Kadin: Govt Must Attract Investment For Fishery Sector

Jakarta, Dec 4 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has called on the government to encourage businessmen to invest in the maritime and fisheries sectors which have not yet been exploited maximally so far. "The maritime sector is a natural resource which attracts the least investors. Most of the investment is still concentrated on on-shore business," Kadin General Chairman Suryo Bambang Sulisto said. He said that because the interest of investors in the maritime and fisheries was still small, the government would have to work hard to attract investment into these sectors. "Integrated investment is needed because the fisheries problem has a wide spectrum," the Kadin chairman said. Both the up and down streams of the fisheries faced investment problems relating to catching capacity, storage, preservation, packing, transportation and marketing. Therefore, he said efforts to attract investors in these sectors would need effective partnership between the government and businesses through Kadin. The maritime and fisheries needed to be developed through an integrated investment because segmental investment could not solve the problem. In the meantime, Saut Hutagalung, the director general for fish processing and marketing of fishery products, said that his office would continue to offer a chance to domestic and overseas investors to invest their capital in the maritime and fisheries sectors. He said that there were still many types of fish which were not yet maximally exploited such as the cultivation of shrimps, groupers, snappers, oyster shells, seaweeds, milk fish, tilapia, patin catfish, catfish, eel, and ornamental fish that had high market opportunities.