LAMANRIAU.COM, PEKANBARU – The Riau Provincial Government is preparing four steps to be taken to improve and increase the economic contribution of the fisheries sector.
Riau Governor Syamsuar explained that the fisheries sector is an economic sector that contributes a large enough to the economy of the area.
“The fisheries sector is very promising, especially for several regencies such as Rokan Hilir, Bengkalis, Indragiri Hilir, Kampar, and others. The potential of marine fisheries and aquaculture from Riau are highly demanded not only domestically but also in international markets,” he said, Friday (18 / 10).
According to BPS Riau data, fisheries with agriculture and forestry are the largest source of economic growth in the region in 2018, with a share of 1.11 percent. Therefore, Syamsuar said that his party had prepared four steps to reform the fisheries sector, so that its economic contribution would increase.
The first step, Riau will develop fisheries on the outer islands such as Batu Mandi Island, Rupat Island, Bengkalis Island, and Rangsang Island. Second, the local government will build integrated fisheries centers in regencies and cities that have the potential for capture fisheries and aquaculture.
Then thirdly, the regional government will deal with illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing. This problem, according to Syamsuar, still many fishermen do not understand fishing zones in Indonesia, where the area can be caught and not allowed to catch fish.
“For this reason, it is necessary to strengthen supervision and coordination with the coordinator of fisheries oversight and law enforcement, so that fish in Riau are no longer stolen by foreign fishermen,” he said.
Finally, the local government will also take steps to conserve the fisheries ecosystem, by developing and establishing conservation areas for waters, coastal areas and outermost small islands in Riau.
There are two zoning division to be carried out, namely sustainable fishing zones for aquaculture and capture fisheries, and utilization zones for marine tourism.
Previously the Head of Riau BI, Decymus said that he had mapped out five economic resources that the regional government needed to develop, in order to be able to boost its growth amid the weakening in the last few years.
One of the five sectors is fishery. This sector is considered not optimally managed by the region, so that a lot of fish produced by local fishermen, brought to neighboring regions and even directly exported to other countries such as Malaysia. (bsc)
