Fishermen in Indonesia have an important role in developing the country. This is because fish is the main commodity consumption of Indonesian society. Indonesia has a long territorial sea border, no wonder many people who become fishermen to seek business opportunities.
It's just that the fishing industry has not been widely developed in Indonesia. Hence the vast sea products have not been exploited properly. Still need a very strong empowerment and absolutely sure of the government in order to form a fisheries industry revolution for a better future from now.
In his recent bid, the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti invited 83 Japanese businessmen in the marine and fishery sector to invest in the development of Integrated Marine and Fishery Center (SKPT) in six points of the outer islands of Indonesia.
The six islands are Sabang, Aceh; Natuna, Kepulauan Riau; Morotai, North Maluku; Biak Numfor, Papua; Moa and Saumlaki, Maluku.
Susi acknowledged, the current fishing sector has indeed been designated as a negative foreign invesment. However, according to him, the processing and logistics sector is still fully open to foreign countries.
Therefore, he invited Japan to take the opportunity to invest in the revitalization of this fishery sector.
"Indonesia has a long coastline of 90,000 km. Every 30 km required an ice machine (flake ice machine), then it takes 3,000 small machines with 1.5 tons of ice worth 20 thousand US dollars. So it takes 60 million US dollars. It's a good business, "said Minister Susi official dketerangan, Saturday (02/06/2018).
To attract potential Japanese investors, Minister Susi explained the current state of marine and fisheries in Indonesia and the long-term plan of the Indonesian government in its management. In addition, Minister Susi also showcased the increasing number of Indonesian fish.
"Now, fishermen are getting easier to catch fish. In fact, on the island of Natuna, fishermen are very easy to get tuna fish weighing 70-90 kg just by sailing about 5 miles from the beach. The welfare of fishermen also increased. The fish trade balance is also surplus. Even Indonesia is currently the number one in ASEAN, shifting Thailand, "he said.
According to him, SKPT development in six outer islands of Indonesia is one of the steps taken by the Indonesian government to strengthen the marine and fishery industries.
"The development of marine and fishery industries in these six outer islands as an effort to do food security and also defense security," he added.
It is desirable that these investments continue and Indonesian fishermen reach an essential level of prosperity.