Govt mulls relocating fishermen from contaminated Buyat Bay

Govt mulls relocating fishermen from contaminated Buyat Bay

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri said on
Wednesday that the government was considering plans to relocate
hundreds of fishermen from Buyat Bay, North Sulawesi, following
reports of chemical contamination there.

"We are planning to move them to a nearby area, but it depends
on whether local people are willing to leave their homes or not,"
he told journalists.

Rokhmin said if local fishermen rejected the relocation plans,
the government would offer them more adequate equipment, so they
could go further out from the coast to fish.

The government is to make a final decision on the plan after
investigations into the alleged pollution at the bay are
complete, by Aug. 16 at the latest, he said.

Local people have complained about chemical contamination at
Buyat Bay, South Minahasa regency, that had resulted in a sharp
drop in their catch.

Accompanied by environmental activists and a doctor, several
South Minahasa villagers recently flew to Jakarta to report
American gold mining firm PT Newmont Minahasa Raya to the
National Police for polluting the bay.

In another development on Wednesday, National Police director
of special crimes Brig. Gen. Suharto said the department would
soon announce findings of its team's probe into the alleged
mercury contamination in Buyat Bay.

"We hope the laboratory test will be finished by tomorrow.
Only then can we determine the extent of contamination in the
bay. From what I have observed in the field, there is certainly
some contamination," he said.

Suharto said after determining the level of contamination, the
police would continue their investigation to find out whether the
pollution was caused by Newmont or others.

The follow-up probe is also aimed at determining whether the
level of the contamination endangered human lives, he added.

The police sent an investigative team to Buyat Bay, where it
took samples of water, fish, soil and other materials for testing
in Jakarta.

Suharto said the results of blood tests on Buyat victims by
experts from state universities, non-governmental organizations
and the Jakarta Health Agency would be included as legal evidence
for a possible criminal case.

The health agency's test on July 28 found a dangerously high
presence of mercury in Buyat villager Rasyid Rahmat, 38, at 52.50
micrograms per liter (ug/L). Others who showed high intravenous
mercury levels are: Sri Fika Modeong, one year and nine months,
at 51.25 ug/L; Juhria Ratumbahe, 42, at 38.75 ug/L; and Masna
Stiman, 39, at 33.75 ug/L.

The World Health Organization (WHO) sets the normal level of
mercury at 8 ug/L.

Earlier, a similar test by the School of Mathematics and
Natural Sciences at the University of Indonesia showed mercury
levels for Rasyid, Sri Fika, Juhria and Masna at between 9.51
ug/L and 23.90 u/L.

Although the tests confirmed a mercury content high above the
norm, they are still far from the Minamata level of 300 to 500
ug/L.

Suharto said the police were to meet on Thursday a Japanese
expert from the National Institute for Minamata Disease and a WHO
specialist -- who are conducting independent research into the
bay -- for more evidence.