Aruna Learns to USA through IVLP 2023 Sustainable Fisheries Management

Throughout June 2023, Utari Octavianty, Aruna’s Co-Founder and Chief Sustainability Officer, participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) managed by the International Visitors Office at the Bureau of Education and Culture of the United States Department of State (US). Utari is one of 6 people from various regions in Indonesia and across professions who were selected to join this program. The other 5 people consisted of representatives from the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), fisheries scholar associations, private sector and factories.

This learning program raised the theme of Sustainable Fisheries Management, which is the pentahelix for the implementation of sustainable fisheries in America. Indonesia has also expressed interest in the program to strengthen networking and collaboration in sustainable fisheries management with academics, researchers, and non-governmental organizations in the U.S. 

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Sung Y. Kim, stated that America is one of the world’s destination countries for fishery product exports. Supported by International Trade Center data in 2020, the import value of United States fishery products this year was the highest overall, reaching around 15.34% of the total import value of world fishery products. 

“The potential of fish resources in 11 management areas in Indonesia is more than 12 million. Of course, this is not a small number. Meanwhile, export commodities of Indonesian fishery products include crab, tuna, shrimp, lobster, grouper, and others. It’s a resource worth optimizing for by people who really understand the sector well. It’s no wonder that IVLP is a great opportunity to learn.” 

Aruna positively welcomed his participation in this program and moreover America is one of the largest markets for exports of local fishermen’s catch products from Indonesia. “It is a meaningful opportunity for Aruna and I personally to be able to learn about Sustainable Fisheries Management implemented through this IVLP learning program. There are so many things I learned—which I didn’t know at all, now they can be the benchmark that underlies every strategic decision of Aruna in the future, especially since America is one of our export countries. I also hope that fisheries in Indonesia will also be able to apply the concept and implementation of sustainable fisheries more thoroughly,” said Utari.