Trump Wins, Exports Of Indonesian Fisheries To The US Will Be Battered?

Illustration of fish caught by Indonesian fishermen (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Donald Trump has again been elected president of the United States (US). US protectionist policies under the Trump regime are projected to tighten import products for food and fishery commodities, including those from Indonesia.

Executive Director of the Center for Maritime Studies for Humanity Abdul Halim said, in principle, every country has its domestic policy priorities in order to protect people's interests in food and energy security.

For this reason, he said, it would be very natural if under the Trump regime US protectionist policies on food and fishery import products would still occur.

"Each country has its domestic policy priorities in protecting consumer interests from food and energy security," said Abdul Halim in his statement, Saturday, November 9.

A country's protectionist policies for food safety are absolutely carried out, especially during the genetic engineering period which is being carried out in order to meet global food needs.

According to Abdul Halim, the case of the muscat shine wine which was once crowded in the country because it contained 50 types of toxic residue shows that the state's efforts to tighten food supply routes should be carried out.

In the view of the Maritime Study Center for Humanity, said Abdul Halim, a number of things that must be done by the state regarding fishing trade policies are to ensure transportation upstream to downstream.

"So that the fishing, processing and marketing sectors in the fishing industry can be free from the practice of IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing) and destructive fishing, and do not contain corrupt practices in implementing its policies," said Abdul Halim.

This means that the licensing process in the Indonesian fisheries sector must be carried out in a transparent and accessible manner. Not only that, fishing data must also be validated by global market players.

Most importantly, according to Abdul Halim, the government must have seriousness to increase public trust, including market countries, towards sustainable and responsible domestic fisheries.

The United States is the country that is Indonesia's largest export destination for fishery products. For this reason, if the government is serious about fixing the management of the fisheries sector, the sustainability of the supply of fishery products to Uncle Sam's country will be brilliant.

Based on records from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), in the January-July 2023 period, the total export of Indonesian fishery products reached 2.9 billion US dollars. Shrimp is the main fishery commodity that is Indonesia's main main export to the US, a total of 32.53% or worth 874.53 million US dollars.