Promoting Blue Economy, Fisher Village to be Coastal Independence Model
President Prabowo Subianto visits Red-White Fisher Village (KNMP) in South Leato subdistrict, Gorontalo city, on Saturday (05/09).
President Prabowo Subianto emphasized the government’s commitment to building the marine and fisheries sector massively through strengthening the blue economy during his inspection of the Red-White Fisher Village in South Leato subdistrict, Gorontalo city, on Saturday (05/09). He said that the potency of the Indonesian sea is a massive gift that must be managed to increase the prosperity of coastal communities and reinforce the sovereignty of the national economy.
“Therefore, the Government that I lead will develop massive fisheries and the marine sector. It is called ‘Blue Economy, the Blue Ocean Economy’. The blue ocean economy is very important. This is a gift from the Almighty. We have to thank and invest massively from now on,” President Prabowo said in his speech before hundreds of fishers.
Furthermore, President Prabowo emphasized that strengthening the marine sector is part of a big effort of the Government to build national self-sufficiency. He affirms that fishers should be the main actors in utilizing national marine resources.
“We are very respected because we have achieved food self-sufficiency, rice self-sufficiency, corn self-sufficiency and many others. We don’t need to import food from other countries anymore, and that’s because of the contribution of the fishers, and we want to reinforce their roles,” he said.
On the occasion, the President also said that the Government is preparing to build thousands of fishing boats, managed by the fisher cooperative.
“We will begin to build 1,582 fishing boats this year. We will help and distribute those fishing boats. Afterwards, fishers can make a cooperative with their families. It will be managed, maybe one cooperative for 30 fishers, and we will give the boats. There will be small boats, middle boats, and big ships. We don’t want foreign fishing boats to take the fish from our sea, we want our people to take it,” the President added.
He believes that this big step will bring prosperity to coastal communities across Indonesia. “Our people must be prosperous. I want our fishers to be prosperous, I want to see them smile every day because their incomes are enough,” he concluded. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (RD/LW)
