Aruna at the Agrinnovation Conference: Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture for Marine Sustainability

On March 15 2023, Aruna was invited by Edu Farm and Tech in Asia as one of the panelists at the Agrinnovation Conference, where topics on agriculture and technology were raised and discussed.  This event was to inspire, empower, and connect various stakeholders in the agricultural industry. Also highlighting the development of innovation and technology through digital transformation, Utari Octavianty, Aruna’s Co-Founder and Chief Sustainability Officer, spoke to give more motivation for young entrepreneurs to contribute more to the betterment of the Indonesian fisheries sector.

As an archipelagic country, Indonesia has been widely recognized as a country with rich marine and fishery resources.  The fisheries sector in Indonesia basically comes from capture fisheries and aquaculture. Utari said, “Capture fisheries and aquaculture do work in synergy.  In fact, aquaculture is a practice that has been positioned as a successful alternative to satisfy the growing consumer demand for fish. It surely reduces the possibility of seas being over exploited. On the other hand, companies like Aruna focusing on the capture fisheries, also work to optimize the marine potential we have. We shorten the supply chain, educate our fishers about the sustainability of marine ecosystems, technology, and so on.”

An improvement in the fisheries sector depends on the outputs as well the equilibrium point of capture fisheries and aquaculture. Capture fisheries, according to Aruna, consist of several main commodities, such as lobster, crab, tuna, cob, and skipjack.  On the other hand, aquaculture fisheries focus a lot on several main commodities consisting of shrimp, and freshwater fish.  Despite having two different focuses, adequate supply chain management remains a basic need for both.

Aruna has managed 180 Aruna Hubs spread across the coasts of Indonesia.  As a gathering point for transactions, Aruna Hub is also the place where the supply chain begins. If we talk about it, well, supply chain is an activity that starts with the producers and ends with the end consumers. “Practically, the fisheries supply chain does require extra handling so that the quality of the fish remains fresh. Apart from working with the government and various partners and stakeholders, Aruna Hub is also a place to renew the treatment of the cold supply chain. Mostly taking place in remote areas, the renewal treatment is a conventional, but surely an applicable and realistic way of doing it,” concluded Utari.