Minister unveils Rp 63b diesel project for fishermen

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri announced on Monday that the government would allocate Rp 63 billion in a bid to keep the diesel price at ports at the level of the ceiling price of Rp 1,890 (21 US cents) per liter set by the government.

So far, a disparity exists between the ceiling price and the actual retail price in fishing ports, due to the distance between gas stations and the fishermen's boats.

To address this problem, the ministry has allocated Rp 63 billion to build small diesel depots in the next three months in fishing ports, fish auction centers and fisherman's villages throughout Indonesia.

The minister ceremoniously opened the first makeshift depot at Kali Adem, North Jakarta on Monday, in a ceremony attended by officials of his ministry, PT. Pertamina and the Indonesian Fishermen's Association (HNSI), while several fishermen looked on.

Yan Winatasasmita, chief of the Jakarta chapter of HNSI who also attended the ceremony said that the association would continue to negotiate with the government to fix the price for diesel at Rp 1,600 for the fishermen.

In the meantime, HNSI will cooperate with the fisheries ministry. "We have the Perikanan Minajaya cooperative to handle the diesel distribution," he said.

For the fishermen in Kali Adem, however, the small depot does not immediately solve their problems.

In Kali Adem in Muara Angke, North Jakarta, fishermen who use small boats have to buy diesel at Rp 2,200 per liter at several stalls around the port.

The nearest gas station for the fishermen in Kali Adem is located in the Muara Angke auction center, about one kilometer away from their port. Although the price at the station is Rp 1,890, the Kali Adem fishermen have to spend extra costs for transporting the diesel to their boats.

Thus they prefer to buy the diesel at nearby stalls. Moreover, the stall owners allow the fishermen to pay for the diesel later, after they sell their catch.

Diah, owner of a small boat, said that when the weather was good enough to go to sea he usually bought about ten liters of diesel at the nearby stall. After the launch of the depot, he would still continue to buy the diesel from that stall although the price was higher, he said.

"I still have debts with the owner. And I prefer to buy there because he allows me to buy on credit. If the government depot allows me to pay later, I will buy the diesel from the depot," he said.

He added that at present, the fishermen were out of money so they could not buy diesel from the depot.

"Last night, an official from HNSI came bay, summoning 12 of the fishermen's representatives to discuss the establishment of this depot. We told him that we did not have any money to buy diesel in cash, so it would be useless to build a depot. But today, they are launching it anyway," he said.

Meanwhile, Gani, owner of 30 vessels in Kali Adem also did not show any enthusiasm towards the new facility. "Unlike small-boat fishermen who buy ten liters of diesel every day, I usually buy diesel in large amounts, at least 700 liters, from a supplier. He always sells the diesel to us at the government price. So for me the new station does not make any difference," he said.

He said that his fishing business has been sluggish for the past seven months. The diesel price hike made it worse, so he had halted operations for 30 of his vessels.

"I would like to sell my vessels and start another business. At present, I already have many debts because of the increasing expenses in the fishing business," he said.