The event, organised by Indonesia’s Ministry for Regional Development (KPDT), the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) and the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF), will place particular emphasis on exploring opportunities in the Eastern areas of Indonesia, which have fallen behind Central and Western areas in terms of economic development.
The KPDT has been mandated with accelerating the development of Indonesia's most disadvantaged areas by 2014. It is committed to the following clear targets: (1) increasing the Human Development Index (HDI) to 72.2; (2) reducing the poverty rate to 14.2; (3) achieving economic growth of 7.1 percent; and (4) aiding a decline in the unemployment rate of 2 percent per year.
The Ministry believes that supporting the development of sustainable pole-and-line (known locally as “huhate”) tuna fisheries will be of significant benefit to Eastern Indonesia and has made it a priority to enhance its activities in the sector. It therefore intends to initiate a number of projects that will support disadvantaged coastal communities that depend on the tuna fishery.
Ir. H. A. Helmy Faisal Zaini, KPDT Minister, comments: “Pole-and-line and hand-line fishing are the most environmentally and socially desirable methods of catching tuna. It is widely accepted by stakeholders that if the tuna fishery is carefully managed and progressed diligently, it will be of invaluable benefit to Indonesia’s coastal communities and its overall economy. Furthermore, pole-and-line tuna fishery development is considered an effective solution to many of the inherent problems faced in disadvantaged Eastern districts.”
The second International Coastal Tuna Business Forum will be held at Hotel Sahid Jaya, Jakarta.
Commercial fishing and processing sectors, along with tuna brands and retailers, will attend this top-level meeting, which will also be attended by Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Economics, the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and the relevant port authorities.
Forum sessions will include important commercial topics such as international market opportunities and access requirements, future export trends, value-added processing, sustainable fishery certifications.
