Oil leak leaves shrimp farmers fighting to survive

Nana Rukmana and Fitri Wulandari, Indramayu/Jakarta

"In the past, each of us could afford university fees for five children, but now it is impossible to do so. We are short of money as the productivity of our shrimp ponds has deteriorated," Nono Sudarsono, a shrimp farmer in Indramayu regency, West Java province, complained recently.

Nono, the chairman of the Indramayu Shrimp Farmers Association (PPTI), recalled that in the good old days, each hectare of shrimp pond, located in the coastal areas of Indramayu, could produce 400 kilograms of shrimps in three or four months and generate gross income of Rp 20 million (US$ 2,500).

Each hectare used to need Rp 5 million in capital on average for the purchase of shrimp fingerlings, food and medicines.

"But, now, it is very difficult to repeat the success," said Nono, adding that there had been occasions when the farmers failed to harvest even single shrimp.

Nono's story confirms that the glory days of shrimp farming in Indramayu have come to an end. Before 1996, there used to be 43,000 people making their livelihoods from the shrimp ponds, but since then, the number of people working on the shrimp ponds has dwindled to little more than 20,000.

Nono, and Juhadi, the chairman of the Coalition of Indramayu Coastal Communities (KOMPI), blamed the environmental damage in the maritime area of Indramayu as the main cause of the decrease in shrimp production in the regency.

According to Juhadi, the bad days for Indramayu shrimp farmers began when state oil and gas company PT Pertamina opened its oil refinery in Balongan, Indramayu, in 1996. Nono said that the refinery had been built without regard to its impact on the environment. He said that oil was often found in the shrimp ponds due to leakages from the refinery. There had also been a major spillage in November 2002.

Due to this spillage, some 6,000 hectares out of a total of 20,000 hectares of shrimp ponds on the northern side of Indramayu regency were damaged. According to Juhadi, evidence that the shrimp ponds were being contaminated by oil was easy to find.

The Jakarta Post visited a number of shrimp ponds in Indramayu on Thursday, and found what looked like crude oil floating on the surface of the shrimp ponds.

Warta, a worker at a shrimp pond in the Muara Teluk area of Karanganyar Hilir subdistrict here, said that the viscous black liquid had been affecting the shrimp ponds since last year.

Not only the shrimp ponds, the liquid was also being washed up on Indramayu beach, as was revealed by Samsudin, a fisherman in the subdistrict.

According to both Nono and Juhadi, the oil was coming from leaks in the submarine pipes belonging to Pertamina. Through the submarine pipes, the company pumps crude oil from Mundu Fuel Station in Karangampel district, Indramayu, to tankers waiting some 15 miles o off Balongan beach in Indramayu regency.

The oil leaks were admitted by Pertamina during a meeting with shrimp pond farmers in Indramayu on September 23 last year, claimed Nono.

Fishermen and shrimp pond farmers associations in the regency reported the pollution to the Office of the State Minister for the Environment, and the ministry responded by conducting an inspection in the area. The ministry, through a letter signed by the minister of the environment, urged Pertamina to take "steps to check and prevent pollution in the coastal areas of Indramayu."

However, Juhadi said that to date little had been done by Pertamina to contain and rectify the damage caused by the pollution. "This attitude has prompted fishermen and shrimp pond farmers to protests several times," he said.

The latest protest was held on Monday when thousands of shrimp pond farmers held a protest in front of the Balongan refinery.

This protest followed another one held last week in front of Pertamina headquarters and the offices of the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare in Jakarta. During the protest, they demanded that Pertamina clean up the crude oil affecting Indramayu shrimp ponds and beaches.

However, no Pertamina officials were willing to meet them during the protest in Jakarta. The Jakarta Post contacted Suwandi, a spokesman for Pertamina's Refining Unit VI in Balongan, on Monday but his cellphone number was temporarily disconnected.

Hanung Budya Yukyanta, a Pertamina spokesman, said on Monday that the company had cleaned up oil spills in the coastal areas of Indramayu, and would clean up any future spills.

"This is already part of our program. We don't need any outside pressure to do this as it is part of our responsibilities," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Hanung added the company would urge its operational units to improve their waste management so as not to damage the surrounding environment. The company claimed it had carried out various community development programs to enhance the welfare and well-being of some 2,500 fishermen.