Inefficient Lobster Cultivation Efforts

KOMPAS/RYAN RINALDY

An official of the Maritime Affairs and Fishery Ministry’s fish quarantine and fishing quality control agency (BKIPM-KKP) holds up a lobster larva on Tuesday (14/5/2019) in Jambi. A fisherman can earn Rp 40,000 for a single lobster larva, which is sold for Rp 300,000 at the smuggling destination.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government has emphasized that the country’s lobster production still relies on direct catch and not from a farm. Lobster cultivation efforts are considered inefficient.

Lobster cultivation is still limited to growing the larvae. Lobster farming is difficult.

In an interview with Kompas on Tuesday (25/6/2019), in Jakarta, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said the government would not change its policy regarding domestic lobster production, which is still based on caught lobster. Therefore, by keeping the lobster larvae in the sea, a sustainable marine economy can be maintained. "Increasing production? Yes. How? We have to maintain sustainability. That\'s the only way," she said.

According to Susi, lobster cultivation is not efficient because it is time consuming and is attached to high operational costs. The cultivation is only limited to growing the larvae. Lobster larvae can only be obtained from the sea.

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry continues to use lobster catch as a strategy to increase production. Globally, lobster catch dominates production from year to year. Based on Fish Stat data quoted by the ministry, from 2010-2016, lobster catch dominated world production at 99.54 percent, while lobster farming constituted 0.46 percent.

KOMPAS/RYAN RINALDY

Sealed pouches containing lobster larvae are packed in a polystyrene box at the Maritime Affairs and Fishery Ministry’s fish quarantine and fishing quality control agency (BKIPM-KKP) on Wednesday (14/5/2019) in Jambi. The agency is quarantining the larvae, which were confiscated from a boat attempting to smuggle them abroad, before they are released back into the sea.

Susi said if lobster cultivation was legalized, smugglers would have a channel to smuggle lobster larvae.

The ministry’s aquaculture director general, Slamet Soebjakto, said from findings in the field that there was evidence that lobster farms were used as a mode of smuggling lobster larvae abroad. The demand for lobster larvae for research by neighboring countries is also considered to be only a pretext for taking lobster larvae from Indonesian waters.

According to Slamet, there was a neighboring country that had requested lobster larvae. "I checked there. I was skeptical. Why were they researching the tiny lobsters? If they wanted [to do research] reproduction, they should catch the lobsters. We decided to stop it and nobody complained," he explained.

In addition, according to Slamet, lobster cultivation is limited to growing the larvae, not producing the larvae. Across the world, no one has succeeded in developing lobster breeding. Lobster cultivation has high costs.

KOMPAS/KURNIA YUNITA RAHAYU

A two-story, modern terraced house stands in stark contrast to surrounding houses in a neighborhood of Cisolok subdistrict in Palabuhanratu, Sukabumi, West Java, as seen on 3 May 2019. The house belongs to a local resident who poaches lobster larvae as part of the illegal trade in the crustacean.

The high costs, among others, are due to the long life cycle of the lobsters. From a baby that is still transparent weighing 0.5 grams until it is raised to 300-500 grams, it takes two years. "To produce adult lobsters ready for consumption, it takes a very long time. It takes eight years," said Slamet.

According to him, lobsters should be declared protected animals. "If the lobster larvae are immediately taken, the recovery will be long and they will quickly become extinct," said Slamet.

Technology

Academics and fishery researchers hope that opportunities for developing lobster cultivation will remain open. For them, cultivation is possible because the technology continues to be developed.

KOMPAS/KURNIA YUNITA RAHAYU

A group of people waits for fishermen to return from catching lobster larvae on a hilltop overlooking Cisolok Beach on 3 May 2019 in Palabuhan Ratu, Sukabumi, West Java. They pick up the larvae from the fishermen every morning and deliver them to collectors as part of the illegal trade in lobster larvae.

Bogor Agriculture Institute Fisheries and Marine Sciences dean Luky Adrianto acknowledged that lobster research was still limited. The development of the technology is also minimal.

Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Oceanography Research Center Marine Industry Unit researcher Varian Fahmi said lobster farming could be done by continuing to develop related research and technology. The LIPI has tested the growing of sand lobsters in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Since 2015, the LIPI team has made artificial food to replace the main food of lobster larvae, namely rucah fish. The feed is formulated in such a way that the lobster larvae can accept it. “As a result, the artificial feed that we have developed is acceptable," said Varian.

KOMPAS/KURNIA YUNITA RAHAYU

A man steers a canoe past houses along a small river on 17 May 2019 in West Tanjung Jabung regency, Jambi. The river is part of a network of tributaries in Jambi that lobster larvae smugglers use to transport the larvae from Jambi to Singapore, and then to Vietnam.

He acknowledged that the development of lobster cultivation had been constrained by lack of knowledge. A number of countries that have succeeded in developing aquaculture technology, such as Australia, limit the access of academics from other countries to learn about it. Scientific publications that cover this issue are very rare. (MDN/ADY/NIA)