Quick Action To Protect Fishermen, KKP Seals 100 Tons Of Imported Fish In Juwana, Central Java

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) sealed 100 tons of imported salem fish belonging to PT SSI which allegedly circulated not according to the designation which caused local fish prices to fall and fishermen lost money in the traditional Porda Juwana market, Pati Regency, Central Java.

This is done in order to protect fishermen for their catch production which is sold on the market according to Law Number 7 of 2016 concerning the Protection and Empowerment of Fishermen, Fish Cultivation and Salt Petambak, so that Salem fishery importation products from China do not interfere with local markets and only to meet the raw materials needs of the indexing industry.

Director General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervision Adin Nurawaluddin stated that PT SSI is strongly indicated to have committed violations in business activities in the fisheries sector.

Imported fish, which should be used as raw material for mining, are actually sold directly to the market.

"In accordance with Perppu Number 2 of 2022 concerning Job Creation and PP Number 5 of 2021, PT SSI has carried out business activities that are not in accordance with its business activities, so we temporarily stop the operation of PT SSI," Adin said in a written statement, Monday, March 6.

Before plunging into direct sealing, Adin has deployed his staff at the Directorate of Fishery Resources Management Supervision (PPSDP) and the Pati SDKP Supervisory Unit (Satwas) to collect materials and information (pulbaket) on various parties involved in the case.

"The results of the pulbaket of officers in the field, PT SSI apparently has carried out buying and selling activities of fishery products and fish storage businesses without the appropriate Standard Classification of Business Fields in Indonesia (KBLI) and Processing Feasibility Certificates (SKP)," he said.

Adin added that the results of officers' interviews with imported salmon traders, which should have been intended only for the collection, were sold by retail traders at the Juwana Porda Market at a price of Rp. 17,000-Rp. 20,000 per kg.

The price is cheaper than the fish, the majority of which are caught by local fishermen (Fish Kites, Banyar/Kembung) which are sold at a price of Rp. 22,000-Rp. 29,000 per kg. Traders admitted that they obtained imported salmon from PT MLI's warehouse.

"Based on field searches, the presence of imported Salem Fish in the market reduces the selling value of local fish by 10 percent and this has a direct impact on the fishermen's economy," he said.

Furthermore, the information obtained from the search results for PT MLI, the owner of imported Salem Fish in PT MLI Warehouse, belonged to PT SSI. When the sealing was carried out, there were still around 100 tons of imported fish in the cold storage warehouse which was thought to have come from China for the need for indexing.

According to PT SSI's confession, the imported Salem Fish was purchased from PT STKP and K, which are domiciled in Jakarta.

"After this, we will conduct further investigations whether there are allegations of violations of the mismatch of the import designation in PT STKP and K," he said.

Adin added that the supervision of the allocation of fishery commodity importation will continue to be carried out in 204 importing companies that have obtained approval from the plan to import fishery commodities for industrial materials from the Directorate General of Strengthening Competitiveness for Marine Products and Fisheries of the KKP.

"This is in line with the policy of the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono who continues to strive to ensure that fishery product import activities are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the legislation, so as not to harm fishermen and cultivators, as well as the domestic fisheries industry," he concluded.