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Raising fishermen’s income, providing them with soft bank loans and improving infrastructure to support the industry are the three top priorities of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries over the next five years, the newly appointed minister said.

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad said the declining incomes of small-scale fishermen is a major concern. He noted that fishermen along the north coast of Java earn an average of only Rp 800,000 ($82.40) a month. This is half of what the average small-scale fisherman earns in Gorontalo Province in Sulawesi, which enjoys the highest income for fishing in the country.

The poor earnings were closely linked to over-fishing in certain parts of the country, with the North Java Sea, the Malaka Strait and the East Kalimantan Sea being the most overfished, Fadel said. The ministry was considering giving fishermen in these areas permits to fish in other, less diminished zones, he said.

To improve infrastructure, more roads servicing fishing ports and more fish auction centers could be built, Fadel said.

He added that he had already talked to the minister of public works and the minister of energy and mineral resources about this. State-owned banks could also provide low-interest loans to help fishermen develop other businesses to supplement their incomes, he said.

Arifin Djunaedi, a fisheries analyst and former chairman of House of Representatives Commission IV, which oversees the fisheries, forestry and agricultural sectors, said the ministry needed to improve the sector by actually implementing these programs instead of just making promises.

Earlier this year, the House expressed disappointment in the ministry’s performance. Former legislator Rusman Ali questioned the ministry’s decision to spend only 76.6 percent of the money it was allocated in the 2008 budget. Others criticized it for falling short of its target for non-tax revenue collection, bringing in just under half of its goal of Rp 215.7 billion.