Indonesian Mariculture Products Possess Significant Global Market Potential

Jakarta, May 25 (Antara) - The Indonesian government, through the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP), is focusing on increasing the production of cultured fishery products as these commodities have huge potential in the global market, a senior official stated. "Mariculture products have high economic value as they have immense global market potential and good export prospects," Director General of Cultured Fisheries Affairs of the KKP Slamet Soebijakto noted in a press statement received by Antara here on Monday. He emphasized that the government needed to develop fishery zoning in the regions to facilitate the development of mariculture. For instance, to promote seaweed development, the cultivation areas will be located up to four miles along the coastlines while in areas located four miles and beyond, seaweed will be developed using the floating net cage (KJA) equipment. Fish commodities to be developed in the zoning system will be adjusted to the local conditions. Fish species will include snapper, grouper, pomfret, sea stars, abalone, or tuna. "Mariculture development is in line with the vision and mission of the Working Cabinet (of the Joko Widodo administration), which is to develop the economic potential of the maritime sector of the nation," the director general noted. The director general pointed out that the country's 4.58 million-hectare potential area should motivate the people to seriously focus on boosting cultured fishery production. After all, Indonesia, under the leadership of President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, has outlined a program to transform the country into a global maritime axis. Earlier, Head of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Suryamin remarked that the fishery sector had relatively grown better in the second quarter of 2015 due to increased production and the rising number of entrepreneurs in the cultured fishery business. "The fishery sector showed the highest growth because it is boosted by an increase in cultured fish production," BPS Chief Suryamin stated at the KKP office on Monday (May 18). According to the BPS, economic growth in the fishery sector in the first quarter of 2015 was recorded at 8.64 percent, far higher than that achieved by the agricultural sector at 2.94 percent and the forestry sector at 1.24 percent. However, the quarter I 2015 experienced an upward trend, or down to minus 2.81 percent as compared to that in the corresponding period last year. This occurred due to unfavorable weather conditions in the past several months that resulted in fishermen in various regions showing reluctance to venture out at sea to catch fish.