Fishermen need direct access to distribution

JAKARTA (JP): After years of living in poverty and uncertainty, Jakarta's traditional fishermen have laid their hope on commitments from President Abdurrahman Wahid's Cabinet to develop the country's marine industry.

In an interview on Sunday, fishermen from Kalibaru and Cilincing subdistricts in North Jakarta said they expected that the new government would eradicate "bureaucracy" in the fish industry, provide them direct access to the fish trade and assist them with money to expand their business.

"Actually, we can earn more profit of up to Rp 2,500 (35 US cents) per kilogram if we have direct access to the fish market. So far, we always sell the fish to brokers who then sell them at higher prices," Sarip, a fisherman in Kalibaru, whose specialty is catching small crabs, told The Jakarta Post.

He said things became worse for fishermen because they did not have money to expand their business after financial institutions were reluctant to approve their request for loans.

"In such conditions, we rely on fish brokers who always grant us loans or anything we need for fishing. They will deduct our installment fees from our income," said the father of six children.

President Abdurrahman has said that the new government would pay serious attention toward the development of marine resources, which are abundant in amount but have never been seriously managed.

Although the President has yet to provide practical guidance to boost the fish industry, the fishermen said they expected that the idea could improve their economic situation and bring them out of poverty.

The head of the program division of the City Fishery Agency, Nugroho Syam Subagyo, said the 19,425 fishermen in the city only received a small portion from the city's US$124.29 million in fish exports in 1998.

"Their small portion was caused by limited fishery equipment owned by traditional fishermen. Therefore, fish export relies heavily on a bigger fish industry which has more modern equipment," he said on Friday.

The agency, however, failed to provide statistical data on the fishermen's small portion in revenue.

Nugroho shared the fishermen's proposal, saying that the fishermen needed more money and direct access to the fish market to improve their business.

The idea was challenged by fish brokers, who claimed that the fishermen lack experience and education in the fish trade.

"Most fishermen are only elementary school graduates. They also rely on others, like us, in the fish trade because they lack business talent," Kaddas Daeng Mattiro, a fish broker, said.

Mattiro said banks were reluctant to approve loans to traditional fishermen because they did not trust them.

"It is us who provide everything they need, like diesel fuel, equipment and even boats. We also grant them loans, and sometimes they take the money in advance before they go fishing," he said.

Another broker, Muchtar, said fishermen were actually not poor.

"They have a bad habit of wasting their money if they get a big catch. Some of them always say they will be satisfied if they can get about Rp 100,000 in one day.

"Most of them do not save their money," he said.

Fishermen like Abdul Wahid and Tasdik of Cilincing acknowledged that they did not save any money after receiving a sizable income.

"I can't save any money because I have to allocate some Rp 50,000 of my daily income to support my family who live in Indramayu, West Java," said a fisherman, who earns about Rp 45,000 to Rp 80,000 a day.

"Moreover, my wife always buy jewelry every time I get a sizable income," he said.

Tasdik said he had an average income of between Rp 40,000 to Rp 80,000, while in better conditions, he could earn about Rp 300,000 a day.

"But we do not go fishing every day. We go offshore only about 20 days a month," he said. (ind)