TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Fishery and Maritime Affair Ministry's Director General of the fishery and maritime competitiveness Nilanto Perbowo, said that the production of shark catfish or Pangasius have risen in the last couple of years after the catfish import ban was introduced.
"There are great developments following the Indonesian catfish import protection policy," said Nilanto in a press release on Tuesday, April 11, 2018.
According to Nilanto, the national production of shark catfish in 2016 reached 437,111 tons, which is a significant increase compared to the previous year's 339,069 tons. This year, the Ministry is eyeing a total production of 604,587 tons.
Furthermore, the demand of the domestic market showed that the consumption of shark catfish increased every year. Catfish consumption has increased by 21.9 percent from 2014 to 2017.
The region with the largest production was South Sumatra with 47.32 percent. Meanwhile, Sumatra, in general, had contributed to 68.07 percent to the total national production of catfish. Other regions that produced catfish include Jambi, Palembang, Riau, Lampung, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan.
ZARA AMELIA