Sarwono plans local coast guard units to save sea resources

Sarwono plans local coast guard units to save sea resources

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Environment Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja proposed yesterday the creation of local coast
guard units throughout Indonesia to protect marine resources such
as coral reefs and mangroves.

Sarwono took his proposal to President Soeharto at the Bina
Graha presidential office. During the meeting he spelled out the
extensive damage already caused to coral reefs in Indonesian
waters and to the mangrove forests along the coasts in the
absence of any effective protection.

The President welcomed the initiative for the Sea and Coast
Guard System. The plan will be discussed further today with other
cabinet members during the monthly meeting on political affairs
and security.

Sarwono said he also talked to Armed Forces officers,
fishermen and provincial government officials, and that all had
welcomed the plan. A number of entrepreneurs even volunteered to
provide some of the patrolling facilities, he added.

The plan calls for the establishment of coast guard units in
the same way that the nation now has the siskamling neighborhood
watch units, which are run by the community.

The planned coast guard units, which are envisioned as part of
the national maritime security system, should be trained and
empowered to make citizens' arrests against people caught
tampering with the marine resources, Sarwono said.

Hopes

The presence of these units could stop the endless destruction
of Indonesia's marine environment, he explained.

A recent survey by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences found
that only seven percent of Indonesia's coral reefs are still
intact. Some 36 percent of the coral reefs are still in
reasonably good condition but the others have been badly or even
completely destroyed, Sarwono said.

He said he had received a large number of reports from divers,
including foreigners, who said that they saw fishermen using
explosives in areas in Maluku and Nusa Tenggara known for their
coral reefs.

"This is the most heinous crime," Sarwono said, stressing that
the coral reefs are the natural habitat of many fish species. "It
is totally irresponsible, because by bombing the coral reefs,
they will kill 90 percent of the fish."

He said Indonesia has one of the world's largest coral reefs,
citing the Bakabone Rate barrier near Maumere in East Nusa
Tenggara. He also named the reefs in Bintuni, Buneken, Bana,
Pulau Togian, Pulau Tukang Besi, all in eastern Indonesia, as
important underwater resources.

Mangroves in Indonesia have suffered the same fate, with only
two million hectares remaining from the original 13.4 million
hectares.

The government has begun trying to rehabilitate some of the
coral reefs, for example, by dumping the wrecks of becak
(pedicabs) and cars near the Pulau Seribu islands off the coast
of Jakarta. The result has been quite impressive because the area
of fish habitat there has increased, he said.

Illegal fishing

Sarwono also said the planned patrol units are expected to
watch out for ships discharging oil and waste, to monitor the
activities of trawlers and to stop the bombing of coral reefs and
other criminal actions.

He said the culprits are both Indonesians and foreigners who
are fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.

He said Indonesia fought hard in the United Nations to obtain
the right to exploit the mineral resources in all of the waters
that lie between all of the islands in the country under what is
known as the Archipelagic Concept. "We have to prove to the
outside world that we can protect these resources."

The proposal for local coast guard units should be seen in the
context of defending the nation, which also includes defending
the nation's assets in the sea, he said.

The minister deplored the lack of response from courts of law
to the needs of the nation to protect against environmental
destruction.

"It's infuriating," he said, recalling that after all the
efforts to arrest, investigate and prosecute culprits, the courts
often handed down excessively light punishments or even let them
go free.

Most judges in Indonesia are still relying on "positive laws"
and are reluctant to rely on case specific jurisprudence,
especially in dealing with environmental cases, he said.

This is simply not acceptable because Indonesia cannot be
expected to draw up regulations for every case that comes up in
the courts, he said. "The judges should rely more on
jurisprudence and the existing laws and regulations. (emb)