KUD optimistic Cilacap fishing season will improve

Cilacap (ANTARA) - Mino Saroyo Village Unit Cooperative (KUD) chairman Untung Jayanto is optimistic that the fishing season for fishers in Cilacap Regency, Central Java, will improve this year, marked by rising catches from small vessels since July 2026. Speaking in Cilacap on Thursday, he said the increase in catches is already being felt by fishers operating boats under 5 gross tonnage (GT), especially rebon shrimp catchers at the Tegalkatilayu Fish Auction Site (TPI) and Pier 3 of the Cilacap Oceanic Fishing Port (PPS). “Alhamdulillah, since July there has been an increase, particularly for small boats under 5 GT. The catches have been quite decent, especially for rebon shrimp,” he said. He noted that fishing activity is expected to continue improving through the end of the year if weather conditions remain supportive. According to him, relatively low rainfall during the dry season gives fishers a greater opportunity to go to sea. “Pier 3 has now become a landing site for Kemiren fishers after the Kemiren coastal area can no longer be used as a landing place due to the construction of a seawall to prevent abrasion and waves,” he explained. To support this activity, he said, a small-scale fish auction facility has been provided at Pier 3 to serve Kemiren fishers, ensuring the landing and marketing process for catches continues. He assessed that the facility helps small-boat fishers remain active despite the change in landing location. Nevertheless, he said the production data managed by KUD Mino Saroyo cannot be directly compared with previous years. “This is because, since 1 July 2025, KUD Mino Saroyo no longer manages the large TPI within the PPS Cilacap area following a change in management regulations,” he said. As a result of this change, he noted, the production recorded by the fishers’ cooperative has declined because it now only comes from TPIs still under the cooperative’s management. KUD Mino Saroyo currently manages the Kemiren, Tegalkatilayu, Sidakaya, Pandanarang, and Sentolokawat TPIs, while the Donan TPI is no longer under its management. “Now we only manage the small TPIs, so the production recorded at the KUD has also fallen because it no longer includes the large TPI at the PPS,” he said. He acknowledged that the production recapitulation up to the end of July 2026 is still in progress and cannot yet be published. However, based on conditions on the ground, he said, fish landing and auction activity at the TPIs managed by the KUD is showing a positive trend compared with the start of the year. Untung hopes the weather remains favourable through the end of the dry season so that catches for small-boat fishers continue to rise, fishers’ incomes improve, and capture fisheries activity in Cilacap Regency becomes increasingly vibrant. In a separate occasion, Head of the Cilacap Regency Fisheries Office Indarto acknowledged that fish landing activity from fishers’ catches is starting to pick up, even though wind conditions at sea remain quite strong. “Perhaps this August it will become even busier through to the end of the year,” he said.