Exploiting Lobsters Sustainably

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

Usman (29), one of the farmers showed his product lobster in the Jukung Bay waters area, Jerowaru District, East Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, Thursday (26/12/2019).

The polemic over lobster seed exports needs to be resolved immediately to ensure balance between conserving and exploiting lobsters as a marine resource.

The government has issued export permits for lobster seeds to 18 companies. The exportation of lobster seeds are regulated in Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministerial Regulation (Permen KP) No. 12/2020 on the Management of Lobster (Panulirus spp.), Mud Crab (Scylla spp.) and Blue Crab (Portunus spp.) in Indonesian Territory dated 4 May 2020. Two companies exported lobster seeds to Vietnam a month later.

President Joko Widodo has stated that balance must be maintained between the interests of fishers, aquaculture farmers, and the state in terms of export revenue and the domestic fishing industry, and that these must be in balance with preserving the biodiversity of marine resources and the environment (Kompas, 18/2/2019). The President also emphasized the need to optimize aquaculture.

Also read : Hopes of Lobster Farmers Shattered

The polemic over the lobster seed export plan refers to the argument of some people who object to harvesting wild lobster seeds to prevent depleting the natural population, because we have not mastered the technology to cultivate (breed) them in captivity. Ministerial regulation No. 56/2016 regulates this.

Another view argues that lobster seeds may be harvested in limited numbers and in certain locations for the strict purpose of domestic cultivation.

Meanwhile, others want lobster seeds to be cultivated domestically for export only under certain conditions that involve domestic farmers. Ministerial regulation No. 20/2020 regulates this last issue.

KOMPAS/COKORDA YUDISTIRA

Packs of lobster seeds are confiscated by customs at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Badung, Bali, on Monday (24/2/2020). Custom officials seized eight packs of 10,008 lobster seeds to be smuggled overseas and arrested the smuggler identified as AH.

Indonesia was once the world\'s largest producer of aquaculture lobster, contributing 54.3 percent to global production in 2013. The 2016 ban on harvesting lobster seeds for cultivation and export caused Indonesian production to plunge to 9.6 percent and led Vietnam to control 85.3 percent of global production.

Ironically, the export ban also gave rise to illegal lobster seed exports, including to Vietnam, a country that is very passionate about breeding lobsters, but lacks an adequate supply of lobster seeds to meet demand.

Lobsters, as a living marine resource, give a comparative advantage to Indonesia, a tropical archipelagic country that is located in the strategic Coral Triangle.

Also read : The Modus Operandi of Lobster Seed Smuggling

The President\'s stance should receive full support. The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry can begin by initiating scientific research, including field studies, about the potential for sustainable cultivation of lobster seeds. The ministry should then transparently and openly decide whether lobster seed exports are feasible based on the results of this research, and not on assumptions of economic potential.

Even if it decides to go through with exporting lobster seeds, we must exploit it to our best advantage in the national interest. We can "force" Vietnam, which is technologically more advanced in cultivation and logistics, to collaborate through sharing technology and human resources towards developing joint markets. Moreover, Indonesia supplies 80 percent of the Vietnamese lobster industry’s demand for lobster seeds.

There must be a clear and measurable system to determine the success of this collaboration, including a timeline for lobster seed exports. A portion of the export revenues must be reinjected to the domestic industry to protect the lobster ecosystem, increase cultivation capabilities, and regulate control so that lobsters can be sustained as Indonesia\'s competitive advantage.