Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 13 Jan 09;
The Indonesian government must use the momentum it gained through hosting the World Ocean Conference (WOC) in May to force foreign countries to stop illegal fishing in its waters, an activist says.
“The government must show courage and demand foreign countries take responsibility for allowing illegal fishing in Indonesia and ask them to stop it,” Fisheries Justice Coalition (Kiara) secretary-general Riza Damanik said Monday.
About 10,000 delegates from 140 countries, including ministers, are expected to attend the ocean conference, to be held in the North Sulawesi capital of Manado from May 11 to May 15.
Kiara criticized the government for failing to involve local fisheries communities in drafting the agenda for the conference.
“The conference should benefit fisheries communities in Indonesia, otherwise we will constitute nothing more than a good event organizer,” Riza said.
He said illegal poaching, compounded by high-production costs due to the fuel price hike last year, had significantly decreased local fishermen’s income.
“Fishermen in Jakarta Bay, for example, had their income cut by 60 percent last year,” he said.
The conference aims to address the impacts of climate change on oceans and the degradation of marine wildlife.
The world’s total ocean surface absorbs about 90 billion tons of carbon from and releases 92 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year.
Oceans are 50 times more carbon absorbent than the atmosphere. Mangroves are known to protect shorelines from coastal erosion.
Heads of states of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste will attend the conference.
The six countries will launch the Coral Triangle Initiative, which is aimed at retarding the degradation of coral and safeguarding vulnerable species from the impact of global warming.
The 5.7 million square-kilo eter triangle is the global center of marine biodiversity with more than 600 coral species and 3,000 fish species, many of which are endemic.
