Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Marine and Fishery Affairs Minister Fadel Muhammad is scheduled to launch an IOTC sticker program on longline tuna fishing boats at Benoa harbor, Bali.
"The IOTC sticker launching will be carried out on Saturday (Jan. 2)," Hardi, a spokesman of the marine and fishery affairs ministry, said here on Friday.
The minister is also expected to hold a meeting with several operators of tuna longline fishing boats at Benoa harbor.
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) is an intergovernmental organization mandated to manage tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas.
Its objective is to promote cooperation among its members with a view to ensuring, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilization of stocks and encouraging sustainable development of fisheries based on such stocks.
Minister Fadel Mohammad accompanied by Governor of Bali Made Mangku Pastika earlier visited a vannamei shrimp nursery center at Bugbug village, Karangasem district, around 85 km east of Denpasar.
Established in May 2009, the nursery center having a production capacity of 350,000 shrimps per year, is the largest in Southeast Asia.
Bali exported 17,174 tons of tuna worth US$77.5 million during the period of January-November 2009, according to Gusti Putu Nuriartha, head of the Bali provincial marine and fishery office.
Destinations of the Balinese tuna exports included Japan, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Italy, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, and China.
Bali province exported 47 species of fish with a total export values of US$114.2 million.
The province exported 7,578.5 tons of fresh tuna worth US$45.7 million, 6,499.3 tons of frozen steak tuna with a total value of US$19.4 million, 1,444.7 tons of fresh loan tuna worth US7.5 million, some 964.4 million of frozen tuna with a total value of US$ 3.6 million, around 24 tons of frozen meat tuna worth US$73.8 million, and about 2.4 tons of frozen fillet tuna worth US$73,870. (*)
