Sustainable fishing by 2025: What is the current situation in Indonesia?

Sustainable fishing by 2025: What is the current situation in Indonesia?

Source: dw

1/10/2022

Sustainable fishing by 2025: What is the current situation in Indonesia?

Credit: AFP

When the Indonesian government announced plans to make the country's fishing industry sustainable in early 2019, Arifsyah Nasution welcomed the news. The ocean campaign leader for Greenpeace in Southeast Asia has long been sounding the alarm about endangered fish stocks in Indonesian waters. But he is skeptical that the situation will change much by 2025.

With over 7 million tons of catch annually, Indonesia is the second-largest fishing nation after China. Most is for domestic consumption, with the 270 million-strong population eating more than three times as much fish and seafood as the global average.

This has wide-ranging consequences: Most fish stocks in Indonesia are completely depleted or already overfished. According to the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, 90% of Indonesian boats draw their catch from areas that are already overfished and overcrowded with boats.

Indonesian waters are home to 37% of the world's marine species, many of which are endangered as a result of fishing. Shrimp, for example, are already overfished in more than two-thirds of Indonesian waters, and are therefore becoming increasingly rare. Quotas have already been exhausted in other parts of the country, too.