susi, who was sworn in on Monday and replaced former minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo, said a business-oriented approach was the key to empowering small-scale fishing operations to become more profitable.

According to Susi, the emphasis on commercialization would help make the industry'€™s development sustainable and push the country'€™s economic programs toward success. '€œI [will] work hard to set up a system that will integrate commercialization and evoke some business sense, so that people will be able to make a profit,'€ Susi said. '€œAs soon as a profit is being made, [development] becomes sustainable and it will spread to other areas.'€

Echoing his boss'€™ view, Gellwyn Yusuf, the ministry'€™s director general for fishing operations, added that any activity or program needed to be measured with regard to its ability to add value. '€œWith added value, comes more money so that they [fishermen] can expand their businesses,'€ he explained.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry'€™s (Kadin) deputy chairman for maritime affairs and fisheries, Yugi Prayanto, warned that not all efforts should be subjected to commercialization.

'€œYou can'€™t generalize and commercialize everything. If there'€™s no economic added value in a certain sector, the government has to step in,'€ Yugi said, adding that the new minister'€™s first priority should be to cultivate maritime produce.

At a press conference after the ceremony, Susi revealed that she would see through the existing programs during the remainder of the year while gauging what measures to take to improve them.

Susi, who has 33 years of experience in the fishing industry and 10 years in aviation, also promised to make the ministry'€™s work accountable, saying that the ministry would publish its data online to ensure transparency and hold monthly meetings with the heads of regional fisheries agencies to keep up with issues on the frontline.

The maritime affairs ministry is expected to play a key role in realizing President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s maritime platform.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Indonesian Fisheries Product Processing and Marketing Association (AP5I), Thomas Darmawan, said he hoped Susi'€™s experience as a businesswoman would help the country achieve its potential of producing 65 million tons of fish per year through open-sea cultivation.

Thomas revealed that the country currently only produced 19 million tons of marine produce per year, including seaweed.

He added that the new government also needed to help improve the welfare of marginalized fishermen, while also supporting the private sector to maximize the industry'€™s exports.