Fisheries Ministry Tackles 1.3 Million Lobster Seeds Smuggling in 2023

TEMPO.CO, Banjarmasin - An official from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) reported that the ministry was able to secure 1.3 million clear lobster seeds (BBL) worth Rp183 billion from smuggling in 2023.

"Throughout 2023, we were able to save around 1,347,986 clear lobster seeds amounting to Rp183 billion," the ministry's Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervision (PSDKP), Rear Admiral Adin Nurawaluddin, noted in a written statement received on Tuesday.

Specifically at Merak Port, Banten, Nurawaluddin remarked that based on data in 2021, the smuggling of 90,000 clear lobster seeds was successfully foiled.

A worker is showing lobster seeds at PT Grahafoods Indo Pacific, Jakarta, Wednesday, November 25, 2020. A total of 200 fry are packed into plastic and then put in cork crates for export to Vietnam. TEMPO / Tony Hartawan

His side suspects that the Merak Ferry Port is the main route for BBL smuggling perpetrators as a distribution route from Java to Sumatra before being sent to foreign countries.

To anticipate the smuggling practice, the KKP ministry conducted an operation at Merak Port to block the distribution of BBL via sea crossings between the provinces of Banten and Lampung.

"After passing through Merak Harbor, the BBL smuggling journey continues to Bakauheni Lampung, then to Palembang, and to the final point to the border waters in Riau, Jambi, or the Riau Islands to be sent to Singapore and Malaysia," he revealed.

Nurawaluddin remarked that the main destination country for BBL smuggling from Indonesia is Vietnam since the country needs 600 million BBL as a cultivation commodity, with a value of up to US$3 billion.

His side has also announced the start of joint operations to monitor and prosecute BBL smuggling throughout Indonesia from November to December 2023.

The operation, with the codename Lobster Sakti, involved the Indonesian Navy, National Police, Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), Finance Ministry, Transportation Ministry, and Indonesian Quarantine Agency (Barantin).

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