Traditional fishermen fight daily battle for survival

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.