Indonesia Should Further Increase Fish Consumption

INDONESIA SHOULD FURTHER INCREASE FISH CONSUMPTION By Andi Abdussalam Jakarta, Nov 24 (Antara) - Despite 70 percent of Indonesia`s 5.2 million-square-kilometer area being covered by water and having abundant fish stocks, yet it is unable to fully and sustainably exploit its sea wealth and has low fish consumption. Thus, the government is encouraging the people to eat more fish, which is rich in protein and nutrition and is considered to help in brain development. "Therefore, we have the slogan: `Eat Fish for Building Intelligence, Health, and Strength.` The growth of brain cells is supported by protein, which comes from different sources such as fish. Fish contains Omega3 for brain growth," Director General for Processing and Marketing of Fisheries Products of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Saut Hutagalung stated in Jambi Province over the weekend. Saut, who was attending the "Foreikan Jamboree" held in Jambi to observe the National Fish Day, said that human brain cells need high supply of protein, particularly newly born infants. The development of brain cells can be boosted by consuming fish. Unfortunately, Indonesian people still consume less fish. The per capita fish consumption of Indonesian people per year is still about 38 kilograms, which is much smaller as compared to the average fish consumption of the Japanese, which reaches 50 kilograms. Indonesia`s per capita fish consumption has, in fact, increased as compared to 29.08 kilograms in 2009 and 30.47 kilograms per annum recorded in 2010. The director general affirmed that about 65 percent of our protein needs could be supplied by fish. Meeting nutritional needs is a serious problem, which is apparent by the fact that the average height of the people in the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is 174 centimeters while that in Indonesia is only about 158 centimeters. The average IQ level of the ASEAN people is 93 while that of Indonesia is only 89. Saut remarked that this problem must be overcome, and the situation should be improved by increasing fish consumption. "We have concerns to increase fish consumption among people. Fish has more advantages as compared to other types of meat," Saut noted. No form of disease has been found in fish meat that could endanger the health of the consumers. Other types of meat may contain diseases. "In beef, we know what is called as mad cow disease, and we also find bird flu in fowls. But, in fish, except for fat, we do not find any dangerous diseases. The fat content in fish does not pose a significant problem. Fish is classified in the white group of meat, which has a positive impact on health," the KKP official explained. Therefore, the director general called on the people to promote and eat more fish. The people should increase fish production both through cultured and fish-catching endeavors. "Yet, the people should continue to maintain the environment," Saut affirmed during the commemoration of the Fish Day in Jambi on Saturday. Jambi province is known to be one of the country`s fish production centers, particularly cultured "patin" catfish (Pangasius). While attending the jamboree held in observance of the National Fish Day, Saut symbolically handed over a unit of fishery technology transfer car and a fishery marketing car to Jambi Governor Hasan Basri Agus (HBA). Governor HBA emphasized that Jambi has huge fishery potential and should continue to be developed. Jambi has been known to be one of the country`s cultured patin fish production centers. The governor revealed that in order to boost patin fish production in Jambi, this province is developing a fish food or a fillet processing industry. Besides that, the central government is committed to establishing a fish powder factory. "Jambi is developing its fisheries sector to trigger its economic growth," the governor noted. The fish farmers in Jambi have voiced their concerns regarding the difficulties encountered so far in marketing their fish products due to the high cost of fish foods, but the presence of the fillet processing industry in Kasang Pudak Village, Morajambi, will help them. So far, pond and floating fish cage farmers have to bear the high fish food prices and unstable patin prices in the domestic market. Establishing a patin fish processing unit in the village is viewed to be a helpful step. The fish farmers in Muarojambi District are able to produce 25 tons of "patin" catfish per day, Muarojambi District Head Burhanuddin Mahir recently stated. The data made available by the DKP local office indicated that the production of Jambi`s cultured patin catfish reached 24,827.4 tons in 2012 with 17,448 families involved in fish farming activities. On the national scale, the KKP is developing pilot projects on "patin" catfish fillet processing industries in several locations across the country such as in Muarojambi, Kampar District in Riau province, Karawang and Purwakarta districts in West Java, Banjar district in South Kalimantan, and Tulungagung in East Java with funds derived from the state budget. The pilot projects are expected to encourage all stakeholders to increase national patin catfish production. Indonesia`s patin catfish production in 2006 was recorded at 31 thousand tons, while it had increased to 651 thousand tons in 2012. With the development of Patin cultivation centers and fillet processing industries, the Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries Affairs is targeting a production of over one million tons of patin fish this year. Regarding the overall fisheries production this year, the KKP has set a target at 22.39 million tons, about 19.5 percent of the global fish production of 114.6 million tons. With regard to cultured fish, Indonesia has not yet fully exploited its land potential. So far, only about two to three percent of its land potential for cultured fish has been developed. "Indonesia has land potential covering 12.5 million hectares. Now, only about two to three percent has been utilized," Agus Suherman, the president director of the state-owned fisheries company Perindo, claimed.