Losses from IUU Fishing Reach US$23bn: Ministry
Translator
Editor
17 May 2023 09:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Ministry stated that the loss of illegal, unreported, and unregulated or IUU fishing could reach US$23 billion dollars. The ministry’s special staffer Edy Putra Irawadi made the statement, underlining that it is a global threat.
“Based on FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) data in 2019, losses caused by IUU fishing reach 26 million tons per year,” Edy said in a press conference at the KKP building, Jakarta, Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
The losses are valued at around US$23 billion or Rp340.81 trillion. “It's really crazy, it's huge reaching 26 million (tons per year). Our (Indonesia) production is around 24 million, but this IUU fishing is up to USD23 billion. The risks posed by IUU fishing are enormous,” he remarked.
Edy claimed there had been no studies related to the economic losses experienced by Indonesia. This loss also contributed to other losses including difficult access to export markets, such as Indonesian exports to Vietnam.
“The losses indeed need to be studied. But there must be disruption in the Indonesian market that we are making fraud (illegal fishing),” he added.
Edy further presented the results of the fourth meeting of the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) initiated by FAO. The meeting was held in Bali from May 8 to 12, 2023.
Two documents were adopted during the meeting, namely the Bali Strategy and Terms of Reference for the Technical Group on Information Exchange and Questionnaires for the review and assessment of the Effectiveness of the PSMA.
Through these two documents, state parties and non-parties are asked to disclose information about ships requesting permission to berth at ports of participating countries. In addition, these documents also review the implementation of PSMA in each country.
AMELIA RAHIMA SARI
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