Fisheries Management Areas (WPP-RI): Indonesia’s Eleven Sea Zones
Indonesia divides the sea around its islands into eleven fisheries management areas, known as WPP-RI. Licences, vessel placement and catch rules in the country are tied to these zones, so the areas are the basic unit of how the national fishery is managed. Understanding the eleven areas explains why a boat from one port may be allowed to fish in one sea and not in the next, and why a fishing method that works in the Java Sea may face different rules in the Arafura Sea. This page explains how the areas were set up, what their numbering means, which waters each one covers, and how the newer quota layer sits on top of them.
Why the sea is split into management areas
A fishery cannot be managed as one body of water when the fish, the fleets and the ecology differ so much from one stretch of sea to another. The eleven areas were drawn to reflect the ecological characteristics of each sea, the regional features that shape how people fish there, and the fish stocks that each sea holds. The aim is to set limits on each area separately, rather than applying one national rule to the whole archipelago.
The division was first set out in a ministerial regulation of 2009, which named the eleven areas. A later ministerial regulation of 2014 restated the boundary descriptions, and it is the more current reference for the areas. The licensing and quota rules have been built up around that base. A reader who wants the legal detail should check the most recent regulation in force, because the names and rules have been revised more than once.
How the numbering works
Each area carries a three-digit number. The numbers follow the global system used by the United Nations food agency for its fishing areas, and the Indonesian areas are grouped in two blocks. The three areas that open to the Indian Ocean are numbered 571, 572 and 573. The eight areas that open to the Pacific are numbered 711 to 718.
The numbers are a convenient shorthand for managers and fishers, but the names of the areas are often more useful for a reader. Area 571 covers the Malacca Strait and the Andaman Sea. Area 572 covers the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra, including the Sunda Strait, and in some technical descriptions the southern Andaman Sea and the Mentawai Islands. Area 573 covers the Indian Ocean south of Java, extending to the south of Nusa Tenggara, and it takes in the Savu Sea and the western Timor Sea.
On the Pacific side, area 711 covers the Karimata Strait, the Natuna Sea and the South China Sea. Area 712 is the Java Sea. Area 713 covers the Makassar Strait, Bone Bay, the Flores Sea and the Bali Sea. Area 714 covers Tolo Bay and the Banda Sea. Area 715 covers Tomini Bay, the Maluku Sea, the Halmahera Sea, the Seram Sea and Berau Bay. Area 716 covers the Sulawesi Sea and the waters north of Halmahera. Area 717 covers Cenderawasih Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and area 718 covers the Aru Sea, the Arafura Sea and the eastern Timor Sea.
The area boundaries on this page come from the 2014 regulation as summarised in secondary sources, so anyone who needs an exact boundary, for a licence or a legal question, should check the regulation itself. One news article misdescribes area 714, which is a reminder that the official text is the reference.
What an area means for a fishing boat
The areas matter most when a vessel is licensed. A boat’s fishing permit is tied to a fishing area, which tells the authorities where the vessel may work and which rules apply there. The same kind of gear can face different limits in different areas, because the stocks, the mesh rules and the other restrictions differ by sea. The placement of fishing gear and fish aggregating devices is governed by a separate ministerial regulation.
For a fleet that moves between areas, the rules become more complicated. Some fleets based in area 572 operate in neighbouring areas 573 and 712, and the reverse also happens, so a licence that looks simple on paper can involve more than one sea in practice. For a small boat working one local stretch of coast, the area is usually the one that its home province sits in.
The status of the areas
The areas also show where pressure is highest. Advocacy material on Indonesian fisheries describes area 718, the Arafura Sea, as one of the three areas regarded as fully or overexploited.
The 2023 quota layer
The eleven areas are not the whole story. Government Regulation No. 11 of 2023 on measured fishing was issued in March 2023, and it adds a quota system on top of them. The regulation divides the fishing zones into six zones, each with its own quotas and restrictions for different types of fishers and vessels. It gives priority to local and small-scale fishers working within 12 nautical miles of the coast.
The minister described three types of quota: one for commercial fish catchers, one for local communities living by the shore, and one for education, training and recreation. The framework is recorded as in effect since early 2025, although a 2023 news report had described the quota as beginning in 2024, and the ministry’s implementing regulation was issued in September 2023. The timing therefore differs between sources, and a reader who needs to know which rules apply on a given date should check the ministry’s current decision.
The important point for a reader is that the quota zones are a separate layer. They do not replace the eleven management areas. The areas still define the sea, and the quotas divide the catch that each sea can yield. The regulation also lifted an earlier ban on foreign investment in the marine capture sector, which critics argue favours large-scale exploitation, and foreign stakes in local companies are capped at 49 per cent.
Why the areas matter for the places you visit
For a visitor the areas are mostly out of sight, but they still shape which boats work which waters. The Arafura Sea, area 718, is worth knowing about before you go looking for large catches in that sea, because it is among the areas where the stocks are under the most pressure.
Straits are where the boundaries are most visible in practice. The Makassar Strait is part of area 713, and it is a major passage for both fishing boats and shipping. The Indonesian throughflow page explains how water moves through these channels from one ocean to the other, which is the physical reason the seas are linked.
What the system does and does not do
The eleven areas give the country a structure for managing fish stocks, and they make it possible to set limits sea by sea. They also make it possible to see where pressure is highest. The system has limits. A single area can cover a very large and varied sea, a fleet can move from one area to another, and the rules have changed several times. The areas are a tool for management, not a guarantee that every stock in every sea is in good shape.
For someone trying to follow the Indonesian fishery, the best habit is to check the area number in any licence or fleet notice, and to ask which of the six quota zones applies. The number and the zone tell you more about what a boat is allowed to do than the name of the port it sails from.
Reading the areas in practice also means keeping two dates in mind. The eleven areas were first set in 2009 and restated in 2014, while the quota zones come from the 2023 regulation and began to apply in stages afterwards. A rule about gear placement, a licence rule and a quota rule can each be correct for its own date and still disagree with each other if they are read side by side. The sensible approach is to read the newest rule that covers the question at hand, and to treat older summaries as background rather than as the final word.
The wider Indonesian geography and climate pages place these seas in their physical setting.
Summary of the fisheries management areas
Indonesia manages its sea through eleven fisheries management areas, known as WPP-RI. The areas were first set in 2009 and restated in 2014 to reflect ecology, regional features and fish stocks, and they are numbered in two blocks, 571 to 573 for the Indian Ocean and 711 to 718 for the Pacific. Each area sets the context for fishing licences and vessel placement. A 2023 regulation adds six quota zones that share the catch among commercial fishers, local communities and non-commercial users. For a boat, a visitor or a reader, the area number is the key to where the rules apply, and the quota zone is the key to how much may be taken.
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