Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry on Tuesday announced that it recently consecutively signed fisheries agreements with India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
In late January, Indonesian Marine Affairs and Fishery Minster Fadel Muhammad met with fisheries legislators in the three countries.
In India, the countries discussed the impact of climate change and the need to conduct further research on the oceans’ role in global climate change. The two nations’ cooperation covered marine productivity, marine ecosystem health research and monitoring, climate change joint research and observation and marine resources management.
In Sri Lanka, Fidel discussed bilateral cooperation in the marine and fishery sector as well as in aquaculture. The importance of eradicating illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing to support sustainable fisheries management. The countries agreed to prepare a draft memorandum of understanding on fisheries cooperation, expected to be signed by mid-2011.
In the Maldives, the signed agreement involved Indonesian businessmen expressing interest in investing fisheries and Indonesia expressing interest in learning Maldives’ experiences and policies in managing their small islands.
