The agreement was arrived at during a series of bilateral meetings between delegations from the two countries in Sanur, Bali, last Tuesday and Wednesday, a top official from Indonesia's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry said.

Under Ministerial Decree No 17/2006, foreign fishing firms will only be allowed to operate within Indonesia's special economic zone if they set up fish processing plants there.

"If Thai fishing firms want to operate in Indonesian waters, they will have to establish processing plants in Indonesia. But for types of fish that cannot currently be processed here, the Thai fishing firms will be allowed to export them, or enter into collaborative ventures with local firms to process them," said Aji Sudarso, the head of data and information at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, on Wednesday.

The ministry's director-general for fish marketing, Martini Husein, said that with the new bilateral arrangement, catches would no longer be allowed to be immediately shipped outside of Indonesian maritime boundaries.

"All the bounty that is caught will have to be landed on Indonesian soil first so that it can be recorded on our database. The aim is to monitor the size of catches," Martini said.

Meanwhile, the secretary to the ministry's Directorate General of Fisheries, Nilanto Perbowo, said that Thai firms were planning to enter into joint ventures for processing purposes with between 10 and 16 local companies.

The Indonesian government has issued licences for 355 Thai boats to fish Indonesian waters. However, only 306 boats are currently doing so.

The government is planning to apply similar arrangements to boats from the Philippines and China.

The Jakarta Post/ANN

Denpasar