Fuel price rise keeps fishermen tied up

Fuel price rise keeps fishermen tied up

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

For almost one hour, Nano, 34, just sat silently in his boat.
Looking straight out to sea, he completely ignored his fellow
fishermen who had their boats tied up next to his on the Perancis
River in Dadap village, Tangerang regency, Banten, on Saturday
morning.

"This is not my own boat. Myself and four other fishermen just
rent it and we share the takings. The boat's owner has decided
not to send us out to sea for a while as costs have doubled since
the fuel price increase," Nano said when asked by The Jakarta
Post.

"I've no idea how I'm going to feed my wife and six kids as I
won't be able to take the boat out beginning Monday," Nano said.

Nano is just one of thousands of fishermen from coastal
villages in north Tangerang who have temporarily lost their
sources of income after the government raised fuel prices by an
average of 29 percent last Tuesday.

The fishermen are now living on loans from their employers.

The fishermen of Dadap regency earn between Rp 20,000 and Rp
30,000 per day. A night's catch is usually sold for Rp 350,000 at
the local fish auction.

"We have to pay Rp 200,000 to the owner everyday in boat
rental, plus all operating costs. We share the remaining Rp
150,000 between the five of us," Nano said.

The fishermen say their incomes have dropped by as much as 60
percent since the fuel price increase, forcing some of them to
pawn their valuables just to feed their families.

Azhari, 46, a fisherman from Surya Bahari village in Paku Haji
district was spotted by the Post carrying his 14-inch television
set and a tape recorder to the local pawn shop.

"Since the price increases came into affect on March 1, I have
not gone out fishing. My wife and children need to eat but I
don't have the money. There is no other way, I have to pawn
these," he told the Post.

He said many fisherman in the area had stopped going out to
sea as the boat owners had ordered their boats tied up as the
money earned from fishing was insufficient to cover operating
costs since the price hikes.

A fish auction in the village, which is usually packed with
buyers and fishermen, was quiet on Saturday morning. Many
fishermen preferred to stay home.

"There is no other way to help fishermen. The government must
lower fuel prices or provide a subsidy for fishermen," Madsuni,
the chairman of the Surya Bahari Village Fishermen's Union, told
the Post.

He said that a price increase of up to 5 percent would not
burden the fisherman excessively.

"Before the price went up, all the fishermen here mixed diesel
and kerosene so that they could continue working. But this
increase is far too much and it has really paralyzed the fishing
industry here," he said.

He stressed that if the government failed to provide a fuel
subsidy for fishermen, many fishing enterprises would go bankrupt
and fishermen would lose their livelihoods.

"The fuel price increase has not been followed by an increase
in fish prices. What does the government want?" he said.