KKP Plans To Open Lobster Seed Exports To Vietnam, As Long As These Conditions Are Fulfilled

Illustration of lobster seeds. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has given a signal that it will reopen the tap of the lobster seed or fry export to Vietnam.

Even so, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KP) Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said this plan is still under joint study. Later exports will be carried out with a number of conditions.

Trenggono assessed that this plan is in order to prevent the smuggling of lobster seeds that are still happening today.

This is because his party received information that Vietnam had been carrying out lobster cultivation to buy seeds illegally and most likely also from Indonesia.

"So, finally we discussed and the best step was to provide space for investors to cultivate in Indonesia. This can be done by Government to Government (G to G)," he said at the Outlook press conference & Priority Program for the Marine and Fisheries Sector at the KKP Building, Jakarta, Wednesday, January 10.

Thus, said Trenggono, his party can promise a request for lobster seeds for Vietnam, as long as they want to cultivate in Indonesia.

He also estimates that if his party can meet Vietnam's needs of only 300 million seeds, Indonesia will get a profit of up to IDR 1.5 trillion.

"Second, they buy power here. This means that it will form a multiplier effect because they will build a supply chain. How to prepare the feed and the workforce will be formed here," he said.

As previously reported, the Director General (Dirjen) of Fisheries and Cultivation of the KKP, TB Haeru Rahayu, said that currently the regulations regarding the export of lobster seeds are already in the stage of public consultation.

"The ministerial regulations are being discussed, there have been public consultations in three places, namely Sukabumi, Banten, and in Lombok," he said after being met at the National Fishery Development Meeting of Blue Economy-Based Cultivation at The Ritz Carlton Pacific Place, Jakarta, Monday, December 18.

The Director-General, who is often called TB, said that when the stage of public consultation has been completed, it will be returned to the KKP for approval.

"We, right, have already consulted the public, then returned it to us, discussed it again. After that, there will be harmonization with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights," he said.

As for 2021, the volume of lobster exports is 1,959.9 tons or 28.61 million US dollars.

Then in 2022, the volume of lobster exports will reach 1,469.6 tons or US$25.7 million.

Then, in January-May 2023 the volume of lobster exports reached 361.7 tons or 6.4 million US dollars.