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The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Navy next week to use the its deepwater data to encourage investment in maritime industries and offshore mining.

“The MoU will focus on the Navy’s willingness to share data on Indonesian waters,” Juan Permata Adoe, the deputy chairman for farming and fisheries at the chamber, known as Kadin, said on Friday. The MoU is set to be signed on Thursday.

Maritime industries include traditional fisheries as well as pearl, seaweed and other types of marine farming.

Data on the waters could also be used by oil and gas exploration companies and offshore miners, Juan said.

Currently, the only comprehensive database on Indonesian waters is held by the Navy. It includes information on currents, deepwater mineral content, depth and the characteristics of the sea floor.

Potential investors could be attracted by the release of such information, Juan said. In reply to a question on what the Navy would receive in return for sharing its data, he only said that it would participate in increasing investment in the country.

Hasyim Djalal, an expert on maritime law and an adviser to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said there were two categories of Navy data. The first included information like the mineral content in deep water and the topography of the sea floor. That kind of data would be very useful to miners and it was “fine to share it,” he said.

The second category of data included information necessary to ensure national security, such as information on deepwater currents, which is important for submarine navigation, and should not be shared, Hasyim said.

But he added that the Navy would have already taken this into account.

In 2007, the fisheries sector generated Rp 96.8 trillion ($10.45 billion), or 2.45 percent of GDP. The country has 7.9 million square kilometers of territorial waters.