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.