Indonesia is working towards establishing its first particularly sensitive sea area (PSSA), with assistance from the IMO-Norwegian Development Cooperation Agency (Norad) marine environment project on PSSAs in South East Asia.
PSSAs are marine areas that need special protection due to ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons and which may be vulnerable to damage by international maritime activities. A PSSA may be designated by IMO following a submission from a country (or countries) and can be protected by ships routing measures, such as an area to be avoided.
A national PSSA workshop is being held in Lombok, Republic of Indonesia (7-8 December), jointly organized by IMO and the Indonesian Directorate General of Sea Transportation with financial assistance from the IMO-Norad project.
More than twenty-five participants (including organizers) are attending the workshop, including from the DGST, environment, fisheries and port interests as well as participants from the newly- formed Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs.
The IMO-Norad PSSA project is supporting five countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Viet Nam) in the identification and establishment of PSSAs in the South East Asia Region.
Source: IMO
