NOI New Marine and Fisheries.pdf

SPECIAL NOTICE: Notice of Information USAID/Indonesia: New Marine and Fisheries Program

Reference Number: USAID/Indonesia - *New Marine and Fisheries Program* Release Date: January 15, 2021

The United States Agency for International Development Mission to Indonesia (USAID/Indonesia) is currently designing a new marine and fisheries program that aims to reduce threats to Indonesia’s rich marine biodiversity, including from Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported fishing. USAID/Indonesia is circulating this Notice of Information to provide information to the public interested in USAID’s support for the new program.

On October 8, 2020, USAID/Indonesia released a request for information (RFI) to solicit public feedback on the draft concept of the new program and its situation model. To further develop the concept and to share the RFI feedback received, the USAID/Indonesia and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) held a virtual co-creation workshop held on November 5, 2020. In the workshop USAID and MMAF solicited stakeholder input and feedback on strategic interventions to address threats and drivers related to sustainable fisheries management and marine conservation, as summarized in the Appendix 1. The workshop was attended by more than 60 representatives from government institutions, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, universities, and development partners.

This Notice of Information is not a Request for Proposals, a Request for Quotations, a Request for Information, an Invitation for Bids, a Solicitation, or an indication that USAID/Indonesia will contract for the items described therein. This Notice of Information is an attempt to share information broadly and will be treated as information only. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this Notice of Information are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. If a solicitation is issued, it will be announced at https://beta.sam.gov/ at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that announcement separately from any response to this announcement. This Notice of Information does not restrict the Government’s acquisition approach on a future solicitation.

Thank you for your assistance and interest in USAID programs.

Sincerely, USAID/Indonesia https://beta.sam.gov/

Appendix 1. Results of Co-Creation Workshop on November 5, 2020

USAID/Indonesia conducted a 4-hour virtual co-creation workshop with 60 participants from a wide range of stakeholder groups. USAID facilitated workshop participant input through five breakout groups to discuss a series of questions related to sustainable fisheries management and marine conservation, including intervention points, gender equality, private sector engagement, endangered species, and impacts from the global COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the discussions are summarized below.

1. What are the most impactful intervention points for addressing illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) and unsustainable fishing?

● Improvement of Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) Governance. More than 95% of

Indonesia’s fishing fleet is dominated by small scale fishers (defined as a fisher with a boat less than 10 gross tons). The stakeholders collectively viewed that governance of small-scale fisheries needs to be improved, including provision of sufficient data collection infrastructure through government and non-government programs.

Small-scale fishers usually land their catch in non-official fishing ports where no government data collection system is present. Other SSF governance issues discussed included: lack of incentives for small-scale fishers to be involved in catch data reporting and overall fisheries management; SSF contribution to national production is not well recorded and managed (especially the SSF contribution to domestic markets);

small-scale fishers are not well organized and able to advocate for improved management; poor harmonization of fishing ground allocation among small, medium, and large fishing boats; need to increase SSF socio-economic research to update current policies; need to simplify permits for new business development; provide intensive assistance to SSF; and, enhance stakeholders understanding of marine and fisheries regulations for improved compliance.

● Strengthening Sustainable Markets and Supply Chains. The stakeholders agreed that markets strongly influence fishing practices and suggested several interventions under this issue, including: improve responsible market player and demand; use alternative approaches to engage supply chain actors, such as in development of procurement policies; strengthen traceability systems (such as the government-led Stelina and e-logbook); data synchronization from production to market; improve capacity for seafood inspection; and activities to reduce/remove endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species from entering trade. The stakeholders observed that access to capital is limited and loans often come with high interest rates, while the lack of infrastructure raises the cost of doing business and increases the length and complexity of supply chains.

● Improvement of Compliance and Harmonization of Laws and Regulations. The stakeholders indicated inconsistency in current fisheries laws and regulations. The stakeholders noticed that Indonesia’s domestic fisheries regulations are at times incompatible with international fisheries regulations. The stakeholders suggested addressing some issues related to this, including: the importance to set minimum requirements for seafood health standards; minimum harvest quotas; implementation of

SSF logbook for monitoring catch; improve monitoring and compliance of permit holders; increase stakeholders participation in the development of GOI policies and regulations; increase multi-sectoral coordination; strengthen community based surveillance; and increase consistency of law enforcement.

● Strengthening Capacity of Fisheries Stakeholders. During the discussion, the stakeholders shared their observation on capacity gaps and suggested the following interventions: improve the capacity for small and medium fishing industry in understanding and implementing sustainability concepts and practices; strengthen local marine and fisheries office capacity; improve catch monitoring capacity; and strengthen district governments capacity to support and implement community empowerment and development programs.

● Inclusion of Customary Systems. Indonesia acknowledges customary systems, including in marine and fisheries management. Therefore, the stakeholders highlighted the importance to proportionally engage customary groups, protect traditional fishing practices, and map the existing customary systems to strengthen the application of local culture and customary systems within legal frameworks.

2. What are the most impactful intervention points for improving Marine Protected Areas

(MPAs) management effectiveness?

● Strengthening Co-Management. In the discussion to improve MPA management effectiveness, the stakeholders expressed the importance of co-management approaches in bringing community, private sector, government, and non-government actors together to support MPA management, including addressing gender gaps. Stakeholders discussed an existing IUCN initiative called Other Effective area-based Conservation

Measures (OECM) concept that could be considered for implementation in Indonesia.

Implementation of OECM could support customary systems for sustainable fisheries.

The stakeholders suggested the need for integrated planning among relevant government institutions (MMAF, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and provincial agencies) and to support the development and implementation of policies, such as MPA technical guidelines.

● Raising Awareness for Behavior Change and Capacity Building. To address the capacity gaps that hinder effective MPA management, the stakeholders recognized the importance to build MPA management units and community capacity, improve monitoring, controlling and surveillance capacity, and increase stakeholders' resilience capacity in adapting to climate change. The stakeholders suggested that awareness raising is important at all levels for improving MPA management based on MMAF’s

10-year MPA Vision Roadmap, developed together with conservation NGOs. In particular, the stakeholders recognized that awareness of marine issues with high level decision makers is needed for securing strong commitment (e.g., GOI, private sector, etc.) The stakeholders suggested that the new USAID program should consider adopting a systematic behavior program, build local agents of change, and gender inclusion. The stakeholders acknowledged that there is a need to improve the overall societal understanding of why MPA's are important (for ecological, social, and economic purposes), why MPA management should be strengthened, the threats to marine resources, applying science for MPA decision making, and expanding the MPA research.

● Benefits for Livelihoods. The stakeholders observed that coastal communities are at the center of MPA management and they should see the benefits of MPAs. The stakeholders observed the need to balance between conservation and economic development objectives, inclusion of customary regulations, development of fisheries and marine tourism, and to increase community understanding on MPA functions and benefits.

● Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. The stakeholders suggested that MPA monitoring indicators should be utilized which are easy to understand for the general public. The stakeholders observed a need to increase capacity of MPA managers to conduct meaningful monitoring and evaluation.

● Climate Change Adaptation. The stakeholders observed that marine ecosystems currently experience climate change impacts. To address this, the stakeholders suggested that climate change adaptation strategies should be part of MPA management for increasing coastal communities’ social, ecological, and economic resilience to climate change.

● Sustainable Financing. The stakeholders consider current MPA funding insufficient to support effective MPA management. The stakeholders suggested utilizing domestic financing mechanisms (e.g., Village Fund) and capacity building related to this matter, targeting MPA managers. In addition to this, the stakeholders highlighted the importance of developing incentive mechanisms for sustainable fishing, responsible marine tourism, and local communities, and to build public private partnerships.

3. What are the impacts of COVID-19 to the marine and fisheries sector? The stakeholders observed that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the fisheries and marine tourism sectors.

The reduced number of tourists also negatively impacted fish demand and markets. The stakeholders suggested that improvements in the distribution of fish products are needed to reduce the negative impacts on supply chains from COVID-19, especially to support transportation from remote islands to target markets including cold chain infrastructures.

4. What are the issues related to Endangered, Threatened, and Protected (ETP) Marine

Species? The stakeholders suggested that USAID’s new program should include protection of ETP marine habitats and migratory corridors, involve the public for mapping and monitoring ETP species, and improve communication and socialization of MMAF’s National

Plans of Action for marine species. Stakeholders further suggested that USAID’s new program should consider socio-economic impacts to communities when developing ETP quotas and management guidelines. The status of most ETP species is unknown, and as such the stakeholders suggested that improved understanding of ETP population trends and the health of current stocks are important in strengthening management of ETP species, especially for species that are not fully protected yet in Indonesia such as sharks. The stakeholders noted that understanding traditional knowledge and practices on ETP protection is important and suggested that traditional knowledge of ETP management should be included as part of fisheries management. The stakeholders discussed the need for incentive mechanisms to reward communities which comply with ETP regulations.

5. What are the issues related to Gender Equality and Women Empowerment? The stakeholders indicated there are some gender gaps both in fisheries and MPA management.

To address these gaps, the stakeholders suggested to include women and marginalized groups in management, to explore ways to improve social and economic benefits to women, and to develop incentives for their support toward conservation objectives. The stakeholders acknowledged that engagement of women along the supply chain is an important strategy.

The stakeholders suggested to equally engage community members in decision making for

SSF that includes traders, buyers, processors and fishers. The stakeholders suggested that potential interventions could include development of financial inclusion approaches, such as village-based saving and loan systems and building local beneficiaries’ financial literacy.

The stakeholders further suggested that gender equality should include equal access to information, capacity building and market diversification, for examples e-trading and other online platforms.

6. What are the issues related to Private Sector Engagement? The stakeholders suggested that markets are not currently optimized for sustainability and social equity. The stakeholders suggested that private sector engagement should be integrated with financing and management, such as to fill gaps in MPA financing. The stakeholders suggested that private sector engagement should support community enterprises, for example building fishers’ capacity to engage with the digital economy while expanding their access for new markets and financial institutions. The stakeholders recommended that the USAID program should consider incentive systems to ensure small holders (e.g., fishers, women, business actors) are empowered and rewarded for supporting sustainability. The stakeholders recognized that the private sector is not sufficiently involved in policy development and implementation of fisheries management plans. The stakeholders suggested that the

Government of Indonesia should improve its capacity and commitment to include the private sector in the development and implementation of policies, the private sector should improve their ability and commitment to engage with the Government of Indonesia, and that overall the private sector has an important role in managing markets. The stakeholders suggested to increase compliance to fisheries regulations by engaging supply chain actors in industry driven enforcement.