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.