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