The Indonesian Government plans to move towards completely sustainable fishing by 2025, but a lack of monitoring has led some to question whether it can be done.
After China, Indonesia is the second-largest fishing nation in the world. The majority of fish being caught is for domestic use, with the nation’s 270 million citizens eating three times as much fish and seafood as the world average.
However, increases in production over the last few decades means that fish stocks in Indonesia are now suffering from overfishing.
According to the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, 90% of Indonesia boats fish in areas that are already overcrowded by other fishing boats.
Indonesian waters are home to 37% of marine species, and many are now endangered. Solutions to Indonesia’s fishing problems are often detrimental to environmental health, focusing instead on economic issues like sales and subsidising overfishing practices.
Lowered fuel prices and tax breaks are among the dangerous subsidies that contribute to the increase of production over the past few decades, from just under two million tons annually in 1980 to over seven million today.
In 2018, Indonesia spent over $500 million USD on fishing subsidies which were deemed harmful by the World Trade Organisation, iself involved with efforts to improve the viability of sustainable fishing worldwide.
Although over 90% of fishing in the region is done by small-scale operations, the main beneficiaries of fishing subsidies are huge, industrial fishing fleets.
Scientists and environmentalists alike have criticised the number of harmful subsidies in the region and worldwide.
According to a study from the Canadian University of British Columbia, more than 60% of world subsidies in the fishing industry clearly harm the oceans, and a change to more sustainable fishing is urgently needed.
Capacity-enhancing subsidies demand support for boat construction and renovation including bigger projects such as fishing port developments.
Targeted, beneficial subsidies, on the other hand, can help maintain biodiversity and support sustainable fishing. About one-third of subsidies have been used for this purpose in Indonesia so far.
One successful example is Raja Ampat, in Indonesia, where several marine protected areas were chosen in 2004. The protected areas now cover 11.3 million acres and are considered the most biodiverse protected region in the world. They are home to more than 1,600 species of fish and hundreds of coral reefs.
Technological solutions to the problem are also being tested, such as FishFace, a service which automatically records the amount of fish and other species they catch using cameras onboard fishing boats.
The technology enables remote monitoring in real time, which could potentially be used to enforce more sustainable fishing.
