The ministry's Deputy for Maritime Resources Coordination, Firman Hidayat, stated at the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum (ISF) 2024 here on Friday that the maritime sector contributes 7.9 percent to the national gross domestic product. Indonesia is targeting to increase the contribution to 15 percent by 2045.
The growth of the maritime sector in the last five years is also not significant, at only around two percent, while Indonesia's economic growth has been stable at around five percent in the last two decades.
Hidayat stated that one of the main focuses of the government to utilize Indonesia's marine potential is pushing for the downstreaming of maritime commodities.
He noted that Indonesia has vast potential in seaweed farming but has only utilized a small part of the existing area. In fact, seaweed has high added value, such as for the production of bioplastics and biofuels.
"We are the second-largest seaweed producer in the world. We have a large area suitable for seaweed farming, yet we have only utilized one percent of the area," he remarked.
Indonesia's seaweed production is also still not optimal. Currently, seaweed farming has only reached 102 thousand hectares or only 0.8 percent. More than 60 percent of seaweed exports are still in the form of raw or dried seaweed.
He also noted that Indonesia, where the seas constitute 70 percent of the territory, has huge potential to develop renewable energy, though the opportunity has yet to be optimally utilized.
Hidayat affirmed that the government is intensively conducting marine exploration to uncover the untapped potential of marine resources.
The result of the exploration showed that Indonesia’s seas have high marine biodiversity, such as the discovery of ancient fish species in the waters of North Sulawesi.
Such species have lived for about 400 million years and are estimated to have become extinct 60 million years ago.
He further echoed the Indonesian government's commitment to creating a balance between the utilization of marine resources and nature conservation. One of the steps taken is setting aside almost 10 percent of its marine area as a protected area to safeguard marine biodiversity.
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Translator: Shofi Ayudiana, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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