May 9, 2011

 

Indonesia to drive tuna exports to US

 

 

The Maluku province of Indonesia is now putting in effort to support Indonesia's tuna fish exports to US, after being declared as a national fish barn.

 

The government has declared the Maluku province of Indonesia as a national fish barn, as the area has a big fishery potential of 1.64 million tonnes per year. Maluku also has 600,000 km of sea with extensive marine resources, which brings in income and supports economic growth.

 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the apex of the Sail Banda marine event in Ambon, August last year that the province is the country's fish barn due to the abundant fishes in its waters.

 

Ambon Mayor, Jopi Papilaja, said early this week that a South Korean company, Japtora, would help manage the Eri fish landing port in the city to support tuna exports to the US.

 

Papilaja said he had agreed on coordinating with local marine and fisheries office chief Pieter Saimima after the South Korean company offered a number of facility improvements to support the tuna export activity.

 

The first stage of tuna exports to the US would be made through Makassar city in South Sulawesi and Jakarta, said Papilaja. "I let the company propose their own designs for optimising the use of Eri fish port to support the export activity," Papilaja said.

 

"Marine and Fisheries Ministry's director general of aquaculture processing and marketing, Victor Nikijuluw, inspected the Eri fish port recently and said he was ready to optimise the facility to support the export," Papilaja said.

 

Earlier, Victor Nikijuluw said that Indonesia also exported tuna to Japan but it dropped by about 50% in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Japan is the biggest tuna consuming nation and is also the leader in tuna farming research.

 

Earlier the ministry`s secretary general, Gellwyn Jusuf, said that the Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami had affected Indonesia's fishery products exports to Japan, especially tuna and shrimp. Shrimp exports to Japan in the future might reach only one third of the usual shrimp export volume, Gellwyn said, adding that Indonesia would look for alternative countries of destination such as US, China and the EU.

 

In an effort to increase tuna exports to the EU, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has urged the EU to lift a regulation requiring Indonesian tuna to undergo expensive heavy-metal tests before being exported to the region. A safety ruling issued by the EU in 2006 required farmed and ocean fish imported from Indonesia to be tested for antibiotics and heavy metals. Eddy Yuwono, chairman of the Indonesia Tuna Association (Astuin), welcomed the ministry's attempt to renegotiate the testing requirement.

 

According to him, tuna is one of Indonesia's most lucrative fishery exports contributing US$360 million to the country's annual export revenue.