Riyanto Basuki, Director of Marine Services, Marine and Fisheries Ministry
We need to build up marine tourism

In the 30 years of working with people living in Indonesia's coastal areas, Riyanto Basuki has discovered that people whose livelihood depended on the sea, tend to be twice as poor as people living off the land. "Their homes are nothing more than huts, even though their income from fishing is not too bad," said Riyanto, 55, director of marine services at the marine and fisheries ministry.

Before he got the job last August, Riyanto was director of coastal communities and business development. And long before that, he was a researcher at the marine fisheries research office, part of the agriculture research and development agency. As a graduate in fisheries and marine science from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), his current work includes managing coastal environment and empowering people living in coastal areas.

October 13, 2015