Country review: Indonesia

Peter Flewwelling and Gilles Hosch
FAO Consultants, Fishery Policy and Planning Division, Fisheries Department
September, 2004

I. INTRODUCTION

Indonesia^[172] is the fourth largest country in the world with a land mass of 1.9 million km², archipelagic territorial sea of some 3 million km², and an EEZ extending to approximately 3.1 million km² around the estimated 19,000 islands and its 81,000 km of coastline. Indonesia, with its 27 provinces^[173], spreads over a large area (4800 km on the base) with the South China Sea and Celebes Sea to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the northeast, the Arafura Sea to the east, and the Indian Ocean to the south and west with the Malacca Strait forming the bridge between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. The coastal areas are rich in seagrasses, coral reefs and mangroves.

There are two basic seasons in Indonesia, the dry season, May to October and the wet season, December to March with the transition seasons providing shifting winds and very changeable weather. Temperatures range around 25 to 33 degrees centigrade, with cooler temperatures in the mountains.

Population and the economy

The marine resources provide food to the 60 percent of the total 211.7^[174] million population that live in the coastal areas. Approximately 63 million (50 percent of the total on the coast) of these coastal residents are fishers (ADB Coastal Project 1999). The value of the fishery, including mariculture, is steadily growing and was approximately US$4.2 billion (2.4 percent GDP) (Willoughby et al., 1996). It is estimated that 21 percent of the national GDP of (US$172.9 billion^[175]) comes from the agricultural, coastal and marine resources.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The fisheries sector policy statement in the National Development Plan (REPELITA VII for 2000-2005 supported by ADB) includes efficient and sustainable management of maritime resources and the rehabilitation of damaged coastal and marine ecosystems, through improved spatial planning.

Fisheries policies are set out through the new Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF established in 2000) through the legislative instruments that are used by the Government. These are discussed further under the next section, but in essence include national, presidential, ministerial, provincial, and district legal tools. For marine capture fisheries, the Directorate General for Capture Fisheries of the Ministry has the mandate to develop and issue policies for these fisheries and these are then implemented through the provinces and districts according to their respective authorities under the Autonomy Law No. 22/99^[176]. Informal local policies in some areas come from traditional, unwritten laws handed down from generation to generation. These are referred to as “traditional law” or locally as sasi or adat law. Traditional conservation policies are thereby passed on to future generations.

It is to be noted that the Indonesian Institute of Science and Technology (LIPI) and Central Fisheries Research Institute (CRIFI) and three other Research Institutes (Research Institute for Marine Fisheries, Research Institute for Freshwater Fisheries and Research Institute for Coastal Aquaculture) are the official agencies that provide research assistance to the Ministry. Further, the universities often become involved in fisheries research to assist the Ministry of Fisheries in the development of capture fisheries management policies and strategies.

One of the first legislative instruments that addressed fisheries was the Ordinance on Territorial Waters and Maritime Zones, 1939 defining the zones and designating the Navy Commander as the authority for limiting or prohibiting fishing. This ordinance has evolved into a myriad of acts and regulations and other legal mechanisms that together define and provide the legal backing for the fisheries management policies at the various authority levels including those at the national, provincial and district levels.

The current national core fisheries law is the Fisheries Act No. 9 of 1985. The key objectives for fisheries management as contained in the Fisheries Act of 1985 include:

• sustainability of the marine resources

• introduction of appropriate technical, economic and biological management measures

• enhanced socio-economic benefits

• supply of fish protein and food security

• foreign exchange earnings

• employment opportunities

This Act is now under review for several reasons:

• to update it to address international principles, mandates, norms and obligations of UNCLOS 1982, the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, the FAO Compliance Agreement, and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries;

• to include the requirements of the new regional Western and Central Pacific Ocean Fisheries Convention to which Indonesia is a signatory;

• to address the mandate and management needs of the new Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries;

• to rationalise the devolution of authority for fisheries management under the Autonomy Law No. 22/99;

• to address conservation and management issues and measures evolving from various fisheries development initiatives in the country, e.g. coral reef rehabilitation and management project (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Australian Aid), coastal community management project (ADB), Coastal Resources Management Project (USAID), and others.

There is a current initiative for a Coastal and Small Islands Act under the Ministry to address fisheries management issues in the coastal areas that will also provide general consistent guidance to District Governments in the management of their coastal waters.

There are several agencies whose mandates interact and overlap with fisheries, consequently the legislation of these agencies either directly or indirectly impacts on fisheries policies, laws, and management practices. Some of these agencies include:

• Ministry of Local and Interior Government - for devolution of management authority to both the provinces (0-12 nm) and districts (0-4 nm);

• Ministry of Forestry - that has taken management authority for all marine parks;

• Ministry of Environment for maritime environment issues;

• Navy, Maritime Police for their maritime enforcement roles.

Compliance with fisheries laws is executed through the local provincial and district fisheries administrations, and the navy and maritime police agencies. Communities are being urged through several coastal resource development programmes to assume greater input into the management planning, policy development, and the implementation process, although this is still in its infancy. This latter task is often being undertaken through non-government organizations (NGOs).

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Fisheries Management is defined in the legislation as the “management of all activities that are directed towards fisheries natural resources to ensure utilization in an optimal and sustainable manner”.

Fisheries management falls under the joint responsibility of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and the provincial and district governments. The devolution of authority for government management, including fisheries, to the provinces (0-12 nm) and district levels (0-4 nm) under Autonomy Law No. 22 is presenting new challenges for the implementation of fisheries management regimes. The establishment of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries to coordinate this devolution exercise and provide a guide for consistent implementation according to fisheries legislation is a very positive step for fisheries management in Indonesia.

The management planning functions rest with the Directorate General for Capture Fisheries; legal and regulatory development with the Secretary General; and research with earlier noted Research Directorate. The MCS functions rest with the Directorate General for Marine Affairs Resource Controlling and Fisheries Surveillance, supplemented by assistance from the armed forces (mainly the Navy and Air Force), and the Marine Police^[177].

Fisheries legislation follows a strict hierarchical structure of priority and authority levels including those shown in Figure 1.

As noted earlier, the key fisheries legislation is the Fisheries Act No. 9 of 1985, supported directly by Government Regulations No. 15/1990 and No. 15/1994. The above system has been in place for several years and as an example, there have been one Presidential Decree, one Presidential Instruction (treated as a decree), and 24 Ministerial Decrees for fisheries since 1973 to establish various business and resource management controls. Unfortunately, implementation of these legislative instruments has generally been weak. The exception has been recent efforts (2001 to date) by the Navy against foreign fishers where they have found that financial benefits from penalties are greatest.

Indonesia has implemented a scheme of joint management and implementation authority levels in accordance with the aforementioned Autonomy Law whereby the:

• Districts manage through District Decrees (called Perdas) for the area 0-4 nm from their coasts;

• Provinces from 0-12 (the overlap being for coordination and consistency between districts at the provincial level); and

• the National government and agencies take responsibility for fisheries management and implementation outside the 12 nm zone.

Licensing of fishing vessels and reporting requirements are based on vessel size with vessels smaller than 5GT being considered artisanal and not required to report, but they must be registered at the district/provincial level. Where registration of artisanal vessel is actually carried out, it is done annually and with an automatic renewal system if there are no reported changes to the vessel, such changes seldom being reported, and the registration process being poorly maintained. Larger vessels are normally first licensed at the national office. Annual renewal licenses (depending on size) are then automatically issued at the provincial offices if there are no changes to the vessel or its equipment. All vessels over 5GT are required to be inspected for safety by the Ministry of Sea Communications and Transport prior to being licensed for fishing by the Ministry. One consequence of this safety registration is that many fishers believe this safety registration is their fisheries license and do not seek the latter from MMAF. Compliance with these requirements is still a challenge for the Ministry. Licensing has not been fully implemented as a management tool for fisheries.

Fisheries management is influenced by the autonomy law, and also, perhaps more intrusively by the Ministerial Decree from the Minister of Forestry (not fully devolved under the Autonomy Law) whereby that ministry assumes management control and authority for all marine parks. This overlap in spatial and sectoral responsibilities remains a challenge for the ministries today and is further complicated by the District authority under the Autonomy Legislation.

Tourism, Port and Transport Departments under the Ministry of Sea Communications and Transport often have significant impacts on fisheries due to the spatial overlap in the coastal areas whereby, construction or other activities can clearly negatively impact fisheries health of habitat. The liaison between the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) and other agencies, as noted above, is facilitated through the National Maritime Council chaired by the Minister of MMAF. The effectiveness of this inter-agency arrangement has yet to be assessed, especially with the added complexities introduced by the Autonomy Law, and devolution of authority, consequently new initiatives in fisheries or coastal areas can expect to be required to clear several hurdles before approval.

Further, indirectly-related legislation that impacts on marine capture fisheries includes:

• endangered species legislation

• export/import/trade legislation

• biodiversity legislation

• oceans policy legislation

• marine park/sanctuary/reserves legislation

• port management legislation

• coastal management legislation

Specific examples include:

• export/import/trade legislation
  Napoleon, trochus, and others (induk kerapu, induk udang, kima, mimi mintuno, Coelachant, penyu)

• port management legislation
  Minister of Agriculture Decree No 1082/1999 on fishing port management, Minister of MMAF Decree No. 26.I/2001 on organization structures for fishing ports

• coastal management legislation
  Minister of MMAF Decree No. 41/2000 on guidelines for small island management

In summary, Indonesia has a comprehensive legal framework for fisheries management that is somewhat complicated by multiple authority levels of legislation and the overlapping intra- and inter-agency jurisdictions. This framework is further complicated by the devolution of fisheries management authority to the provinces and districts, and the growing transparency and consultative, participatory approach being trailed by the national fisheries authorities.

The increasing introduction of non-government organizations and community groups to assist in bridging and providing input to management planning and implementation is a challenge for all government levels, but, despite usual introductory concerns, it is becoming accepted as the future management practice, and is supported by an appropriate legislative structure.

STATUS OF FISHERIES

The potential yield of marine fish resources of Indonesia has been estimated in 1997 to be 6.2 million tonnes/year. With Indonesia’s rapidly growing population and increased demand for fish for home consumption, currently at 20 kg/capita/year, its sustainable production capacity is already stressed. The total 1997 multi-fishery/gear fisheries marine capture landings in Indonesia was 3.6 million tonnes with an estimated value of US$4.2 billion. This equates to a contribution of some 2.4 percent to the national GDP, and 13 percent of the agricultural component. Further, fish exports in 1998 were US$1.6 billion compared to imports of US$49 million.

The former Directorate General of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture grouped the fishing grounds into four key areas: (1) Eastern Indian Ocean; (2) Sunda Shelf; (3) Sulawesi; and (4) Maluku-Irian Jaya.

The Eastern Indian Ocean is divided into three sub-areas: (1) West Sumatra, covering the provinces of Aceh in North Sumatra; West Sumatra; Bengkulu; and Lampung; (2) South Java, covering the provinces of West and Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java; and (3) Bali-Nusa Tenggara, covering the provinces of Bali, west Nusa Tenggara, east of Nusa Tenggara and East Timor. These areas have, in general, a narrow continental shelf with deep water; and fishing activities are mainly on large and small pelagic fish.

The Sunda Shelf area is divided into the Malacca Straits, the southern part of the South China Sea and the Java Sea. In these generally shallow waters, the fishery resources are mainly demersal and small pelagic fish. The stocks in the Malacca Straits are shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The waters around Sulawesi are generally deep with high salinity. The fisheries in these waters target large and small pelagic fish.

The waters in Maluku-Irian Jaya comprise both shallow and deep waters. The Arafura Sea is relatively shallow; and as such, it contains large fishing grounds for both demersal and small pelagic fish. Tuna and skipjack can be found over the whole area of deeper waters adjacent to the western central Pacific Ocean.^[178]

Some 94.6 percent^[179] of the total marine fish landings are taken by small coastal fishers using lines, traps, beach seines or lift nets, with pole and lines, trolling gear and mini-seines for tunas and small pelagics with 2/3rds coming from the western area. The industrial fishery targets the high value shrimp and tuna fisheries; hence contributes more significantly to the value of landings than the small scale coastal fisheries (Table 1).

TABLE 1
Characteristics of the major fisheries of Indonesia

* It has been estimated that approximately 937 foreign fishing vessels are in joint ventures with Indonesia, and fishing in Indonesian waters (Menasveta 1997).

¹ The only statistics available are for those vessels licensed at the central fisheries HQ and do not include any that may be licensed by provincial offices.

² Artisanal fishers and fishing are classified in the Fisheries Law as those using vessels less than 5GT, or no vessel at all.

³ Written communications from MMAF Sept 2003.

⁴ FAO Web page, noting that this includes all artisanal fisheries, with 56.9% of the boats non-powered; 70.6% less than 5 GT and another 21.95% between 5-20 GT all making daily fishing trips.

In 1996 the estimate of total fishers was 4.7 million with 2.5 million^[180] in the capture fishery and 2.2 in the aquaculture activities. This has been increasing yearly and the Government indicates that as of the latest figures in 2002, there were approximately 4.1 million capture fishers in Indonesia, 1.17 million in the commercial fisheries and the artisanal fishery taking the remainder. As in many countries the question, is raised as to whether artisanal fishers are for subsistence fishing only. In Indonesia, artisanal fishers vary from subsistence fishers in the isolated rural areas, to “small scale” commercial fishers bartering or selling their excess catch, to contracted fishers for the live reef fish trade, and also include full commercial fishers who bribe their way into the “artisanal” fishery category (<5GT) to avoid taxes, reports and restrictions. Ineffective licensing and law enforcement permits this to occur.

Fishers are categorised into full time (51 percent) and part time (49 percent). The high populations in Western Indonesia create a large demand for shallow water, reef and small pelagic fishes, while the eastern areas with the deeper waters are more suitable for the large pelagics. The South China Sea with its proliferation of charter vessels is assumed to be at, or nearing the MSY for small pelagics, however the western waters may have room for continued exploitation. The waters of the Arafura Sea and other deeper eastern waters appear to have room for expansion in the small and large pelagic, shrimp and squid fisheries.

MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY

The general fisheries development objective for Indonesia is the promotion of sustainable development in the fisheries sector through responsible fisheries with the management aim to find a balance between production, distribution and conservation of the resources and their environment. More specifically, efforts within the Ministry are targeted to:

• appropriate biologically sensitive and economically viable levels of fishing;

• preventing conflict between users;

• utilizing fish better - more socially desirable distribution of economic rent;

• conserving the resource;

• preventing overexploitation by controlling effort;

• improving quality of fish by reducing post-harvest losses;

• developing the use of new fish resources, including fish farming, and aquaculture,

• use of little-known species; and

• improving marketing and presentation of the products.

Biologically, the management of the fisheries resources is based on fish quotas, i.e., the total allowable catch (TAC) of 4.96 million tonne/year, that is determined on the basis of up to 80 percent of the total estimated potential yield (6.2 million tonne/year). Currently the fisheries resources are classified into several groups, namely: (1) large pelagics (skipjack, tunas, billfish, oceanic sharks and small tuna); (2) small pelagics (including scads, mackerels, sardinellas, trevallies, engraulid anchovy, etc.); (3) demersal and coral reef fishes (groupers, snappers, rabbitfish, slipmouth, etc.); and (4) prawn, shrimp, and other crustaceans.

The management of the fisheries resources falls to the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) and through the Autonomy Law to the Provincial Governors for 0-12nm, and the District Heads (Bupati) for 0-4 nm. Fisheries law can be developed and implemented at all these levels, but it must comply in intent with the national fisheries laws and Ministerial Decrees. The Government responded to a recent FAO Questionnaire that the management process was very transparent and stakeholders were active participators into the management planning and implementation, but stakeholders have not been given full management authority for the fisheries at this time. Fishers in the commercial fisheries have formed into associations, e.g. Tuna Association.

In recent years, both the commercial and coastal fisheries management authorities have commenced consultation with stakeholders for fisheries management planning, and are working with NGOs to assist in the implementation of this process. This is becoming the norm, providing opportunities for fishers input into the process. Initial plans and strategies are still developed centrally until the devolved authorities are prepared to assume the lead in this process. The Ministry does work closely with the provincial parties, and through several coastal fisheries initiatives, with the Bupati to prepare them to assume these duties. The devolution of authority necessitates a high degree of transparency in the process to recognise the role and authority of all participants. Community and stakeholder involvement at fisheries management meetings is increasing, especially with the use of media services to announce meetings and distribute materials.

Commercial Fisheries: Approximately 1/3 - 2/3^rd of the fisheries are managed from the national level, and less than 33 percent are managed at the provincial and local levels, although the number of fisheries coming under co-management has been increasing over the past ten years. At this time the three major commercial fisheries: longline for tunas (set lines and drift lines); purse seine fisheries; and by-catch exclusion device (BED) equipped shrimp nets^[181] do not have formal management plans, but are regulated through legislation. The use of legislation for management, recognizing the multi-species fisheries, is more prominent (33-67 percent) in Indonesia than the use of formal management plans (less than 33 percent) with licensing and limited access, area designations, TACs, taxes, and gear (gear type, hook size, mesh size, engines and vessel sizes) restrictions being the most common for the larger commercial fisheries. Measures to address ecosystem concerns include the prohibitions regarding: setting of fish aggregating devices (FADs) during fish migration periods; and the use of poisons for fishing. Further is the requirement for the use of turtle (TEDs) or by-catch exclusion devices (BEDs) in shrimp trawls, although the enforcement of these conservation measures is weak. Education, limited area access by gear type, stock enhancement and resource allocation are also reported by MMAF as management tools used in the commercial fisheries of Indonesia.

There is reported overfishing and overcapacity in the longline and shrimp fisheries, however, aside from imposing licensing fees, reduction in capacity has not been realised.

Conflicts in the commercial fisheries are resolved through specific consultation between parties and if not resolved, through legal steps.

Artisanal/Coastal Fisheries: The three major multi-species, artisanal fisheries in terms of capacity and value are:

TABLE 2
Major artisanal fisheries in Indonesia

¹ Source: Personal communications with MMAF officials Oct/03.

Management objectives are twofold, to ensure resource sustainability, and to minimise conflict. Management tools in use include licensing, gear type restrictions, limited entry, the establishment and monitoring of TACs and fish catches, and taxes on fisheries. Further, in some of the coastal fisheries recognition of traditional rules and customs are used for conservation management. Increased consultation has resulted in less conflicts between stakeholders, and efforts to merge government and stakeholder expectations, but it has not resulted in stabilisation of stocks, facilitated management decision-making nor has it provided an incentive for greater voluntary compliance and stewardship of the resources. Conflict is greater in the gill and seine net fisheries focused more on different type vessels and intrusion of fishers in other fisheries. As in the commercial fisheries the conflict resolution process includes the use of management tools to reduce these incidents including: education, stock enhancement, allocation amongst users, zoning and area restrictions with specific steps for resolution up to and including court action.

Licensing and registration mechanisms are weak and lack enforcement; data collection verification and analysis for planning is very weak; and enforcement of current laws by law enforcement agencies with appropriate penalties being handed down to violators is almost negligible for the national fleets. Lack of attention to these three key inputs to sustainable and responsible fisheries management significantly increase the challenge for the Ministry to meet its mandate, while reducing its probability for success.

In summary, the fisheries management processes rely on the legal instruments to manage the fisheries as opposed to formal management planning schemes. They include stakeholder participation, and now include devolution of management authority to the provinces and districts with greater consultation for management planning, implementation and conflict resolution. Unfortunately these measures have not yet shown an appreciable positive impact on stock recovery, stock stability, or the realisation of sustainable management in either the commercial or coastal/artisanal fisheries. The apparent lack of commitment to data collection and verifiability of such data and enforcement of the laws continues to have a negative impact on stock recovery, and hence enhanced fishers returns.

Indonesia’s recent efforts at the National level to control IUU fishing are becoming effective, but its legislation needs urgent review as non-sustainable measures have been included in past legislation to benefit foreign investors and local partners, e.g. redefinition of trawl nets to fish nets to allow their use in western Indonesia, etc. Inter-agency coordination through the National Maritime Council (DMP) has proven as ineffective as its two predecessors over the past ten years, due to lack of inter-agency cooperation, and this is expected to continue. Coastal co-management is becoming popular and growing in acceptance in donor project areas, but lack of local capacity hinder its widespread acceptance. This is further exacerbated by the continuation of centralist resistance to devolution in some agencies.

The new Ministry has potential to address the fisheries management situation in Indonesia in a responsible and sustainable manner, but it will require strong and committed leadership to change the attitudes of “laissez-faire” of the past decades, and acceptance of the principles of devolution of authority to coastal areas, consequently progress cannot be expected to be rapid. It is noted however, that key inroads and “champions” are coming to the fore to take on these challenges in both the offshore and coastal management areas.

COSTS AND REVENUES OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

All levels of government contribute to the cost of management with a portion of these costs assessed to fishers for their participation in the industry. Resource rents and other mechanisms are not yet being used in Indonesia. The increased involvement of stakeholders, increased monitoring and data collection, enforcement, conflict resolution requirements and modifications in management strategies have increased the cost of management of the fisheries. Although this is currently borne by the Government, officials state that they are investigating mechanisms to increase contributions from stakeholders and participants, e.g., selling user rights to coastal areas, increased licensing fees; higher penalties, etc., but these are yet to be implemented.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GLOBAL FISHERIES MANDATES AND INITIATIVES

Indonesia ratified UNCLOS 1982 on 3 February 1986 and the Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the Convention on 2 June 2000. The UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the FAO Compliance Agreement have not yet been ratified.

Indonesia has taken several actions with respect to international mandates and initiatives including:

• familiarisation/socialisation training on the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF);

• preparations for a National Plan of Action for IUU Fishing to be implemented in 2004;

• preparations of a national strategy for the implementation of the CCRF;

• preparations for the establishment of a management authority for endangered species;

• preparations for implementation in 2004 of the NPOA for reducing catches of seabirds in longline fisheries;

• preparations in 2004 for the NPOA for conservation and management of sharks;

• final arrangements on the 2003 NPOA for management of fishing capacity to be introduced to fishers in 2004 prior to implementation.

Indonesia is now measuring the capacity of its capture fisheries, said exercise to be completed prior to 2005 as urged in the IPOA. Further, Indonesia is introducing VMS, MCS, and strengthening its licensing, law enforcement and inter-agency enforcement capacity to address IUU fishing.

Increased statistical capacity is being introduced for tuna with assistance from Japan in preparation for WCPFC, but lack of budgets is hampering other data improvement initiatives.

PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL FISHERY BODIES

Indonesia actively participates in the following regional fisheries related bodies:

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Indonesia, an archipelagic state of some 19,000 islands, straddles the equator across 4,800 km forming the stepping stone island bridge between the South Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. With its population of 212 million persons in 27 provinces, the greater number being in the western provinces, Indonesia has recently devolved its marine management authority (1999) to the provinces (0-12 nm) and the districts (0-4 nm) with the central government and the new Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries taking responsibility for the offshore fisheries outside 12 nm. The devolution of authority is ongoing and requiring amendments to the myriad of complex legislative instruments utilized in Indonesia from the Fisheries Law and National Government Regulations to the various political authority levels for more local regulations called decrees (Presidential, Ministerial, Provincial and District decrees). The Ministry is currently reviewing its key legislation and writing a new Coastal and Small Islands (fisheries resources management) Act for the country to assist the new devolved management authorities. Indonesia has a comprehensive fisheries legislative system support its new fisheries management system. This new system is more transparent, consultative and participatory with input sought from stakeholders and efforts to establish a collaborative management regime between government and stakeholders, including the fishers down to the village levels through assistance from many donor initiatives.

The 3.6 million mt marine capture fishery, involving some 4.1 full and part time capture fishers (1.2 million being in the commercial fisheries), has an estimated total value of US$4.2 billion. Commercial fishers target the high value tunas and shrimp while the artisanal fishers target the small pelagics and reef fish, the latter group harvesting approximately 94 percent of the total volume of the fisheries most coming from the western shelf areas and the Arafura Sea area. The fisheries are harvested from an estimated half million fishing boats, 150,000 being for the open water and some 3 180 (Menasveta 1996) being used in the larger scale commercial fisheries, with the remainer for coastal areas. It has been estimated (Menasveta 1997) that approximately 937 foreign fishing vessels operate in Indonesian waters under joint venture agreements.

MMAF officials^[182] state that they are now utilizing several management tools to address conservation including: limited entry licensing, zoning and area, gear restrictions, and even bycatch exclusion devices (BEDs) for the demersal by-catches in shrimp trawls. The requirement for turtle exclusion devices (TEDs) is claimed to be in place for trawls and traps, but the success of such implementation is not known by this writer.

Indonesia is in a state of evolution of its fisheries management and has based its processes on legislative instruments, with attention to more transparency, consultation and input from stakeholders and devolution of authority. Indonesia is actively participating in several regional fisheries related organizations including the new 27 country, Western Central Pacific Ocean Fisheries Commission. Further, Indonesia is actively addressing international and global conservation initiatives for:

• IUU fishing;

• conservation and management of sharks;

• fishing capacity management; and

• reduction of by catch of seabirds in the longline fishery.

The new Ministry for Fisheries is having difficulties in getting organized, but the efforts on the offshore fisheries through the use of the navy are starting to show the results of the FAO MCS training (FAO, multiple). Unfortunately, the National Maritime Council concept is not effective due to lack of inter-agency cooperation, but this is a mechanism that has potential for future efforts, if given the appropriate leadership and mandate to control the maritime waters. The donor projects are making inroads on management planning and implementation in their respective sites, but these efforts have not yet become ensconced in local government processes, due in part to lack of capacity, as well as central resistance to devolution of authority to provinces and districts.

REFERENCES

Dirhamsyah. 2004. Draft PhD Thesis on Fisheries Management in Indonesia. (unpublished), Wollongong University, Australia.

FAO. 1999. Report of a Regional Workshop on Fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance and Supplement 1, Country Reports, Regional Reports and Case Studies. Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, June/July1998, FAO, Rome.

FAO. 2000. Papers Presented at the Workshop on the Fishery and Management of Bali Sardinella (Sardinella lemuru) in Bali Strai. Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia April 1999, FAO, Rome.

FAO. 2000. Regional Introductory Workshop on MCS for Fisheries Executives of Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Songkhla, Thailand, June 2000, FAO (unpublished).

FAO. 2002/27. Building an Awareness in Aspects of Fishery Statistics, Stock Assessment and Management. Proceedings of the FAO/SEAFDEC Workshop on the Use of Statistics and Other Information for Stock Assessment. Samut Prakarn, Thailand, September 2002, FAO, Rome.

FAO. Web Pages, Ocean Law, Fisheries Country Profiles; Information on Fisheries Management in Indonesia.

Flewwelling, P. 2002. Fisheries Management and MCS in South Asia: Comparative Analysis, Rome, Italy, FAO, 2000. 56p.

Flewwelling, P. 2001. Fisheries Management and MCS in South Asia: Compendium of FAO Missions, (Not Published), Tacloban, Philippines. 258p.

Menasveta, D. 1997. Fisheries Management Frameworks of the Countries Bordering the South China Sea, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand. RAP Publication 1997/33, 151p.

World Bank web pages on fisheries statistics and management issues.

APPENDIX TABLES

Current management of marine capture fisheries

Summary information for three largest fisheries (by volume) (Year 2002)

* Value in 2002 U.S. Dollars.
** % values are based on totals for each category of fishery.

Use of fishery management tools within the three largest fisheries

Costs and funding sources of fisheries management within the three largest fisheries

Compliance and enforcement within the three largest fisheries

Capacity management within the three largest fisheries