A senior Indonesian official said that government will permit fish-processing companies to import fish due to possible catch shortfalls resulting from bad weather between May and July, a local media reported on Thursday.

Citing to weather forecast issued by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), director general for fish production, marketing and processing at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Saut Parulian Hutagalung, said that heavy winds at sea during this period, leading to bad weather. "Therefore, we welcome companies who request import permits," he said as quoted by the tribunnews.com.

He said the government would issue import permits immediately because processing companies were now operating at a capacity of only 40 to 50 percent in East Java, and it would get worse if they were unable to get raw materials.

"We are afraid that if we ignore this situation workers might be laid off," said Saut.

He said the government would only allow for fish imports of a maximum of 20 percent of total production demand, while companies would have to source the remaining 80 percent from local supplies.

The ministry has initially banned domestic fish processing companies to import similar kind of fishes that also existed in the country's waters.