Indonesia is the world's second largest seafood producer. However, overfishing and other destructive practices are jeopardizing fisheries productivity. To sustain productive, profitable fisheries, the United States and Indonesia partner to promote healthier marine ecosystems.
Indonesia’s fishing industry employs over seven million people.The United States remains one of the top destination markets for Indonesian seafood exports, including deepwater snapper and grouper, which Indonesia catches at a rate of 80,000 tons annually.A healthy, well-managed marine ecosystem will allow Indonesia to ensure a sustainable fish supply and steady incomes for fishers.
SUPPORTING NATURE AND PEOPLE-PARTNERSHIP FOR ENDURING RESOURCES (SNAPPER) PROJECT
USAID SNAPPER works closely with Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) to ensure the sustainability of Indonesia’s deepwater fisheries. The program consults with communities and fishing companies to prevent overfishing and to enhance fisheries regulation and controls, for example by capping the number of fishing vessels allowed to fish in a certain area in a given time. Through a Global Development Alliance, USAID partners with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation to co-fund USAID SNAPPER.
USAID SNAPPER provides training and incentives to fishing companies to maximize their use of voluntary sustainability measures. These include a minimum trading size for fish, which will help reduce demand for juvenile fish, allowing more fish to reproduce. Currently USAID SNAPPER works with 15 private sector partners to improve sustainability in snapper-grouper deep-slope fisheries.
Additionally, USAID SNAPPER works across Indonesia to monitor fisheries and the health of 50 snapper and grouper fish stocks. The program supports fishers across Indonesia’s 11 fisheries management areas by deploying trackers on their boats and regularly submitting catch photos for data analysis to improve Indonesia’s data collection systems. MMAF uses this data to assess the health of fisheries and make informed decisions about how to manage deepwater snapper fisheries more responsibly.
RESULTS
To date, USAID SNAPPER has:
- Helped MMAF bring 26.5 million hectares of biologically significant areas under improved natural resource management.
- Trained more than 900 people in methods to collect data on catch, size, and species for the snapper and grouper fisheries.
- Expanded the use of the at-sea data collection program from nine to 11 fisheries management areas to provide reliable data for the top 50 species of deepwater snapper-grouper fisheries across all Indonesian waters.
- Developed a database and reporting system adopted by the MMAF to support the management of deepwater snapper-grouper fisheries.
- Supported MMAF’s development of a national fisheries management plan and harvest strategy for deepwater snapper-grouper fisheries.
- Assisted MMAF to develop the Ministerial Decree on Fisheries Management Council to strengthen fisheries management plans through stakeholder engagement.
- Supported fisheries improvement programs with six fish processing companies to bolster Indonesia's efforts to implement sustainable fisheries practices. The companies have since committed to share their supply chain data and limit the purchase of juvenile fish to a maximum of five percent to obtain Marine Stewardship Council certification.