Indonesian fishermen. (Photo: Stock File)

Fishing sector fails to reach its objectives since 2015, as association denounces

INDONESIA
Tuesday, January 16, 2018, 01:20 (GMT + 9)

The Association of Traditional Fishermen of Indonesia (KNTI) calls on fisheries authorities to provide more support to coastal fishing communities, so that they can contribute to reach the production and export goals set for the fishing sector.

According to the association, Indonesia has not been able to achieve the objectives of production and export of fishery products in the last three years.

The target for Indonesian fishery production for 2015 had been set at 13.6 million tonnes, but that year only 10.87 million tonnes were produced, explained the director of KNTI's strategic research department, Niko Amrullah.

He also said that in 2017 production was reduced to 9.91 million tonnes, while the goal was to reach 16.04 million tonnes, Jakarta Post reported.

As regards fish exports, the fishing leader indicated that the goal was to obtain USD 5.86 billion, but the real value was far below USD 3.9 billion.

Meanwhile, while the export target for 2016 was USD 6.28 billion, revenues were USD 3.78 billion. And in 2017, the value of fish exports was also well below the established target: instead of USD 7.62 billion, only USD 3.17 billion were obtained.

From KNTI they emphasize that the performance of small and medium enterprises has been affected by this significant decline in both production and exports. To this, an increase in non-performing loans (NPL) for the sector was added, of 5.04 percent in 2017 and 4.30 percent in 2016.

Niko accused the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of failing to meet the goals set and urged this agency to place more emphasis on the development of fishing communities in coastal regions.

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