Minister Eases Loading and Unloading Regulation This Month
19 June 2015 07:16 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry will loosen its regulations on loading and unloading activities, or transshipment regulation, beginning this month for supporting fishing vessels.
“It will be applied as soon as possible this month,” acting director general for fisheries Narmoko Prasmadji said in his office on Thursday, June 18, 2015.
Narmoko said his office was still preparing the technicalities to oversee the vessels. “We’ll just have to wait for the final approval from the minister next week,” he said.
In the initial stage, the ministry has prepared three harbors to which supporting fishing vessels must return from fishing grounds. The designated harbors—Benoa, Muara Baru and Bitung—are chosen since they have been equipped with observers and enumerators.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudijastuti, separately, said loading and unloading processes were allowed to secure the freshness of the fish.
“We consider the freshness of the fish,” she said, adding that the level of freshness of the fish would decrease if they were not immediately taken to ports, which would cause their prices to tumble.
DEVY ERNIS
