Calang residents enjoy shrimp harvest

Calang residents enjoy shrimp harvest

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Aceh Jaya

Devastated by the tsunami, residents living on the Aceh coast in
the district of Calang, Aceh Jaya regency have started to breathe
more easily. After losing most of their belongings in the
disaster, in no time, they will be standing on their feet again.

Seven months after the tidal waves swept the region, the
residents have been blessed with a good harvest of shrimp and
crabs which they collected from their former ponds at night time.

Unlike the shrimps they used to harvest, the shrimps are
smaller but abundant. In a single night, the residents could
catch up to 200 kilograms of shrimp that they sold at Rp 20,000
per kilogram.

"The shrimp will be frozen and sent to Banda Aceh," said Awi,
30, a shrimp buyer in Rigaih harbor, Calang.

Since land transportation to Calang is still difficult -- it
takes nine hours by a four-wheel drive vehicle to reach the area
now from Banda Aceh compared to three hours previously -- the
shrimp and crabs are transported to Banda Aceh by fishing boat in
about an eight-hour journey.

According to a resident, Iskandar, 30, the shrimp and crabs
are a blessing for Calang residents who were the worst hit during
the massive disaster.

Aceh Jaya regency reportedly lost 24 percent of its residents
in its six districts -- Jaya, Sampoinit, Calang, Panga, Krueng
Sabe and Teunom -- in the tsunami. Most of the regency's
residents were fishermen and farmers who owned fish and shrimp
ponds.

He said the residents bought equipments to catch the shrimp
and crabs from the money they raised by taking part in the cash-
for-work program organized by foreign aid groups. "We used the
money as an investment," he told the Post.

Now, Iskandar sells around 50 kilograms of shrimp every day,
raising decent money for his surviving family.

Another Calang resident, 50-year-old Umar, claimed he already
bought a motorcycle from the money he raised from selling shrimp.

"This is a blessing from Allah," Iskandar said.

Although many of the ponds were damaged in the disaster, the
residents still harvested fish, shrimp and crabs for their own
use at night, while in the day, many of them still took part in
cash-for-work program.