EU discriminates against Indonesia's fish products: Minister

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 01/03/2010 9:06 AM

Minister of Fishery and Maritime Affairs Fadel Muhammad revealed that the European Union had discriminated against Indonesia's exports of fishery products by imposing higher import tariffs, Antara reported on Sunday.

"Indonesia's fishery exports to European Union have been charged with 9.5 percent import duty, but they do not impose any import duty for exports from Vietnam. This is injustice," Fadel said in a meeting with the Association of Indonesian Long-line Tuna Producers (ATLI) in Denpasar on Saturday night.

He said the government would try to break the exports barriers in a number of countries, including in the European Union, to make Indonesia's exports of fish products more competitive.

Fadel noted that eliminating such export barriers is important to achieve his ministry's target of making Indonesia the largest exporter of fishery products by 2015.

Meanwhile, Dedy Sutisna, a director general at the Fishery and Maritime Affairs Ministry, said that Indonesia, as a member of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) had the obligation to pay an annual fee of Rp 2 billion (around US$200,000).

However, the Foreign Ministry was often late in paying that fee, Dedy said, causing Indonesia unable to attend some of IOTC meetings.

Dedy suggested that in the future, businesspeople in the fishery sector need to bear some of the cost so that Indonesia can make an active contribution to IOTC and thus boost the country’s exports of fishery products.

IOTC drops plans to limit tuna fishing

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 04/06/2009 2:59 PM

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) concluded its 13th annual meeting last week with a deal to drop a plan limiting fishing capacity, following opposition from key member countries, including Indonesia.

Indonesian delegation head Suseno Sukoyono told The Jakarta Post on Sunday the commission had decided to review the plan as members from developing countries believed it would destroy their fishing in-dustries, saying limiting catches would give little room for the industry to grow.

Suseno also said Indonesia, whose fishing industry is comprises mostly traditional fishermen, opposed the plan because it would "endanger the livelihood" of the small businesses.

"It would be detrimental should the commission apply the policy; we would be severely affected," he said.

IOTC executive secretary Alexandro Anganuzzi said during the opening of the meeting that the commission would discuss the limitation of fishing capacity with its member countries.

He added the commission had been concerned with the fact that tuna feedstock in the region was being overfished.

However, as the meeting progressed, the plan, initiated by the European Union, was strongly opposed by other countries, including Australia, which is also worried about disruptions to its fishing industry.

Australia is the IOTC member with the biggest exposure in the Indian Ocean.

Other opposing countries included Oman, Mauritius and India.

Besides delaying the catch limit policy, the meeting also agreed to postpone a plan to limit fishing fleets, as data and proposal from member countries remained incomplete.

Suseno also said it had been agreed during the meeting to retain Anganuzzi as the commission's executive director for the next three years.

"It's our strategy to protect the interests of developing countries, as Anganuzzi represents the FAO *Food and Agricultural Organization*," he said.

The IOTC is an intergovernmental organization under the auspices of the FAO. It has 28 members, including Australia, the UK, Japan and the EU representing the interests of developed UN member states, while Indonesia, Iran and India are among those representing developing ones.

Previously, there was also a proposal to discuss the possibility of the IOTC being separated from the FAO.

However, the proposal was dropped due to opposition from developing countries, Suseno said.

Indonesian representative Nilanto Prabowo said a separation from the FAO might lead to increased control of the organization by developed nations.

The IOTC manages tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjoining seas, with the main objective of promoting both cooperation among members and the sustainability of tuna resources.

Indonesia is the 27th member of the IOTC.

According to the commission, the region produces more than 1 million tons of tuna annually, worth between US$3 billion and $5 billion.

IOTC to impose mandatory certification for tuna products

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/02/2009 3:17 PM

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) plans to impose a mandatory product certification system on its member countries to certify that their tuna products are not caught using illegal practices, before being exported.

The plan was proposed on Wednesday during the third day of the commission's 13th annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia representative Saut Hutagalung said Wednesday.

Tuna products that fail to show the certificate will be prohibited from entering other member countries' markets, Saut says.

"The new regulation aims to reduce the practice of illegal fishing among member countries and also to make sure that the *tuna* capturing system will not affect other species like sharks, sea turtles and sea wolves, which have become endangered species," he said.

The certificate will contain and verify information submitted by fishermen and traders before exporting the fish, specifying the type of fishing boat used when capturing the fish, the fishing equipment used, areas fished and the dates of catches, according to Suseno Sukoyono, who heads the Indonesian delegation to IOTC, which ends on April 3.

No timetable has been set for the new regulations to be introduced, but Saut expects the new regulation imposing a catch documentation requirement in respect of big-eye tuna to be effective starting 2010. Big-eye tuna are amongst the tuna species most threatened by over-fishing.

Saut says that the product certification requirement was initially proposed by the European Union (EU) countries, which since 2008 have required fish product certification for all fish products entering EU member state markets.

"They want a similar system to be applied within IOTC member countries," Saut says.

The certification system maybe one of the platforms strengthening IOTC prior to applying mandatory trade sanctions against illegal fishing practices by its members.

IOTC executive secretary Alexandro Anganuzzi said on Monday that the commission was considering applying trade sanctions, under which member countries would be prevented from receiving any tuna products if the country would be involved in any irresponsible fishing practices.

RI against IOTC plan to separate from FAO

Ika Krismantari, THE JAKARTA POST, BALI | Wed, 04/01/2009 12:10 PM

Indonesia is against a plan from the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) to separate from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN.

Indonesia’s representative at the 13th annual meeting of the IOTC currently underway in Bali, Nilanto Prabowo, said the organization’s status should remain as it is, which is under the auspices of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), since separation might lead to increased control of the organization by the bigger developed nations.

“We have the interest to retain IOTC’s position under FAO, as the UN organization cares about the existence of the developing countries in the commission,” he said.

IOTC was established in 1996 as an intergovernmental organization under a UN convention.

It has 28 members including Australia, the UK, Japan and the EU representing the interests of developed UN member states, while Indonesia, Iran and India are among those representing developing ones.

Nilanto also said that there were concerns on the part of developing countries about the possibility of changes in the IOTC system should the IOTC split from the FAO.

The IOTC could become a more market-oriented organization with major countries and interests taking control of the commission, Nilanto said, circumstances that could put the tuna industry in developing countries at risk, as they did not have the capacity for full-blown competition with larger competitors.

The proposal to separate from FAO has so far secured the backing of countries like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, but opposition from many developing nations.

Nilanto said China, Iran and India shared the Indonesian position.

This proposal, to leave the FAO, first originated from a recommendation by an independent panel of IOTC, as it saw the management of the commission as too dominated by the UN’s complex bureaucratic system, making it less efficient and often less transparent.

IOTC executive secretary Alexandro Anganuzzi acknowledged the wide difference in opinions between the groups for and against change.

“It is very premature for us to say [about the outcome to separate or not], it will be up to members to do what they want,” he said.

IOTC’s main objective is to promote cooperation among its members to ensure the conservation and optimum utilization of tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean region.

It is holding its 13th annual meeting in Bali from March 30 until April 3 to discuss these issues.

Indonesia, which is the largest tuna producer in the Southeast Asia region, only recently joined the IOTC as a full member in 2007, after previously serving as a cooperating non-contracting party.

In 2008, Indonesia produced 937,000 tons of fish, including 125,933 tons of tuna. The year before, it produced 892,000 tons of fish, including 121,316 tons of tuna.

The country has said earlier in the meeting that it would propose an additional 500 tuna fishing boats to be added to its existing fleet of 874 tuna fishing vessels.

Indonesia proposes 500 more boats to fish for tuna

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali | Mon, 03/30/2009 12:59 PM

Indonesia proposes to expand its tuna fishing fleet by 500 vessels at the 13th meeting of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) in Bali this week.

The Fishery Ministry's director general for ocean fisheries Ali Supardan told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that in a bid to increase the country's tuna production, Indonesia would propose that 500 more vessels be added to its existing fleet of 874 vessels during the 13th Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) being held in Bali this week, starting on Monday.

With more vessels registered with the IOTC, Indonesia would get the chance to significantly expand its tuna fishing areas. Vessels registered with the IOTC are permitted to fish outside of their national territorial fishing waters, so long as they remain within the Indian Ocean region covered by the IOTC regulatory framework.

Director of fisheries sources Nilanto Prabowo told The Jakarta Post that Indonesia was expected to increase its tuna production by 20 percent this year, should the proposal to amend the quota under the IOTC regulations be approved.

According to data from the Central Statistic Agency (BPS), Indonesia produced 125,933 tons of tuna in 2008, a slight increase from 121, 316 tons in 2007. However the proposed substantial expansion in the size of the tuna fishing fleet would have a major impact on the tonnage of tuna landed, although it might take some time to optimize the resulting catch based on the requested quota.

Nilanto said that the proposed increase in the number of tuna fishing vessels to be deployed under the requested amended IOTC quota would have to be phased in step by step as this would require time and substantial investment.

"We will propose the plan during the meeting. About the time frame for the implementation, we will add the number of registered ships gradually," he said, without elaborating.

The proposal is part of an Indonesian strategic plan to have a greater say among tuna producers in the commission and to play a greater role in the tuna fishing industry.

Nilanto said that Indonesia was not alone in proposing an additional quota. The commission was still in the process of determining the number of boats that could be allowed to fish for tuna in the Indian Ocean region in order to maintain a balance between the development of the tuna industry and sustaining the size of tuna reserves.

"Other countries only propose between 25 and 50 additional vessels," Nilanto said, adding that Indonesia's hefty request was reasonable because the country was considered to be among the biggest maritime countries in the world, with its fishing industry expected to show major growth in the coming years.

Data from the Fishery Ministry shows the country's fishery output reached 8.71 million tons last year, up from 8.24 million tons in 2007.

It exported 895,000 tons of fish in 2008, a 4 percent increase from the 854,329 tons it exported in 2007.

Indonesia joined the IOTC as a full member in 2007, after previously serving as a cooperating noncontributing party.

The IOTC is an inter-governmental organization that manages tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas with the main objective of promoting both cooperation among its members and sustainability of tuna resources.

Indonesia is the 27th member of the IOTC.

According to the commission, the region produces more than 1 million tons of tuna annually worth between US$3 billion and $5 billion.

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