REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDA NAIRA -- Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said three years after she took office, Indonesia's fishery trade balance has risen drastically and is now the highest in Southeast Asia.

"The development of the fishery sector in this country is getting better and is now ranked first in Southeast Asia. I am optimistic that the gross domestic product (GDP) from the fishery sector will be able to reach 9 percent at the end of 2017," she said here on Sunday.

Indonesia's fishery product exports continue to increase and are projected to go up 7 percent until the end of 2017, while its fishery product imports fell up to 70 percent, she said.

Many fishery companies in several countries including Thailand are keen to relocate their plants to Indonesia as they have difficulties finding raw materials, she said.

"So, they do not need to catch fish in the Indonesian waters. They can just buy it from local fishermen. We have invited all fish processing companies to operate in Indonesia," she said.

After all, they are strictly banned from operating their fishing ships in the Indonesian waters, she said.

"Please, build fish processing plants in Indonesia but foreign fishing ships are strictly banned from catching fish in the Indonesian waters," she said.

In 2012, Indonesia';s GDP from the fishery sector stood at Rp184.25 trillion, contributing 2.14 percent of the national GDP. The figure rose to 2,21 percent of the national GDP in 2013, and further moved up to 2.34 percent or Rp247.09 trillion of the national GDP in 2014.

The fishery sector contributed Rp288.92 trillion to the national GDP or 2.51 percent in 2015 and Rp317.09 trillion or 2.56 percent in 2016, she said.

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