Fishing Quotas Regulation as the Embodiment of Fish Resources Protection

Act No. 45 of 2009 authorizes the Minister to determine the Total Allowable Catches (TACs) in the Fishing Area of the Republic of Indonesia (FARI). The determination of TACs is used as an effort to preserve fish resources in Indonesian marine. TACs is catch limit by all the fishing actor within a certain period that are set for most commercial fish stock in FARI. TAC is different from fishing quotas. TACs did not set fishing quotas, either for individual or corporation which have fishing activities. TACs mechanism is inadequate for over-fishing or over-exploitation to fish resources prevention because there are still some FARI that classified as over-exploited for certain species of fish. The aim of this study was to find a better legal mechanism than TACs which can be used to prevent overfishing. The research method used is the normative research method with the statute approach. The conclusion is the fishing quotas regulation is required for the protection of fish resources in Indonesia and prevent the inequity in fishing and fish trade in Indonesia. Keywords—catch limit; total allowable catches; fishing quotas;