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- Indonesia is seeking investment from Vietnam to develop Indonesia’s fisheries sector, especially lobster farming, the country’s Fisheries Minister said during a visit to Hanoi.
- In return, Indonesia would supply Vietnam with up to 300 million lobster larvae and stop seizing Vietnamese fishing vessels that enter Indonesian waters, only turning them away.
- Jakarta banned the export of lobster larvae in 2016 to prevent overfishing of wild populations from the country’s rich waters, but smuggling remains rampant.
- Despite concerns about potential damage to the domestic aquaculture industry, the government plans to finalize a decree to restart exports, citing economic benefits and the potential to reduce smuggling.
JAKARTA – Indonesia is offering to resume direct exports of lobster larvae to Vietnam in exchange for investment in lobster farming and relief from Vietnamese fishing vessels operating illegally in its waters.
jakarta Ban on export of lobster larvae It was established in 2016 to prevent overexploitation of wild populations from the country’s rich waters. However, Indonesian Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trengono said during a visit to Hanoi that exports to Vietnam will be allowed. A much more advanced lobster farming industry.
“We believe that Indonesia can become a central player in the global supply chain for lobster products in the future,” Sakti said in a statement. published January 12th.
Sakti said Indonesia’s waters are the only breeding ground for lobsters in the region that can supply wild-caught larvae. However, the country lags behind in lobster farming due to adverse government policies and farmers’ lack of knowledge and skills compared to other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam. The latter currently produces around 1,600 tons of premium lobster per year, and the industry is valued at more than $120 million. According to a 2019 survey.
Globally, fish farming, or aquaculture, production increased by 527% from 1990 to 2018, with Indonesia among the world’s top producers. Upon taking office for his second term in 2019, President Joko Widodo ordered the Ministry of Fisheries to increase the productivity of the country’s aquaculture.
Sakti said on another occasion that Indonesia is seeking investment from Vietnam to develop Indonesia’s fishing sector, especially the lobster farming industry. In return, he said, Indonesia could supply up to 300 million lobster larvae to Vietnam and would simply stop seizing Vietnamese fishing boats that invade Indonesian waters and instead drive them back.
Vietnamese-flagged fishing vessels are high on the list of fishing vessels infiltrated and involved in illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing activities in Indonesian waters. These boats typically deploy single or paired trawls, which are known to be indiscriminate and destructive to coral reefs. Pair trawl fishing is prohibited by the Indonesian government. Experts say Vietnamese fishermen are targeting both commercially valuable fish that compete directly with local fishermen and species that can be crushed into fishmeal to feed the country’s lobster farming industry. .
Sakti said cooperation like the one Indonesia is exploring with Vietnam would increase government revenue from lobster farming, while also reducing the smuggling of wild-caught lobster larvae. He said such illegal exports remained rampant, in part due to insufficient monitoring efforts.
The Ministry of Fisheries also stated the following in October 2023. Drafting a government ordinance Export of lobster larvae may resume under certain conditions. These also include exporters who partner with aquaculture farmers and commit to returning 2% of their harvest to the wild. These same requirements were specifically included when Sakti’s predecessor, his Edhy Prabowo, founded it. Export ban lifted in May 2020. However, the experiment lasted only a short time and ended after Eddie died. arrested and imprisoned Charge of accepting bribes to obtain export licenses.
Sakti said at a January 10 press conference in Jakarta that he expects the ordinance to be finalized and issued by the end of this month.
“I said to Vietnam in diplomatic language that if we can partner, we can be the champions of this region,” Sakthi said.
However, some fisheries experts still have strong concerns about resuming exports of lobster larvae, which are likely to weaken rather than strengthen the domestic aquaculture industry and threaten the sustainability of wild populations. It is said that the quality is high. They warn that allowing exports to resume would strongly encourage fishermen to catch and sell more fingerlings as demand is strong and prices rise.
The north coast of Indonesia’s Java and Lombok islands is the center of the country’s lobster larval harvest. Sand lobster makes up 90% of Lombok’s annual catch. study. The lobsters are raised in floating cages and fed with small fish until they reach maturity and are harvested six months later. In 2012, her industry valuation was $2 million.
A major obstacle to economically viable lobster farming is the high mortality rate of over 50% during the farming stage, which has been widely reported in Vietnam and Indonesia. Lobsters are one of Indonesia’s top seafood products, but illegal exports of lobster larvae and babies cost the country Rp900 billion ($64 million) in revenue in 2019 alone, according to the national anti-money laundering watchdog PPATK. He said he suffered a loss.
Basten Gokkon I am Mongabay’s senior staff writer for Indonesia.find him at đť•Ź @bgokkon.
See related articles by this reporter:
Indonesia resumes efforts to restart controversial lobster larval exports
Quote:
Jones, C. M., Lu An, T., and Priyambodo, B. (2019). Lobster farming development in Vietnam and Indonesia. Author: E. Radhakrishnan, B. Phillips, G. Achamveetil (eds.), Lobster: biology, fisheries and aquaculture. Springer, Singapore. doi:10.1007/978-981-32-9094-5_12
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