Indonesia Needs Sea Remote Sensing Technology: Lapan

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - The Institute of National Aviation and Space (Lapan) said Indonesia needs space technology of remote sensing that could draw the map of the country`s marine potentials altogether and systematically.

"In order to back development of the maritime sector a technology is needed that could monitor the entire sea territory systematically," Chief spokesman of Lapan Jasyanto said here on Monday.

Jasyanto said remote sensing technology using satellite service would be effective to monitor and detect marine natural resources.

The technology could be used to spot ridges of rock and in planning development of the marine potentials for economy and tourism, he cited.

He added, with the remote sensing technology, the physical and biological aspects of the sea such as surface temperature and chlorophyll content could be detected.

Those elements are important to locate the potential fishing ground in the sea through the Indonesian fish catching potential zone (ZPPI).

"With the ZPPI, fishermen would be easy to find a location where there are many fishes," he said.

Remote sensing is also important to get information about islands in outer areas for security purposes, he said.

"Monitoring of natural resources and sea security would be more efficient and effective as satellite could give information with wide coverage," he said.

Development of remote sensing technology would be discussed in an international conference titled "Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference" (PORSEC) to be held by Lapan in cooperation with the state Udayana University in Denpasar from Nov. 4-7.

PORSEC is an organization dedicated to helping developing countries to promote science especially in the application of remote sensing technology in the sea.

The conference which is held every two years will be attended by 400 participants from Indonesia and other countries -- all professional in their remote sensing and representatives of space agencies like Lapan, JAXA (Japan), and NASA (the United States).

"Indonesia is a big maritime country. The condition forces the country to give much attention to marine and maritime affairs in line with one of the big visions of President Joko Widodo," he said. (WDY)