January's Illegal Lobster Seeds Export Nearing 2020 Statistic: DFW
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28 January 2021 18:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National coordinator of Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW) Indonesia, Moh. Abdi Suhufan, issued a statement revealing the condition of illegal lobster seed exports in January 2021. Based on his records, the amount of foiled illegal exports in this one month is already higher than in 2020.
“We should be concerned as it has only been one month and the illegal lobster export has reached 551,000,” wrote Abdi in a written statement on Thursday, January 28.
Former Fisheries Maritime Affairs minister Edhy Prabowo - who was arrested over incrimination on the alleged corruption regarding lobster seed exports - had reopened the export doors for the commodity, which was banned by Prabowo’s predecessor Susi Pudjiastuti.
According to Edhy Prabowo’s replacement, Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, the ministry has temporarily stopped the lobster larvae export.
However, Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia maintained there have been 551,000 lobster seeds that were foiled by law enforcers with a market value of Rp56 billion. As a comparison, those that were confiscated in 2020 amounted to 896,000.
They believe these confiscated lobsters are the smaller portion of those that managed to be smuggled out of Indonesia.
Read: Fisheries Ministry Suspends Issuing Export Permits for Lobster Larvae
FAJAR PEBRIANTO
