Fisheries Ministry to Provide 200 Million Freshwater Fish Seed

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) under Susi Pudjiastuti opened opportunities for ties with regional administrations in building fish seed shops to meet the high demand of fish seeds in several integrated fishery zones or Minapolitan areas.

“But regional administrations must prepare the area because it requires clean and clear zone,” said the ministry’s aquaculture Director General Slamet Soebjakto when visiting the fish production group Mina Lestari in Boyolali Regency today, March 20.

Slamet explained that the government would provide assistance in the form of 200 million fish seeds, including freshwater, brackish, and saltwater fish this year in a bid to develop sustainable aquaculture production.

Read: Need for Fish Continues to Increase: Ministry

The Boyolali Agriculture and Fisheries Agency head, Juwaris, said that his region needed a total of 300 million fish seeds per year. “We can only fulfill averagely some 160 million fish seeds within a year. So we lack some 140 million fish seeds,” said Juwaris.

According to Slamet, the need for fish seeds in Boyolali was quite high considering the region was categorized as the A class of Minapolitan area. At present, Boyolali is the second largest region that could meet demands on freshwater fish in Central Java.

Slamet reiterated that the growth of freshwater fish cultivation throughout Indonesia increased by 20-30 percent when compared to that of last year. Based on the ministry data, the freshwater fish cultivation gradually rose in the past four years from Rp3 million in 2016 up to Rp3.3 million in 2019.

“We can see it from the supply and demand. The price of catfish in the market is still Rp20,000 per kilogram and Rp30,000 for parrot fish. That means, the supply cannot meet the market demand,” said Slamet adding that that has a potential to expand the export market for the country's aquaculture production.

DINDA LEO LISTY (CONTRIBUTOR)