Govt urged to protect fish spawning sites

Govt urged to protect fish spawning sites

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Environmentalists are urging the government to protect
spawning aggregation sites (SPAGs), locations where fish group
together for the sole purpose of reproducing, because they are
vital to maintaining a constant fish population in the country.

"Protecting SPAGs is vital because some 80 percent of the
fishing grounds in Indonesia are currently overfished or heavily
exploited. This means that extraction activities are far greater
than reproduction," said Abdul Halim from the U.S. Nature
Conservancy at a media gathering at the Indonesian branch of
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Thursday.

Halim explained that many fishermen operated in SPAGs because
each site could contain up to 100,000 fish.

"The size of a SPAG is about three times larger than the
normal size of a school of fish, whereby large numbers of fish
move, feed and live together. That's why fishermen love to
extract fish at such sites because they can get a lot in one
catch," he said.

An activist at non-governmental organization Yayasan Taka
Semarang, Khaifin, which oversees SPAGs in Karimunjawa National
Park in Central Java, said that fishing at such sites was
motivated by the growing global demand for reef fish.

"The increasing demand is driven by a change in pattern in
people's consumption, which now favors big reef fish, such as the
Indo-Pacific tiger grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus), locally
called the Kerapu Macan," he said.

Khaifin added that the reef fish trade from Karimunjawa could
reach 3,150 kilograms, worth about US$15,750 per month.

"Most of them are being sold to Hong Kong, the center of the
reef fish trade," said Khaifin.

According to a study by the Society for the Conservation of
Reef Fish Aggregations, which keeps a global database of all
reported spawning aggregations, as of January 2004, 120 reef fish
species from 22 families gathered in SPAGs all over the world.

WWF fisheries officer Marthen Leuna suggested that the
government instruct the managements of national parks to protect
SPAGs in their areas.

"Why national parks? Because many of the country's large,
vital SPAGs are there," he said.

At present WWF and TNC monitor SPAGs in three areas --
Karimunjawa National Park, Bunaken National Park in North
Sulawesi and Komodo National Park in East Nusa Tenggara.

"We also urge the government to protect SPAGs in four other
national parks and protected zones -- Cendrawasih National Park
and Raja Ampat protected zone in Papua, Derawan island in East
Kalimantan and Wakatobi National Park in Southeast Sulawesi,"
Marthen said.

However, he warned that other waters that may consist SPAGs
should also be protected.

"These areas should be declared off limits, or prohibited for
fishing activities, by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and
Fisheries," he said.