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ndonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) has built a training center for fishermen in the eastern region of the country with an investment worth up to Rp 2 billion (US$205,130).

Deputy chairman of Kadin for maritime and fishery affairs Yugi Prayanto said on Friday that the training center was built on a 20,000 square-kilometer plot of land in Seram Island, Maluku, and was funded by Kadin and several private enterprises.

“We are seeing that Maluku has huge untapped potential for the fishing industry. The building was completed in March and we’re now working on the training curriculum,” he added.

Based on figures from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, the total annual production of captured fish in 2011 hit 5.34 million tons, of which 20.66 percent were from Papua and Maluku waters, the biggest contributor, followed by the northern coast of Java with a contribution of 11.16 percent.

Erwin Hartono Suminto, permanent chairman of research and development of the fish processing industry for the maritime and fisheries affairs of Kadin, argued that the fishing industry’s national annual production — both capture and culture — had only hit dozens of million tons, far less than its potential.

“We have targeted that we could achieve more than 30 million tons in annual production as we believe that there is still a lot of untapped potential for fishing in eastern provinces, including Maluku,” he explained.

In agreement, the chairman of Kadin said that about 50 percent or more of the potential in eastern regions had not been fully explored.

Based on data released by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Maluku produced 1.18 million in its annual fish production of which 48 percent was captured fish. It valued Rp 4.52 trillion, increased 22 percent from Rp 3.7 trillion in the year earlier.

The increased total production and total value was in line with the increasing number of fishing enterprises in the province. It was recorded that the number of both small medium enterprises (SMEs) and companies was up 16 percent from 37,163 units in 2010 to 44,567 in 2011.

Finnish Ambassador to Indonesia Kai Sauer said on the sidelines of the event that Finland was interested in improving its business-to-business relationship with Indonesia.

“We are interested in becoming trading partners with Indonesia, particularly in the area of clean technology, information technology and games. Fisheries are one aspect, but not a priority,” he said.

Yugi said that Kadin was reviewing the possibility of cooperating with Finland on fisheries, especially in regards to technology such as fishing and surveillance technology to survey illegal fishing. (koi)