North Kalimantan Ready to Supply Mainstay Fishery Commodities for IKN Nusantara

The Kayan Delta area in Bulungan Regency, North Kalimantan was photographed from a height. The Kayan Delta area is a 'home' for windu shrimp farming and organic crabs in North Kalimantan. (ANTARA/Muh. Arfan)

TANJUNG SELOR - North Kalimantan is ready to supply and meet the four mainstay commodities of marine and fishery products, namely crabs, tiger prawns, milkfish, and seaweed the food needs of the National Capital City (IKN) of the Archipelago.

"Apart from export, North Kalimantan is certainly very ready to supply food from marine and fishery products that we have for IKN Nusantara", said the Head of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service for North Kalimantan Province, Rukhi Syayahdin in Tanjung Selor as reported by ANTARA, Monday, February 6.

Apart from the IKN, North Kalimantan is ready to meet the domestic consumption needs of marine and fishery products for the 2.7 million people who are planning to work in the Tanah Kuning Indonesian Green Industrial Zone (KIHI) in Bulungan Regency.

Rukhi explained, North Kalimantan has a coastline of approximately 3,500 km and management authority of up to 12 nautical miles or the equivalent of approximately 776 thousand hectares.

"We also have 196 small islands which have great potential for ponds", he said.

According to him, the potential for tiger prawns in North Kalimantan is still quite large and is of great interest to East Asia and the Middle East. North Kalimantan tiger prawns are organically and traditionally grown.

In 2020, based on the records of the North Kalimantan Central Statistics Agency (BPS), tiger prawn production reached 8,752 tons with an economic value of IDR 886.6 billion.

"So if we talk about commodities that are not touched by chemicals, people will be looking for them. We communicated with several cold storage companies, they agreed that these original tiger prawns should be well looked after", he said.

The mangrove crabs are also the main commodity of North Kalimantan. Even the economic value is higher than tiger prawns.

"Crabs, which used to be pests, are now sought after. The price of crabs is very high, even above the price of shrimp. Yesterday, ahead of Chinese New Year, at the fishermen's level, the price was Rp. kara Rukhi.

Notes from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service of North Kalimantan, this area has produced 756.67 tons of crab in 2021 from community-owned ponds spread across Bulungan Regency and Tana Tidung Regency.

Meanwhile, milkfish in 2020, based on BPS North Kalimantan records, will produce 4,480 tons with an economic value of IDR 69.8 billion.

"North Kalimantan has been very well known for milkfish for a long time. This commodity has been exported to China, Japan, and even Qatar. This means that we are grateful that fishery commodities are always sought after", he said.

Another mainstay commodity is seaweed. Seaweed cultivation is concentrated in Tarakan and Nunukan. In 2021 North Kalimantan will produce 62 thousand tons of dried seaweed.

"In fact, the economy really develops from seaweed. If you convert the price to Rp. 20,000 per kilogram, it is even higher than that, then there is Rp. 1.2 trillion in the circulation of money in North Kalimantan just from seaweed", he said