Foreign fishing fleets are depriving locals of food
Foreign fishing fleets are depriving locals of food
By Mark V. Erdmann
MELBOURNE: For decades now, Indonesia's rich marine natural
resources have been plundered at will by foreign fishing vessels.
Some operate under "official" licenses purchased from Indonesian
middlemen and even fly the Indonesian flag.
Others simply poach in the vast archipelagic seas, bolstered
by the slim chance of encountering Indonesian navy vessels and
the knowledge that they can usually pay their way out of any
"inconvenient" situations that might arise if they do. Many are
said to work with the various enforcement agencies that should be
preventing their activities.
Fortunately, Indonesia seems poised on the brink of changing
this costly and unsustainable situation. In one of his first
official addresses as president, President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus
Dur) highlighted the illegal foreign fishing problem as one of
his priorities.
Shortly thereafter he made good on his word by creating the
new Ministry for Marine Exploration and Fisheries, and installing
one of Indonesia's best known marine environmentalists, Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja, as the new minister.
This change is long overdue. As "fish wars" erupt between
nations all over the world, Indonesia must realize and protect
what is potentially its most sustainable and valuable natural
resource, its fisheries.
Minister Sarwono recently suggested that the loss in revenue
to the Indonesian economy as a result of foreign "fish stealing"
may top US$4 billion!
The following opinion is based not on official statistics or
the views of a fisheries scientist, but rather on my experience
as a coral reef ecologist living in and traveling through small
fishing villages throughout eastern Indonesia for the past nine
years.
During this time I have had the opportunity to discuss the
foreign fleet issue with native fishermen from all over Sulawesi
and Maluku, as well as to witness firsthand the status of eastern
Indonesia's pelagic and reef fisheries.
The issue of foreign fleets either operating under license or
poaching in Indonesian waters has been acknowledged as a
"problem" for years. But until recently neither officials nor
academics took it seriously.
This lack of concern stemmed from a common misconception that
Indonesian fishermen are too poor and ignorant, their fishing
gear not advanced enough to effectively harvest fish stocks, and
that they are ineffectual seamen who don't have what it takes to
stay at sea and really fish.
Combined with the totally ludicrous idea that Indonesia's
fisheries resources are underexploited, many fisheries officers
and government officials seemed to feel that Indonesia might as
well have foreign vessels "help" with fishing -- lest all those
extra fish go to waste!
These misconceptions were reinforced by consecutive
ex-president Soeharto-era five year plans (Repelita) that
inevitably called for a more intensive fisheries effort, and by
"official" fisheries statistics that predictably showed a perfect
increase in catches in line with the demands of the Repelita.
None of this could be further from the truth. Indonesia's
fishermen are extremely competent seamen who do quite a good job
of catching any and all commercially important fish species.
Moreover Indonesia's fish stocks are mostly overexploited.
In a country where fish is considered almost as indispensable
as rice in a common meal, at least in eastern Indonesia,
villagers are increasingly forced to eat juvenile and "trash"
fishes.
There is no excuse for this. A country with a fisheries
potential as vast as Indonesia's should be able to feed its own
people sustainably.
Indonesia's fisheries are the property of the Indonesian
people, and should be utilized first and foremost to nourish
these people. Only if there is excess should fisheries products
be exported.
Unfortunately, there is no excess. While it is not true that
Indonesia's fishermen are unable to effectively harvest
Indonesia's fisheries, it is true that they are generally at a
great competitive disadvantage compared to foreign fleets who use
high-technology, unsustainable (and often illegal) fishing gears
such as trawl nets, drift nets and massive long lines to
decimate pelagic and demersal fisheries throughout the
archipelago.
Corruption, greed and government short-sightedness have meant
that foreign fleets are generally given the green light to
plunder Indonesia's most valuable stocks, while sharing a
minuscule portion of their profits with a few corrupt government
officials.
Indonesia's increasingly marginalized traditional fishermen,
meanwhile, are left to fight for the scraps. This in turn has led
to increased environmental degradation and a decreasing quality
of life in many coastal villages as fishermen turn to destructive
techniques to make a living and put some fish on their collective
plates. The following are two examples from Sulawesi.
When diving on a coastal village's reefs during a recent
expedition to Pare Pare in South Sulawesi, two observations
struck me most. First, a significant number of larger boats were
sitting on the beach in various stages of decay.
Second, the reefs had been extremely badly damaged by blast
fishing. As I talked with some older fishers, a soon-familiar
scenario emerged. The villagers traditionally fished for "small
pelagics" -- skipjack tuna, small mackerel and scad.
For generations they had harvested the bountiful pelagic
schools that often came quite close to the reef. By the mid-
1980's, many had built larger long-pole and purse seine boats and
were making quite a good living from this fishery.
However, their luck changed in the late 1980's when large
Taiwanese boats started working the area. The fishery collapsed
within a few years. Left with no alternative, the fishermen
stored their tuna boats on the beach and turned to blast fishing
on their own reefs to supply their fish needs.
By the late 1990's, their reefs were no longer productive and
they are now forced to eat small "trash" fishes and the remaining
baitfish that they can still catch from Pare Pare's harbor with
night lift-nets.
A similar, potentially tragic situation is now evolving in
North Sulawesi within the Bunaken National Marine Park. This is
one of Indonesia's best known marine tourism destinations.
On Bunaken island the majority of fishermen are also small
pelagics fishers, which augurs well for conservation efforts
within the park. Since these fishermen are not targeting reef
fisheries, there is great potential for coexistence of fishing
and marine ecotourism.
Foreign fishing operations are threatening to damage both of
these important sectors of the North Sulawesi economy. In 1997
and 1998, the now infamous "Curtain of Death" Taiwanese trap net
that stretched across the Lembeh Strait decimated migratory
pelagic fish and marine mammal stocks in North Sulawesi.
Not only did Bunaken fishermen see the effect in their daily
catches, tourism also suffered. The number of sightings of
dolphins, manta rays and other diver favorites plummeted.
Minister Sarwono, then minister of environment, eventually
ordered the Taiwanese trap net taken down. But foreign fleets
continue to threaten Bunaken National Park, albeit in a less
direct manner.
The Bunaken fishermen increasingly report conflicts with
foreign tuna fishermen. They are now actively vandalizing foreign
fishing gears, such as long line radio buoys and fish aggregating
devices when they encounter them.
The fishermen face a "double whammy" -- Filipino boats poach
the waters just northwest of the park, while Taiwanese, Korean
and Hong Kong boats (with "official" licenses) work the seas to
the north and east of the park.
The latter have greatly increased in number since the spread
of violence in Ambon, when a number of foreign fleets relocated
from Maluku to Bitung as their "home" port.
As these bigger and more technologically advanced foreign
fleets decimate North Sulawesi's stocks, the Bunaken fishermen
must travel further and further to catch fish -- often three to
five hours by wooden speedboat from the island.
They now increasingly resort to spearfishing and gillnetting
on Bunaken's heavily touristed reefs in order to feed their
families. Tourism and fishing, once compatible, are now
increasingly enemies. In large part this is due to the activities
of foreign fishing fleets.
My suggestion for Minister Sarwono and the Indonesian
government? Close Indonesia's seas completely to foreign fleets.
Period. Allow Indonesian fishermen only to catch Indonesian fish.
After five years, the situation can certainly be reassessed.
If there is strong scientific evidence for surplus fish
production (i.e., underexploited stocks), then the issue of
exports can be re-examined. But only in a sustainable manner in
which Indonesian fishermen catch the fish that are exported.
There is simply no justification for foreign fleets to operate
in Indonesian waters. Bigger, more technologically-advanced
fishing fleets are not better -- only more efficient at speeding
the collapse of a fishery.
Indonesia's traditional fishermen don't need any "help" from
foreign fleets. They should be supported and encouraged by their
government to harvest what rightfully belongs to them.
Dr. Mark Erdmann is marine protected areas advisor to the
Natural Resources Management Program in North Sulawesi. This
article appears by courtesy of the Melbourne-based Inside
Indonesia magazine (www.insideindonesia.org). It will appear in
its next edition.