- Indonesia must integrate marine protection measures into its subsidies for small-scale fishers, according to a new study.
- Despite claiming exemption from the 2022 WTO agreement to halt harmful fisheries subsidies, Indonesia needs a strategy to support small-scale fisheries and ensure marine sustainability.
- The government provides various supports, including insurance and fuel subsidies, and has made efforts to protect marine resources and boost fish stocks.
- The study suggests these subsidies should continue, as they are crucial for small-scale fishers’ livelihoods, while also enforcing marine conservation measures.
JAKARTA — In continuing to provide controversial subsidies for small-scale fishers, Indonesia must also integrate marine protection measures into social protection schemes, a new study has said.
Government subsidies for fisheries have enabled industries to fish in economically unfeasible ocean areas, but this support has faced wide criticism for harming the long-term viability of marine resources. Indonesia claims to be exempt from a 2022 World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement requiring its 164 member states to halt subsidies that support fishing overfished stocks and to reduce those that contribute to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing at sea.
However, the Indonesian government must implement an effective strategy and prescription to protect marine resources through subsidies, aiming to support small-scale fisheries and ensure the long-term sustainability of marine resources, as mandated by the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, according to a researcher duo from the country’s Airlangga University and Padjadjaran University — Intan Innayatun Soeparna and Ankiq Taofiqurohman — in their study published in May on the journal Marine Policy.
“[U]pholding and preserving the sustainability of marine fishery resources are incumbent upon the government through the implementation of marine protection policies,” the paper read.
The researchers analyzed Indonesian policies that stipulate efforts to protect marine fishery resources and support small-scale fishers, who are among the country’s most extremely impoverished groups. They found that some of the policies have indeed targeted the dual objective of promoting the well-being of the fishers and ensuring the long-term sustainability of marine resources.
They pointed out that the government has provided public facilities like fish markets, enhanced fishers’ capacity through training and partnerships, developed financial systems for small-scale fisheries, protected against natural disasters, climate change and pollution and ensured security, all while offering fisheries subsidies to support the livelihoods of traditional and small-scale fisheries.
“This analysis leads to the argument that the objective of addressing overfishing in Indonesia can be achieved by providing incentives to protect marine fishery resources and to enhance the prosperity of small-scale fisheries,” the paper read.
Talks about banning harmful fisheries subsidies at the WTO began in 2001 and repeatedly failed to reach consensus until the 2022 agreement. Conservationists note that these subsidies undermine biodiversity and climate change commitments, with governments spending an estimated $400 billion on them since negotiations began, leading to a third of the world’s fish stocks being overfished and most of the rest fished to capacity, according to the FAO.
In Indonesia, these subsidies are estimated to be $92 per fisher, significantly less than the $4,956 per fisher in the U.S., or $8,385 in Japan or $31,800 in Canada. The latest paper noted that from 2017-20, the Indonesian government primarily focused on subsidizing fuel prices to provide fuel below market rates, averaging 50% of the annual central support for the fisheries sector.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian fisheries ministry has reported that 53% of Indonesia’s 11 fisheries management areas, known as WPPs, were now deemed “fully exploited,” up from 44% in 2017, indicating that more stringent monitoring is required. In 2018, a California Environmental Associates report highlighted that certain types of fish in Indonesia, including penaeid shrimp, lobster, small and large pelagic fish, squid, blue swimming crab and reef fish, have been overexploited.
Still, Indonesia — the second-biggest marine capture producer, after China — has invoked two “exempting provisions” from the 2022 WTO Fisheries Subsidies agreement, namely, the special and different treatment (S&DT) and fisheries management (FM) provisions, allowing fishers in less-industrialized coastal countries to continue receiving subsidies.
The latest paper has offered a new approach on how Indonesian authorities should carry on allocating much-needed subsidies for the country’s small-scale fisheries while enforcing marine resource conservation measures, said Dani Setiawan, the chairman of the Indonesian Traditional Fishers’ Union (KNTI), who wasn’t involved in the research but reviewed it per Mongabay’s request.
Dani said providing subsidies in the form of social protection schemes, as the paper suggested, made sense economically and was worth a trial by the Indonesian fisheries authorities.
“I think the authors of the study wanted to offer alternatives [for subsidy programs] because it’s unfair to ban them altogether,” Dani said, noting that fishers in less-industrialized fishing countries, such as Indonesia, needed financial support from the government.
Indonesia provides financial support to fishers with boats smaller than 30 gross tonnage, including insurance, fishing gear and fuel subsidies. Home to some of the highest marine biodiversity levels globally, the country’s fisheries industry employs around 12 million people. Today, small-scale and traditional fishers operate most of Indonesia’s fishing fleet, which consists of about 650,000 vessels.
The government has also worked for years to boost fish stocks, primarily under former Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who was in office from 2014-19. Indonesia currently caps its total allowable catch at 80% of its reported maximum sustainable yield of about 12 million metric tons.
“Marine ecosystems in Indonesia are crucial to the natural heritage of the world and need to be preserved,” the paper read.
Basten Gokkon is a senior staff writer for Indonesia at Mongabay. Find him on 𝕏 @bgokkon.
See related story:
WTO ban on ‘harmful’ subsidies won’t impact small-scale fishers, Indonesia says
Citations:
Soeparna, I. I., & Taofiqurohman, A. (2024). Transversal policy between the protection of marine fishery resources and fisheries subsidies to address overfishing in Indonesia. Marine Policy, 163. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106112
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