MMTA have been invited to the second in a series of meetings focused on the management of small islands in Indonesia. The key issues for this meeting are:

• Increase efforts towards supervision in relation to the utilization of small islands
• The integrity of the supervision & the control of the operation of ships in waters around small islands 

The Provincial Parliament of West Sumatra invited MMTA to join a workshop/forum for stakeholder consultation regarding the drafting of a new Provincial PERDA covering the development and management of small islands within Provincial waters. Provincial waters were defined as being up to 12 nm from the coast and Kabupaten (Regency) waters were defined as one third of that distance (4nm) from the coast. Small islands were defined as any island up to a maximum of 2,000km2.

MMTA Chairman Roberthyl Saogo SH raised several critical points with regard to the proposed new PERDA. He pointed out that the Mentawai Parliament had already passed legislation in 2002 (PERDA No 16, 2002) limiting the number of companies licensed to operate live-aboard boats in the islands. He said that without proper implentation of the existing legislation, resort owners could not survive in Mentawai. Bp Roberthyl said that he could see no clash between the proposed new Provincial PERDA and the existing legislation and he hoped that Provincial Officials could cooperate with the Regency Officials to resolve missunderstandings and to provide protection for the marine tourism industry. Bp Roberthyl also invited all participants to visit Mentawai before the final approval of the new legislation so that the cultural diversity of the Province was better understood.

MMTA Advisory Board member, Rick Cameron (PT MWB) was invited by the DPRD to discuss investment prospects for Mentawai. Mr Cameron discussed the investment history of the area and the need for cooperation between the Province and the Mentawai Regency to ensure that existing laws were respected by all boat operators. He told the participants that despite the volatile investment climate in the Mentawai's over the past 15 years, Tourism investment in the islands had been far higher than the combined investment in all other Regencies and Cities in the Province and that surfing tourism was now the only significant sector in the region and therefore a "locomotive" for general development of Tourism in the Province. Mr Cameron said that the licensed resort owners in Mentawai were losing money or breaking even at best regardless of their occupancy levels because unlicensed foreign owned boats had flooded the market and overcrowded the best locations near resorts. Without protection, the local resort owners were faced with closing down at a time when their business should be booming.

The Indonesian Department of Fisheries and Ocean Affairs have installed VMS (Vessel Monitoring Systems) on thousands of fishing boats to support their crackdown on illegal fishing operators in national waters. Hundreds of foreign flag boats have been arrested and confiscated in the past year and several were sunk by cannon fire when they attempted to avoid arrest. See METRO TV news video covering the crackdown.

 MMTA have secured an offer from the manufactureres of a new VMS system that uses GPRS when close to the coast and satellite communications when on the open sea. This hybrid technology can operate at a much lower cost than pure satellite systems. 

 The transponder unit is self contained and simple to install. The cost is only $1,900 per unit with software cost and air time of approximately $90 per month per boat. The MMTA is approaching several National Government Agencies for funding to reduce the cost of establish the system. The running cost will be covered by the boats.

Only licensed MMTA boats will be fitted with the units. Air patrols will be used to locate unlicensed vessels in the area. These units can be used to send emergency signals and other data at low cost.