The fresh- and salt-water industry is scattered across the archipelago, with most enterprises small scale; sea cage aquaculture tends to be run by villages.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science has been working with Indonesian scientists to check the impact of sea cage aquaculture on the environment and develop management guidelines. But most research on this has been done in Europe and North America, and little in the tropics.
One such impact pollution and disease affecting fish in the wild because the farms aren't run properly,
This is a major concern in Australia, where the industry is tightly regulated. In Indonesia, however, there are reported to be few controls and the sea cage business is expanding rapidly.
Big scale industry
INDONESIA - According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), almost 90 percent of the world's fish farm production takes place in the developing world, with Indonesia ranking number two in output.