Fishermen threaten to shut down power plant

Kasparman, The Jakarta Post, Padang, West Sumatra

Some 1,400 fishermen on Monday threatened to cut off the water supply to the Singkarak hydropower plant in West Sumatra, saying its operations had depleted the Singkarak Lake's fish population.

The fishermen, from various villages surrounding the lake, demanded the government and state-owned electricity company PLN respond to the threat the power plant posed to their livelihoods during a rally at the provincial legislature in Padang.

Although short of imposing an ultimatum, the protesters told legislators they would close a tunnel which channels water from the dam to propel the plant's turbines.

"The PLTA (hydropower plant) has drained the lake's fish population by sucking fish into the tunnel ...," Singkarak Lake fishing community forum head Masrial Akmal said.

Fishermen complained in particular about the decline in the population of the bilih fish, which they said was endemic to the lake.

Fishermen Arles Rusman said that prior to the plant's opening in 1998, he could catch between 10 kilograms and 20 kilograms of bilih fish per day. "Now catching just one kilogram is difficult," he said.

Masrial said the fisherman had been complaining ever since, but neither the government nor PLN had responded.

No one at PLN's headquarter in Jakarta could be reached for comment when telephoned after office hours on Monday.

PLN had established breeding farms to maintain fish stocks. The fry were then released into the lake, the fishermen said.

But they said this method failed to increase bilih stocks as the fry were eaten by the bigger fish in the lake.

"We know this PLTA is making a profit all the time, so we ask that some of this profit be used to compensate us for our losses," said Masrial.

The group also demanded an environmental impact study on the power plant's operations.