Widening marine contamination

Widening marine contamination

From Koran Tempo

Following the pollution of the Jakarta Bay, now the waters of Tangerang have also been contaminated, leaving a great number of fish dead on the coast.

Therefore, the relevant government institutions, such as the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the Office of the State Minister of the Environment, must make serious and concerted efforts to deal with this contamination as otherwise more marine creatures will die.

It is not enough for these agencies to state that the fish from Jakarta Bay are safe to eat. They must find the root cause of this contamination and help fishermen overcome the problem.

We have seen many examples of environmental mismanagement that produce very adverse effects for the community, such as the irresponsible uprooting of mangroves, sand mining and coastal reclamation. Unfortunately, the relevant government institutions have only make statements about these matters and have stopped short of taking concrete action to improve the situation.

Unless concrete action is taken in time to deal with marine contamination, many more Indonesians will be adversely affected, both intellectually and physically.

KUKUH KUMARA Jakarta