Bomb fishing harms marine

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: A military official blamed Thursday the practices of bomb fishing and cyanide fishing by local and foreign fishermen for the degrading quality of marine habitat in the Maluku and Irian waters.

Chief of the Jayapura Naval Base Commodore Freddy Numberi called on local people to report those who use the fishing practices and pledged that the navy would cooperate with the local administration to take strong measures against violators.

"Those fishing practices can kill the whole marine habitat," Numberi was quoted by Antara as saying.