Traditional fishermen fight daily battle for survival

By Rita A. Widiadana and Fitriyanti Djoni

JAKARTA (JP): They are poor, lazy, uneducated, wasteful and have no ethics or social conscience.

That is the stereotype of the estimated 1.5 million traditional fishermen in the Indonesian archipelago.

The days when thousands of adventurous, independent and brave fishermen roamed the waters of Indonesia and Asia are long gone.

Traditional fishermen with small boats and the simple fishing gear their forebears have been using for generations seem to have no place in today's multi-billion-dollar fishing industry. They have not been able to share in the technological boom that has made the modern fishing industry so lucrative and powerful.

The profits from the industry don't go to these hard-pressed fishermen. While the heavy capital fishing companies make million-dollar profits from their fishing businesses, traditional fishermen are still struggling to pay their debts, and have to deal with loan sharks, brokers, and vessel owners who exploit them.

Almost half of the estimated 1.5 million fisherman families still live below the poverty line. The majority of the country's 6,261 fishing villages are still categorized as backward villages.

Hamdan, a fisherman from Marunda, North Jakarta, earns between Rp 15,000 (US$7) and Rp 20,000 ($9) a day during the high season. But during the west-wind season, his fish basket is almost empty.

His eldest son is in the fourth grade at a nearby elementary school. "I am embarrassed that sometimes I cannot pay my sons' school fees. But at the end of each semester, I always try to pay them, otherwise he doesn't receive his school report," Hamdan said.

Like all fishermen, he knows very well there's trouble at sea. "I really hope that my sons will not follow my path. They have to get a higher education to improve their living conditions."

Darha, 40, has a wife, seven children, two daughter-in-laws and two grandchildren packed into a shabby fishing junk in Muara Karang, North Jakarta. For this family, education, health and proper nutrition are a luxury.

Five of his sons have got serious skin diseases due to excessive exposure to the sun and the sea, while his grandchildren look weak and malnourished. Darha looks older than he is.

"I cannot afford to buy enough food for all of us. We share the food we have," he explained.

Fish stocks are dwindling more and more every day. "Sometimes I have to go far off to fish, but the result is the same," he said.

When he goes to sea, he earns between Rp 15,000 to Rp 20,000 a day during the high season.

"Some of my children graduated from elementary school, but some dropped out because I needed them to help me fish," said Darha.

Dirham, a fisherman at Teluk village in Labuan, West Java, appears more relaxed. He has just bought a 24-inch TV set and a mini stereo. "But these luxuries are only here for a short time. One day, when we are short of money, we will have to pawn them," Dirham admitted.

Yuliningsih, Dirham's wife, added that clothes, bedspreads, jewelry and even kitchen utensils would be sold or pawned if necessary.

Victor Manurung and Armen Zulham, researchers from the Agro- Social Economic Research Center in Bogor, West Java, have identified a number of factors that contribute to their poverty.

Isolation

The social isolation of these fishermen has been blamed for their social and psychological problems.

Studies conducted last year showed that this isolation is caused by their lack of education, their geographical position and their working habits.

In Java and Bali, 60 percent of fishermen are elementary school drop-outs. In many islands outside Java, the percentage is even higher.

Most fishermen establish homogeneous communities on the beaches, far from other communities and business centers.

Because most of them are uneducated, they find it difficult to communicate with people outside their own communities. Lack of infrastructure and poor access to information also sideline them from the development process, the studies revealed.

Their working patterns are also different. Almost all fishermen work when other people are asleep. "How can they communicate with the outside world when they are busy with their own life ?" Manurung said.

As well as being socially isolated, poor fishermen are often exploited by those involved in the small-scale fishing business.

Armen said fishermen are classified into three types: fish lords, ship owners and working fishermen. "People often have misconceptions, they think that all fishermen are poor, which is not true. The fish lords and ship owners are doing just fine. What we should be concerned with is the life of the common fishermen," Armen continued.

Weak

These fishermen have a weak bargaining position. Although they are the back-bone of small-scale fishing, they get the smallest part of the profits.

According to Law No.16/l964 issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, fishermen should get 70 percent of the total revenue when they work on small (non-motorized) boats, or 40 percent if they use motorized boats. The rest of the money goes to the ship owners or their employers.

But the facts tell a different story. Many fishermen only get between 20 to 30 percent. "If they get Rp 100,000 a day. They get only Rp 30,000, which must be divided among other fishermen in the group. Each fisherman usually takes home between Rp 3,000 to Rp 5,000 a day," Manurung said.

The injustice continues at the auctions. Most fishermen do not know how much their employers sell the fish for. "Ship owners, employers or middlemen usually prevent fishermen from taking part in the auction activities," Manurung said.

The problem is aggravated by corruption. Buyers often bribe auction officials to get low prices, he said.

As a result, labor fishermen have a very small and uncertain income. The link between social isolation and exploitation is close, trapping traditional fishermen in a vicious circle.

With their pitiful income, fishermen often have no choice but to ask their young children to help them make ends meet.

This forces them to neglect their children's education. Nor can they provide enough food or proper shelter for other members of their family.

Efforts to improve their living condition have been made by the government, the private sector and also non-government organizations.

Bad loan

Low-interest loans have been made available over the Small- Scale Fisheries Development Project by state-owned bank BRI, to replace high-interest loans from loan sharks and private cooperatives.

"Many fishermen cannot manage their loans properly because they are uneducated. Bad loans are common among fishermen," said a bank official.

Other help from the government has come in the form of low- cost housing in Pangandaran, Ciamis, Labuan, Pelabuhan Ratu, all in West Java, as well as in Jakarta.

But many of these low-cost houses are occupied not by fishermen but by others, who then sell them at a profit.

Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said recently that strong political will and the involvement of all related parties was needed to improve the welfare of local fishermen.

"So far, many government programs are just not suitable for these fishermen. We are still trying to come up with better ones," the minister said.