IPB University and Bangka Belitung Islands Provincial Government Launch Innovation Cooperation on Mangrove Crab Apartments
IPB University collaborates with the Provincial Government of Bangka Belitung Islands (Babel) to develop sustainable mangrove crab apartment and innovation through the 2024 Kedaireka matching fund program. The cooperation program is entitled ‘Implementation of Sea Farming System Based on Smart Mariculture in an Optimal framework for Sustainable Crab Village’.
This innovation has been initiated by various fisheries and marine economics experts of IPB University including Prof Tridoyo Kusumastanto (Marine Resource Economics Expert), Dr Irzal Effendi (Fisheries Cultivation Expert), Dr Wini Trilaksani (Fisheries Product Processing Expert), Dr Sugeng Hari Wisudo (Fisheries Catch Expert), Dr Kastana Sapanli (Tourism Institutional Economics Expert), Dr Fery Kurniawan (Coastal Resource Management Expert), Auzi Asfarian, SSi, MKom (Software and Information Engineering Expert).
Prof Tridoyo as the team leader stated that the program to create collaboration and strategic synergy between university personnel and partners is expected to be able to improve the economy of the people in the Bangka Belitung Islands (Babel) and make mangrove crabs an icon of the economic resources of the fisheries sector.
“This program is an implementation of the blue economy because it emphasizes the concept of sustainability in the mangrove crab business, mangrove crab cultivation is not only an extractive business but a sustainable investment to increase the number of mangrove crabs. Increasing the number of crabs is an attempt to advance the economy in the Bangka Belitung Islands (Babel) with the development of the blue economy,” he added.
Bangka Belitung Islands (Babel) is a maritime province that has high fisheries potential. So far, mangrove crab production activities still have to rely on nature through fishing. One of the challenges in developing mangrove crab farming is the difficulty in obtaining crab seeds that rely on natural catches. Through the crab apartment innovation, it is expected that the supply of crab seeds can be fulfilled sustainably.
Rusdi, ST, MT as a partner from the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) of Bangka Belitung Islands (Babel) stated, “Currently, Bangka Belitung Islands are looking to transform from dependence on the environmentally damaging tin mining to the blue economy. Currently, a Regional Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPD) is being prepared that refers to the blue economy index, so that it becomes one way of transforming from extractive to a more sustainable one.”
Dr Arief Febrianto, Chairman of the Cultivation Division of the Marine and Fisheries Service of Bangka Belitung Islands Province added, “Currently, the economic condition of the people in Bangka Belitung is on the decline because tin is difficult to be extracted, so mangrove crab cultivation is expected to be an alternative in improving the economy of fishermen.”
In addition, he added, it is also necessary to develop an upstream-downstream fisheries business system, especially related to processing and trading. He hopes that this cooperation program with IPB University can be sustainable and widely beneficial, especially for the people of Bangka Belitung Islands Province. (Dr Kastana/Rz) (IAAS/RSL)
