Oil spills, coral damage threatens Seribu Islanders
JAKARTA (JP): Oil spills and damage to coral reefs are threatening the livelihood of Seribu Islands' fishing communities, local fishermen and teachers said in a workshop last week.
Hendro Sangkoyo, who is leading a campaign to improve the Seribu Islands' environment, said the threats had reached alarming proportions.
Hendro said Saturday that oil spills from passing ships had wiped out seaweed around the Tidung and Pari islands. The islanders relied on seaweed harvests and fishing for income.
And the new muroami method of fishing could destroy about 160 hectares of seabeds yearly, Hendro said.
Muroami is a method by which divers knock coral with iron tools to draw fish out. The fish are then herded by a net into a container.
The workshop at Pari Island from March 23 to March 27 was sponsored by the National Institute for Sciences and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Teachers followed the workshop because they teach the children of fishing families.
Hendro said Tidung and Pari islands were ideal for seaweed cultivation because they were far from Jakarta.
"But both islands are vulnerable because so many ships pass nearby spilling their oil," he said.
He said the last oil spill was on Feb. 27. "It (a ship) spilled 150,000 liters of oil forming a layer 15 to 20 centimeters thick. It destroyed all the seaweed in the area."
According to Antara, fishermen have been cultivating seaweed, worth Rp 3,000 (US$1.2) a kilogram at local markets, in a big way since fish prices dropped drastically.
The local fisherman were selling five tons of dried seaweed in Jakarta after every harvest until an 11.8-square-kilometer oil slick hit the islands, destroying the seaweed.
Hendro told The Jakarta Post that residents had set up an information network to quickly report oil spills to the authorities so that culprit ships could be found responsible.
Other problems affecting the fishing environment are the use of bombs and cyanide in fishing, the flow of waste from West Java and uncontrolled sand quarrying and coral mining.
Hendro said it would be hard to stop fish bombing because it involved bomb and detonator suppliers, sea patrol authorities and other parties.
"Local fishermen are afraid to warn bomb users, and are reluctant to report cases to police because the police have done nothing to help them so far," he said.
Hendro said patrol officers did not have enough funds to carry out their task. But Elshinta Suyoso, another environmentalist, said earlier that the islands' owners had offered to contribute toward the cost of patrols but were still awaiting an official response. (13)