August 2018 saw a flurry of activity with the blue swimming crab FIP in Indonesia.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, I attended a meeting at MMAF’s Fish Quarantine and Inspection Agency (BKIPM) regarding integration of control document measures into the export health certificate. This cross-agency effort seeks to add the control document’s sustainability measures (e.g. minimum size, no-take on berried females) as a requisite for the exportation of crab product and constitutes an important federal endorsement of the harvest management strategy.
BKIPM meeting on seeking integration of the control document into the health certificate at MMAF
BKIPM will collaborate with a team of stakeholders including MMAF units, APRI, NFI Crab Council and SFP to perform a field test of the control document-health certificate integration in East Java. Outcomes from the pilot project will be reviewed to formulate a national policy for full incorporation.
In February 2018, there was a national blue swimming crab fisheries management coordination meeting held at MMAF with the new DG Capture Fisheries, Dr. M. Zulficar Mochtar. Dr. Mochtar emphasized the significance of the BSC Fisheries contribution to the country’s seafood sustainability movement, offering support in advancing our efforts towards responsible management.
DG Capture Fisheries BSC coordination meeting in MMAF Office Jakarta
Following up this meeting, a joint visit was organized by MMAF, APRI, SFP, EDF and Starling Resources in Southeast Sulawesi, East, Central and West Java and Lampung to get a better understanding about existing BSC fisheries and to identify work being performed on the ground. A focal point of these meetings is coordination between parties for better organized fisheries management throughout the national, provincial and district levels, and to incorporate input from various stakeholders.
The outcomes from these series of visits will be reported in the 2nd National BSC Coordination meeting that will be held in Bogor, West Java on September 5-6, 2018.
Sea thanksgiving day: BSC fishing community and Diponegoro University team in the ”apitan” event on August 4th, when they praise the sea and the BSC for giving livelihood and abundance