WITH over 13,000 islands, Indonesia is by far the world’s biggest archipelagic state, a nation shaped as much by the seas around it as by its land. Yet the new president, Joko Widodo, believes Indonesians have “for too long turned our backs” on the water. In his inaugural speech in October the head of state, widely known as Jokowi, expressed a desire to “be as great in the oceans as our ancestors were in the past”. A few weeks later, at an Asian summit in Myanmar, he went further. Indonesia should revive its maritime culture, develop its fishing industry, improve maritime links through things like better ferries and ports, and crack down on illegal fishing and other violations of sovereignty. Indeed, he said, Indonesia should be nothing less than a “world maritime axis” between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

For all Jokowi’s related talk of boosting naval and coastguard strength (Indonesia’s naval budget is smaller than Singapore’s), his new maritime policy is aimed squarely at increasing prosperity at home. Tens of millions of Indonesians live from fishing. Meanwhile, the country’s farthest-flung islands, particularly those in the east, suffer from the tyranny of distance; improving maritime linkages would cut high transport costs and boost investment and productivity, particularly in manufacturing.

The fisheries minister, Susi Pudjiastuti, complains that though Indonesia’s waters are much more extensive than Thailand’s, the country exports far fewer fish. To get a sense of why that is, consider the town of Muncar on the eastern edge of Java, separated by a narrow strait from Bali. It is home to one of Indonesia’s biggest fisheries. Muncar offers easy access to rich fishing grounds in both the Indian Ocean and the Java Sea. Nearly everyone in the town and in the surrounding villages lives off the sea. Some catch fish, others sell equipment and services to fishermen, and still others salt, can and process what the boats bring home. It is a little working fishery of the sort that has all but vanished from the developed world: small decorated wooden boats crowd the harbour; skippers and crew sit by dock repairing nets; and over the town hangs the eye-watering stench of rotted fish—cat heaven.

Small-scale fishermen like those in Muncar bring in the vast majority of Indonesia’s catch, but the cost of this charm is huge inefficiency. Few vessels have blast freezers, or have only small ones. Because the catch must be brought back to shore quickly, fishermen make frequent short trips rather than longer journeys which are more lucrative. Muncar port also lacks adequate cold-storage facilities, which means the catch spoils if it is not sold quickly. Many of the processors are what Abidin, who runs Muncar’s fish market, calls “home industries”: fishermen’s wives salting their husband’s catch, for instance.

Meanwhile, as small Indonesian vessels work inshore, well-funded foreign pirate fleets, often sailing under flags of convenience, plunder Indonesian fisheries further offshore. Precise data on illegal fishing is hard to come by, but some put the annual cost to Indonesia at $3 billion a year. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal Jokowi claimed that nine-tenths of 5,400 fishing boats in Indonesia’s waters each day are illegal. On December 5th a Vietnamese fishing boat illegally trawling in Indonesian waters was seized by the Indonesian navy off the Riau islands; after its crew were taken off, it was scuttled. On December 28th the navy blew up two Thai boats in the same area. Ms Susi says that the same fate may await 22 Chinese fishing vessels seized in early December. Jokowi says that the ship-sinking sends “a simple yet brief message” that Indonesia means business when it comes to illegal fishing.

But sending messages may prove the easy part. Other aspects will be harder and more costly. Corruption is rampant in Indonesia’s port and customs systems, and cannot be stamped out unless officials are paid more. Upgrading port infrastructure will also be expensive. Ms Susi says the administration plans to build 200 new small and medium-sized harbours and to upgrade many more. Jokowi has been wooing foreigners to invest in maritime infrastructure. He has little to show so far. But he is right that the sea road is a long-neglected path to his country’s prosperity.