Indonesian Fishermen Slam Trawling Resumption

Jakarta Globe 8 Jan 09;

The government’s decision to lift a ban on trawling by commercial fishing vessels will further deplete the country’s fish resources and hurt the thousands of traditional, small-scale fishermen who depend on the sea for a living, said an organization representing the workers.

Riza Damanik, the general secretary of the People’s Coalition for Justice in Fishing, or Kiara, said on Wednesday that the decision by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to once again allow the use of trawl nets in designated areas was a retrograde step for the industry. Instead of stimulating economic growth, he said, the legalization of trawling could reduce the incomes of fishermen by up to 60 percent.

He said the economic circumstances of traditional fishermen were worrisome. According to ministry figures, fishermen earned an average of Rp 519,000 ($48.27) per month in 2008. Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of the national fish catch was landed by small-scale fishermen using boats weighing less than three gross tons.

“It is completely unacceptable for the government to permit trawling again, even if it is to be confined to designated areas,” Riza said.

The use of trawl nets in Indonesian waters was prohibited by a 1980 presidential decree. However, the maritime affairs and fisheries minister issued a regulation in April authorizing the granting of permits for the use of trawl nets.

According to the regulation, trawling will only be allowed in designated areas off East Kalimantan Province, with all of the waters involved being within the maritime boundaries of Nunukan, Bulungan, Nunukan, Tana Tidung, and Kota Tarakan districts.

The use of trawl nets is frequently criticized by environmentalists because of the damage they cause to the sea floor and the fact that they snare both marketable and non-marketable fish, with the latter being dumped. The practice can also lead to overfishing.

Damanik argued that the minister had no power to overrule the presidential decree, which has been on the statute books for more than 20 years.

Originally, the ministerial regulation was due to come into effect on Jan. 1, but this has been pushed back as the ministry is still working on quotas for the number of vessels that will be allowed to use trawl nets.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said trawling would only be allowed in waters off East Kalimantan. He said a licensing system was needed to counter illegal fishing in Indonesian waters by large Malaysian vessels.

“The Malaysian vessels have an advantage in fishing our waters off East Kalimantan because they are equipped with trawl nets for deep-sea fishing. By contrast, our vessels aren’t equipped with these nets as our regulations prohibit trawling,” Numberi said.

Due to this situation, he said, the ministry had decided to issue trawling licenses to help boost the earnings of local fishermen.

Numberi said the issuing of trawling licenses also had a bearing on national territory. “The more Indonesian vessels there are in one area, the clearer it will be that it is our territory. So the Malaysians won’t be so easily able to exploit it,” he said.

According to ministry figures, the traditional fisheries sector landed 5.17 million tons of fish in 2008, worth Rp 43.9 trillion, compared with 5.04 tons the year before.