Sand dredging endangers islets

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

An environmentalist projected that three islands in the Banten Gulf will be submerged in the next four or five years due to ongoing offshore sand mining activity in Tirtayasa district, Serang regency, Banten province.

"If the sand mining activity continues, the populated Tarahan, Pamojan Besar and Pamojan Kecil islands will no longer exist in the near future," Rahadian, director of the Banten Earth Conservation Center, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He claimed that Serang people had urged the administration to halt large-scale sand mining carried out by private company PT Jetsar and not to allow such activity to take place in the area.

"But despite our demands, the regency administration will again issue a permit to another private company PT Bumi Ayu Tirtayasa to exploit the sea sand in the location," Rahadian remarked.

Quoting the survey results disclosed by the non-governmental organization, Rahadian said that the ongoing mining activity had severely damaged the environment along the coastline and had also raised social and economic problems for local residents.

"Half of 60,000 fishponds of local residents are now nonproductive because the seawater the farmers use to fill the ponds turned muddy," he said.

The dredging also damaged the coral reefs and other marine life and changed the pattern of waves as well as the degree of water turbidity.

"Sea waves will directly hit the base of the islands and therefore accelerate seawater intrusion and land abrasion," Rahadian explained.

The seawater eroded an average 100 meters of the five- kilometer coastline in Tirtayasa district over the past two years, when sand mining commenced, the residents said.

"This football pitch was laid out far from the beach originally, but now it is right by the beach. Soon it will be submerged in the sea," Sahroni of Lontar village told the Post.

Separately, Banten Independent Community Studies Center chairman Rosyadi said that his organization had repeatedly asked the regency administration to halt sand mining activities in the gulf, but to no avail.

"The company only contributes Rp 600 million (US$70,588) to the administration's revenue but the losses we all have to bear are incalculable," he said, crestfallen.