field trip, discussion with senior farmers (© DFW Indonesia)

As an archipelago country, with more than 17 500 islands and 6.8 million km² of territorial water, Indonesia has huge marine and fisheries resources potential for sustainable development. It has around 12 million tonnes of sustainable fisheries potential annually and around 24.87 million tonnes of fisheries production (including seaweed) in 2022. The marine-fisheries sector contribution to the national Gross Domestic Revenue is around 26.8 percent and has been crucial for livelihood and alternative sources of income for coastal communities. Its vast mangrove, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems not only provide income from tourism but also environmental support for carbon sequestration and mitigate the impact of climate change.

“With the growing population reaching to around 318.9 million in 2045, there will be growing demand for food, including from fisheries and we can increase fisheries production using aquaculture, managed in a sustainable manner,” said Wahid from MMAF Directorate General of Aquaculture at an Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture (EAA) training in Bogor from 9‒11 August, jointly organized by MMAF, FAO and DFW Indonesia.

Indonesia has adopted EAA principles in its Good Aquaculture Practice (or Cara Budi Daya yang Baik - CBIB) and in the development of eco-friendly pond. It is crucial to have EAA technical guideline  be developed and endorsed with similar legal effect to a ministerial regulation.

The hybrid training was attended by around 250 participants from MMAF provincial and district-level offices in the Indonesian Seas Large Marine Ecosystem (ISLME) region. The training allowed participants to join interactive in-class EAA sessions, field trip, dialogues with senior farmers and small group discussions on ecosystem sustainability, human wellbeing (socio-economic aspects) and governance. The field trip was led by Iman Barizi, a coordinator from MMAF Dir. Gen. of Aquaculture. 

Aquaculture (covering marine, inland and coastal waters) is one of MMAF’s Blue Economy initiatives apart from i. expanding marine conservation area, ii. Quota-Based Fisheries, iii. Sustainable management of small islands and coastal areas and iv. marine waste management. Focus for aquaculture is given to increasing production of export-oriented commodities and development of aquaculture villages to promote growth of local primary commodities: inland waters (carp, patin/Pangasius, catfish, grouper, decorative fishes, local fishes), brackish water (milkfish and shrimp) and mariculture (grouper, snapper, silver pomfret, pearl oyster and sea cucumber).

The EAA aims at improving governance and creating balance between the ecological and socio-economic (human) wellbeing. It is in line with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) of the FAO of the UN. “This, however, should be done based on sound scientific information and data,” said Irwan Muliawan, policy analyst from the Center for Marine and Fisheries Socio-Economic Research.

He explained that EAA is more than just increasing productivity as it’s a part of an integrated, multisectoral environmental management and governance. It requires improved policies, enhanced forest and water management effectiveness, improved handling of environmental cases, access to data and information system, Research & Development, bureaucratic reform, human resources development and maturity assessment.

Eddy Supriyono from Aquaculture Department, Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB)’s Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Affairs explained that the main sustainability issues that may arise include habitat degradation (e.g. sedimentation), impacts of aquaculture feed and chemical run-off to local fish stocks, biodiversity and environmental services; the use coastal resources beyond its natural carrying capacity; potential impacts of human activities and the socio-economic gaps.

For improved EAA effectiveness, there is a need to develop EAA practical guideline, assessment indicators, to educate locals community on EAA and its benefits, and continuous efforts to improve aquaculture practice in a sustainable manner. “It provides an opportunity to build synergy between national and subnation administration, global and national initiatives (e.g. Blue Economy) and EAA can be applied to all aquaculture system and various other programmes,” he said.

Badruddin from National Commission for Fisheries Resources Studies explained that in determining the aquaculture area, it is important to ensure access to water supply to the aquaculture areas and other body of water to channel the aquaculture effluent, easy to reach location with access to transportation, established cooperative and farmers groups as part of the socio-cultural aspect.

EAA implementation, he added, involves stakeholder consultation, including for data and information collection, periodic analysis of water sample quality, data analysis, discussion with EAA facilitators to determine EAA parameter values and for report writing for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

M. Zainudin head of Marine and Fisheries Office in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara province and Nur Ahyani from WWF Indonesia shared experiences from FAO-supported seaweed aquaculture in Teluk Seriwe in East Lombok.

There have been positive impacts from the seaweed aquaculture implementation as it has helped facilitate technical competence among the farmers, including through trainings, the establishment of EAA working group, better coordination and environmental monitoring, ease of permit issuance, stronger synergy among related offices and stakeholder for EAA implementation, conflict prevention among stakeholders in the waters of Teluk Seriwe.

“EAA has encouraged local farmers to safeguard local waters from the destructive fishing such as the use of potassium and bomb; and encouraged village leaders to formulate traditional rules or awik-awik to better manage the area, including allocating special area as passageway for fishers/farmers’ vessels,” explained Zainuddin.