Vice President Ma’ruf Amin on Friday flagged off an export consignment of 1.4 tons of tuna from the Biak Integrated Maritime Fisheries Center (SKPT) in Papua province to Japan.

“We export fresh tuna from Biak, Papua, to Japan and frozen tuna to the United States,” he said after releasing the export consignment at Pelindo Biak Fish Processing Unit (UPI), Papua, on Friday.

The potential for tuna caught by fishermen’s groups in the Biak Numfor district area is sufficiently large to support export activities in the area, he noted.

However, he listed several problems that have disrupted export activities, including limited flight capacity, which is still inadequate to support export activities, especially since export shipments by airplane can only be scheduled once a week via Biak-Jakarta to Narita, Japan.

“In the future, the government will try to add more direct flight routes from Biak Numfor to support fish exports,” he said.

He further said he hopes that the opening of direct flight routes from Biak to destination countries will increase the volume of tuna exports from Biak to Japan and the United States.

Earlier, Amin also handed over 45 boats and fishing equipment to a number of indigenous Papuan fishermen’s groups.

“Our fishermen are heroes because they have helped the government by bringing foreign exchange through the provision of fish raw materials for exports,” he said.

He also expressed the hope that the assistance would support the fishermen’s activities and increase their productivity.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, John Wempi Wetipo; Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono; head of Biak district, Herry Ario Naap; deputy head of Biak district, Calvin Mansnembra; and acting regional secretary Z.R. Mailoa also attended the event.

Source: Antara News