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Fishing companies complained about a number of regulations issued by the government that the regulations restricted their activities.
"The restrictive regulations hampered expansion of capture fisheries in West Kalimantan. Fisheries are potential economic sector in West Kalimantan as it is geographically close to the Natuna Sea, which is known to be the heaven for fishermen, Santyoso said here on Wednesday.
Santyoso said the local fishermen could not grow because of conflicting regulations, maki8ng it difficult to secure licenses.
The government does not want foreign fishing vessels in Indonesian seas but foreign fishing boats remain operating in our seas as we continue to given room for illegal operation, he said.
"If we have enough fishing vessels, it would not be easy for foreign fishing vessels to operate in our waters without being detected," he said.
The cause of the problem, therefore, is production of big fishing ships is restricted with regulations, with red tape in licensing procedure, he said.
He suggested the central government give the authority to regional administration in licensing the production and use of fishing vessels.
"It is not that we could not produce fishing vessels with capacity of more than 300 tons. Now we have to go to Jakarta to seek the license. It is no wonder that few people are interested in doing business in sea fishing," he said.
He called on the Marine and Fisheries Ministry to be focus on planning, expansion and strategy to develop the fishery sector in Indonesia including West Kalimantan.
"How to make it easier for our fishermen to go to the sea with competitive fishing boats and gears. If the traditional fishermen are given the facility, there would be no room for foreign fishing vessels operating illegally in Indonesian waters. Our sea would be full of our fishing vessels leaving no room for illegal operation by foreign ones," he said.
The Indonesian government hopes to develop the fisheries sector into a major contributor to the state income by launching a tough policy against illegal fishing.
In international forums, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has repeatedly called for war against illegal fishing .
In the recent ASEAN summit in Laos the president said illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has caused a loss of at least US$20 billion to Indonesia every year.
IUU fishing is not only a threat to the welfare of low income fishermen and but also to the environment, he was quoted as saying.
Cooperation in eradicating IUU Fishing needs serious addressing mainly with intensive exchange of information, he said.
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