National Fish Logistics System Beneficial For Fishermen

Jakarta, Sept 5 (Antara) - The National Fish Logistics System (SLIN) developed by the government has supported the fishermen`s economic activities, and hence, has improved their welfare, stated the Ministry of Marine and Fishery. "The development of SLIN is expected to ensure that fish can be efficiently collected and absorbed in upstream markets, Directorate General of Processing and Marketing of Fishery Production Saut Hutagalung stated here on Friday. It is also expected that SLIN will ensure smoother distribution of fish from production centers to downstream markets, he explained. Finally, the availability and supply of fish from markets to the processing industries can be improved. According to Saut, all these advantages of SLIN may help to stabilize fish prices, which are determined for the fishermen. Saut explained that fish prices will fall as SLIN will be able to reduce the number of fish being discarded due to lack of cold storages. "We have 11.5 million fisherman families that mostly live in small islands. Hopefully, SLIN can improve their business and increase their income," he affirmed. Earlier, Secretary General of the Ministry of Marine and Fishery Sjarief Widjaja stated that the Draft of Government Regulation (RPP) on Empowerment of Small Fishermen is an effort to encourage them to establish business groups to increase economic independency. "We encourage fishermen who have been working individually to work in groups of business entities, whether they are in a cooperative, or in a small company," Sjarief recently emphasized. According to Sjarief, this support is intended to protect fishermen and small-scale cultivators within a legal business entity that they had not obtained previously. According to data obtained from the ministry, of the 2.7 million Indonesian fishermen, 95.6 percent are traditional fishermen who work along the coastlines.