Based on the investigatory results of various consultants engaged in this project, a draft proposal for a Seafarming Development Project for Indonesia has been prepared and submitted detailing all principal requirements and strategies for the subsequent development of the farming of seaweeds, molluscs and finfishes in that country. The observations presented in the present document are in agreement with the essence and substance in that draft proposal. In view of the identifiable development potential of the culture of finfishes, it is in order that every effort should be made at this early point in time to accelerate its development.
Noting the identifiable constraints and risks and the need for well-planned culture management (Chan 1981a-b), the programme of activities for development outlined in Section 4 serves to overcome these problems and to prepare the country to undertake this task.
At this early stage, attention must however, be drawn to the fact that to ensure viability, high to premium-value fish species of a carnivorous nature are recommended for culture at the expense of a loss of a percentage of low-value fish presently produced by the capture fisheries. In effect, the cage culture of finfishes is a process to convert low to high-value fishes, and does not therefore, conform with the objective of increasing fish production. It does however, offer viable engagement opportunities for the betterment of the livelihood of coastal populations.
Under the circumstance, the existing national fisheries development policies for the cage culture of marine finfishes, if any, may need to be reviewed. In this line of thinking, it should also be pointed out that while the viability assessment of cage culture for the Bintan and Teluk Lampung areas may be promising, it may not necessarily be so for the East Java areas by virtue of the differing nature of accessible market outlets. In all probability, subsidy arrangements should now be contemplated for the latter areas. These and other associated problems must also be taken into consideration in policy identification.
The development of cage culture of finfishes could be anticipated to go through three consecutive phases. First, it is the pilot culture trial phase, in which culture management procedures and know-how, as well as production performance, will be established to serve as the baseline data for the planning of development for the longer term. Second, it is the commercial prospecting phase involving a manageable number of production units run directly by fishermen-cum-fish farmers on a commercial basis under the supervision and advice of competent government staff. Third, it is the full-scale development of commercial units directly under the regulatory administration of the Fisheries Authority having full jurisdiction over development including the control of interferences from other forms of development activities having direct and indirect conflict of interest with cage culture.
The rate at which these three phases progress is directly dependent upon the rate of the implementation of the proposed programme of activities for development set out in Section 4. In particular, limitations in the supply and cost of fish seeds and feeds (Chan 1978) are potential obstacles. As regards fish seeds, their supply for the present and foreseeable future would have to depend on the wild stocks of species of culture value. In this connection, it is essential that such resources should be surveyed, located and if possible quantified by time and space with the aim to at least identify natural fry grounds for controlled utilisation. The identification of such grounds will also enable the creation of fish seed holding or nursery centres to minimise costs on the one hand and to form the main source of supply of stocking materials at fingerling sizes on the other. For the longer term and depending on the subsequent scale of planned development, hatcheries could also be developed next to these nursery sites.
The problems with fish feeds would have to be resolved through the development of pellet feeds. This type of development would have by necessity, to be a regional concern, noting especially the need for high technological inputs. Further, the diverse variety of fishes under culture could in all probability have differing nutritional requirements which further thins out the limited resources of technological know-how.
