Fishermen complain about trawlers, dynamite fishing

Fishermen complain about trawlers, dynamite fishing

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands), which became a new
regency in November 2001, has been unable to stop illegal
trawling and dynamite fishing that is severely damaging its coral
reefs.

Regent K. Abdul Kadir reported the difficulty of curbing the
practices to House of Representatives Commission III for
agriculture and food affairs and to the Ministry of Maritime
Affairs and Fisheries last week.

He alleged that naval personnel backed the illegal practices.

"Fishermen in the area have always been threatened, at
gunpoint, by Navy personnel who warn them not to report the
illegal activity. The fishermen have tried to chase away trawlers
that they consider responsible for damaging marine life," he
said.

"The local police also find it difficult to catch the suspects
as they usually throw away any evidence when the police approach
their boats."

Trawling and dynamite fishing have damaged 85 percent of the
coral reefs in the area.

Reports say outside fishermen are responsible for blowing up
reefs and killing many fish. They also take away coral to sell at
local and foreign markets.

Illegal sand mining is also rampant and has seen the
disappearance of some of the 110 islands in the regency.

A local fisherman, Syahrulloh of Harapan island, said dynamite
fishing was not the only reason for local fishermen's dismal
catches.

"Dynamite fishing has a negative impact on our catches, but
outsiders in trawlers operating in our sea also exacerbates our
problems. Besides, the use of trawls has become more intensive
since the (regency) inauguration," he said.

Syahrulloh said the increasing number of tourist resorts on at
least nine big islands, which have become favorite weekend
getaways for Jakarta residents, have also affected local
fishermen.

"We are not allowed to fish in the vicinity of the resorts.
The resort managements say the sea around their islands is for
the benefit of the owners, not locals."

Didin Juneidi of the Thousand Islands Tourism and Resort
Association addressed his complaint by saying: "We are rarely
involved in conflicts with local fishermen in regard to fishing
locations. We are just concerned that if they fish around the
(resort) island, they could destroy the beauty of the island,
including coral reefs."

A meeting between fishermen and resort managements is
scheduled for this Friday.

The regency administration has limited human resources to
handle fishermen's complaints.

"Positions in only nine of the 37 divisions in the
administration have been filled. Even though there are around
56,000 officials in the Jakarta administration, most of them have
turned down positions here," complained Abdul.

The development of resorts has also been slow due to the city
administration requesting resort operators on certain island to
set aside 40 percent of the island as a conservation area.

The request has been rejected by the association.

"It's difficult to develop a tourist spot on these islands as
they lack adequate transportation, and any transportation that is
available is very expensive, about Rp 200,000 (US$20) per person
for one trip," Didin said.