Marine Focus 2045

SUPRIYANTO

Illustration

"The hope for rain from the sky is equivalent to pouring water into a jar." This proverb is appropriate to remind us to focus more on immediately utilizing the advantages in the sea to realize Indonesia Emas 2045.

The Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas in the Final Draft of the National Long-Term Development Plan 2025-2045 projects that in order to become a developed country, Indonesia must be able to increase per capita income from 4,919.7 US dollars/year (approximately IDR 75 million) currently to 30,300 US dollars (approximately IDR 453 million) in 2045.

The number of job opportunities also needs to continue to increase. The BPS report notes that the national unemployment rate is still 7.86 million people. In addition, every year there are around 3 million new productive-age labor forces ready to enter the job market. The problem is that the ratio of job opportunities as a result of investment is actually decreasing.

Also read: Maritime Sector Partisanship Needs to Be Revived

In 2013, every Rp 1 trillion of investment that came in was able to absorb 4,594 workers. In 2023, for every Rp 1 trillion, only 1,285 people will be able to find employment.

How can Indonesia reduce the unemployment rate while increasing per capita income up to six times (only) in the next 20 years? It will not be sufficient to rely only on current job opportunities (read: on land). We need to improve the job ecosystem in the sea.

Working at sea poses higher complexity challenges compared to working on land. For fishermen, for example, despite the high risks and demands for their expertise, their wage standards and social security protection are still inadequate.

In Central Java, factory workers' wage standard (on land) is IDR 2.32 million (BPS, 2023), while fishermen's income is only IDR 1 million - IDR 2 million per month. With such minimal and uncertain income, most fishermen's families are not yet equipped with social protection guarantees.

The World Bank and S4YE survey in 18 countries (2023) found other worrying facts. The income of the younger generation who work as fishermen and fish farmers is much lower than their parents: minus 18 percent and minus 15 percent. As a result, only 19.20 percent of young Indonesians work in the fields of fisheries, agriculture and plantations (BPS, 2023). Most of the others work in the service and trade sectors.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Workers move fish storage boxes at the Muara Baru Modern Fish Market, North Jakarta, Thursday (26/8/2021).

The next challenge is to integrate science and technology into the marine development policy-making process. Let's look at the policy polemic regarding lobster seeds in the last 20 years. The policy options are limited to seed exports: open or close. As with the regulation of foreign fishing vessels in Indonesian waters, the debate is still about opening or closing them.

Actually, this is not just a matter of "open-closed"! There are bigger interests at stake, which are to ensure that the abundant marine resources can be utilized for the prosperity of the people as much as possible.

The inconsistency of a set of upstream policies has hindered the process of decentralization of the industry and downstreaming of national marine products. For example, for leading commodities like seaweed, only 6 percent of our total exports are processed products, while the rest are raw materials. Not all of this is due to technological reasons, as some are related to the capability to prepare trade policy incentives that motivate domestic business players.

Focus 2045

President Joko Widodo, with the World Maritime Axis, has succeeded in shifting the maritime discourse from the "periphery" to the main conversation in the country and the world. Today Indonesia has an ocean policy: Indonesian maritime policy. This is important so that we do not forget our duties and sermons.

First and foremost, as the foundation for the next five years, is preparing a better ecosystem for working in the Indonesian sea.

The next big task is to make the ocean a new economic engine that provides certainty and interest for the younger generation to work in the future. The requirement is that its management model must shift: from exploitative to sustainable; from raw materials to processed goods; from monotony to innovation; from industrial centralization to decentralization; from the sector to the mainstream.

First and foremost, the foundation for the next five years is to prepare a better ecosystem for working in Indonesian seas. Starting from competence, salaries, social protection, partnership models, and so on. It is interesting what the European Union is doing through the Network of Blue Schools initiative to improve its maritime economy, namely bringing together the world of education and industry to create quality jobs in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields.

A similar model can be used to accelerate the development of a medium-scale maritime industry based on excellence in each of the Indonesian islands.

Second, learning from Norway's success with salmon, Indonesia can set priorities for the blue economy subsector in the period up to 2045. Indonesia 2045 Laboratory together with the IPB Center for Coastal and Ocean Resources Studies and SDGs The Diponegoro University Center (2022) has mapped blue economy priority sectors by considering three enabling factors: resource availability, investment, and innovation and technology.

KOMPAS/RUNIK SRI ASTUTI

Workers compact red seaweed (Gracilaria sp) in the aquaculture village of Kupang Village, Jabon District, Sidoarjo, East Java, Wednesday (20/4/2022).

As a result, until 2024, Indonesia is advised to focus on just two sectors: fisheries and marine tourism.

Furthermore, in the middle phase of 2024-2029, in addition to maintaining the sustainability of the two aforementioned sectors, there must also be efforts to invest in preparing for future sectors that are currently developing, including renewable energy, shipping, ports, logistics and cold chains, as well as seawater desalination and marine-based chemicals. By 2045, or 100 years of Indonesian independence, all national blue economy potentials can be firmly, inclusively, and sustainably activated.

This national endeavor should be complemented by strengthening the national maritime institutions that reflect three main interests: optimization of the blue economy subsector which in the short term can contribute to the national economy. Mobilizing investment to "wake up" the still "dormant" blue economy subsector. And, free from corrupt practices.

Only by choosing to focus on marine development, we can become a developed country by 2045.

M Riza Damanik, General Chair of the Indonesian Maritime Scholars Association