THP IPB Students Invite to Optimize Marine Products in India

Indonesia as an archipelagic country (17,502 islands) has a coastline of 81,000 kilometers with a marine fisheries area of ??around 5.8 million square kilometers. The fact that the fisheries and marine sector has bright prospects, especially in meeting protein-based food needs, has encouraged Susi Susilawati, a student at the Department of Aquatic Product Technology, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK), Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) to invite people all over the world to optimize marine products as one of the foods needed to meet protein needs.

Susi conveyed this idea at the International Exposure Visit on Youth Engagement to Meet SDGs in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (18-22/2). This international conference is a program of the Center on Rural Development Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) in collaboration with the Rajiv Gandhi Nation Institute Youth Development.

Susi is one of 20 young men and women who want to contribute to world change who were invited to this conference. They come from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Fiji. “MasyaaAllah, I found a new family. It was amazing! I feel like I have a great opportunity as a future stakeholder because I am youth. There I told stories about how the potential of the sea can be utilized in all fields, as well as the problems faced by the sea, namely marine plastic waste,” said Susi.

According to her, the resources on land in Indonesia are now starting to dwindle but paradoxically with the increasing number of people. “Indonesia is 70 percent sea and full of potential resources in it. So why not look to the sea waters to optimize its potential as Indonesia’s food future. In order to keep up the change. Marine products can be diversified and developed into other products and packaged well,” explained Susi who is currently also active in the Strategic Studies Department, FPIK Student Executive Board.

Susi also said that behind all the marine potential that is owned, there is an anxiety for the sustainability of the sea, namely waste. The amount of waste is a problem point for the sea because it disrupts the marine ecosystem and causes the sea to not be able to optimize its benefits.