October 2014

The 4^th Public Consultation of the Indonesia Tuna Management Plan (NTMP) was held in Bogor in early of October 2014. The meeting was attended by various tuna stakeholder such as Provincial and District Marine and Fishery Agencies; Port Management Agency; the Handline and Pole and Line Fishing Industry Association (AP2HI), researchers from Bogor University and NGOs such as MDPI with who Fishing & Living has partnered with to make improvement to the Handline tuna fishery in Indonesia. MDPI has been actively supporting the development of the NTMP. By focusing on data collection in small scale tuna fisheries, MDPI aims to support the government in improving the national database for small scale tuna fisheries.

The NTMP was drafted to answer the challenges of national management of tuna stocks, meeting RFMO requirements, as well as focusing on the need for anti-IUU (Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported) approaches. The NTMP also aims to encompass food security issues for the Indonesian people. The public consultation event was opened by Gelwyn Yusuf, Director General (DG) of Capture Fisheries (Ministry of Marine Affair and Fisheries) and hosted by the Fishery Resource Department (SDI). The DG’s reminded the audience that the Tuna Management Plan (NTMP) is of national importance for tuna fishery management in Indonesia and sustainable fisheries that can be maintained for future generations.

Following presentations of the NTMP, a feedback session allowed the attendees to submit their inputs to the government  and express their concerns.  The following points were raised by the stakeholders:

• Incorporation of harvest control rules
• Policy on tuna handline /pole and line
• Data improvement on tuna fishery
• Policy for Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported fishing

The meeting was the last public consultation before the draft will be formalized in November 2014. The final National Tuna Management Plan will be released at the Bali Tuna Conference, 19-21 November 2014.

Important notes to remember!

• The Indonesian tuna fishery contributes ~ 16% to the world tuna fishery production.
• from 2005-2015, the average yearly production reached 1,034,000 tonnes.
• In 2013, Export volume from the tuna fishery from Indonesia in 2013 reached 209, 410 tonnes with a value of over US$ 764 millions.