TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Minister Susi to launch marine industry overhaul
The Indonesian government will conduct a thorough review and formulate revisions of regulations and policies for the marine industry in order to reform the sector, a minister says
Change Size
T
he Indonesian government will conduct a thorough review and formulate revisions of regulations and policies for the marine industry in order to reform the sector, a minister says.
Newly installed Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti vowed Friday that her ministry would introduce significant changes in policy-making.
'I will revamp regulations and policies so that they conform to environmentally-friendly practices and can generate more income for the state,' Susi told reporters at the ministry office in Jakarta.
Upset by reports of the Rp 300 billion (US$25.6 million) per year in non-tax income the ministry receives from 5,329 large ships, the businesswoman-turned-minister said that business-wise the revenues were very low given the government's mammoth subsidy allocation of up to Rp 11.5 trillion in the form of 2.1 million kiloliters of diesel fuel provided to the fisheries industry this year.
'We don't want this to happen again. This doesn't make sense at all,' Susi said, insisting that revenues need to equal the state's expenses.
- Ministry will review and revise regulations and policies to make them more compliant with best practices in marine industry
- Minister Susi set to pull the plug on government subsidies for marine industry within five years
Susi said earlier that 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.
'My target is that in five years the government doesn't have to subsidize the fishing industry.'
Throughout her first week of work, Susi was stunned by the discovery of ill-conceived regulations that provided loopholes for unlawful fishing practices, such as Marine and Fisheries Ministerial Regulation No. 30/2012 that allows open-water transshipment by large foreign operations. 'Next week I will sign a review of such laws,' Susi said.
Susi said that she would suggest alternative allocations for the fuel subsidy and would open up ministry data that would allow the public to help monitor illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Indonesian waters.
Susi said earlier that her ministry would set up more comprehensive regulations. For example, she said she decided to raise the capture levies paid by large fishing vessels after finding out that the current levies were very meager.
In a meeting with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) on Thursday, Susi announced her plan to freeze the issuance of new licenses for fishing vessels that measured 30 gross tonnage or more, instigating a moratorium that would be effective for the remaining two months of this year.
'I will overhaul the large-scale fishing industry. [...] I apologize if this measure is prohibitive, but it has to do with the whole [of the industry],' Susi said.
Separately, the chairman of the Indonesian Fisheries Product Processing and Marketing Association (AP5I), Thomas Darmawan, welcomed Susi's decision to impose the moratorium, as it gave the industry leeway to replenish its supplies and the government enough time to implement new regulations.
'I think that the moratorium is for reorganization. If it can be done, laws can finally be enforced,' Thomas said.
Thomas said that the maritime processing industry would be able to make use of the down-time by manufacturing products with more added value, while small industries could ramp up production to make good on the scarcity of raw materials.
Meanwhile, Kadin chairman Suryo Bambang Sulisto said he was optimistic about working with the new minister, saying, 'For so long our management of the marine and fisheries sector has been lacking, but with someone as experienced and embedded as Susi taking the reins, we have the opportunity to introduce policies that would greatly improve the sector,' Suryo said.
