Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 20 Feb 09;
The government must revise the 2004 fishery law immediately to allow for climate change adaptation, a coalition of civil society groups said here Thursday.
The People’s Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara) warned the law was no longer relevant due to rapid environmental change and the dwindling capacity of the country’s seas to provide catches for fishermen due to severe climate change impact.
The fishery activists also argued the law gave no solutions to help the country’s fishermen adapt to high waves or rising sea levels that have been blamed on global warming.
“The unpredictable weather due to climate change has made life worse for fishermen. Many can’t go fishing, but they don’t know what else to do to earn a living,” said Kiara secretary-general M. Riza Damanik.
“The government can’t just order them to stop fishing when there are high seas; there must be solutions.”
A study by Kiara showed the country’s fisherman went out to sea only on 180 days during 2008, amid frequent high waves.
The study also found fishermen in Jakarta Bay, for instance, saw a 60 percent drop in income last year due to extreme weather conditions and high fuel prices.
About 15 million people currently work as traditional fishermen across the country.
Kiara said the law’s revision should also focus on how to manage fisheries and maritime resources, rather than exploit them as stipulated in the existing law.
“The revision should be made as quickly as possible to respond to emerging problems, including fish scarcity, the threat of privatization in fishery areas, conflicts among fishermen, and long-standing poverty problems,” Riza said.
Suhana, a researcher at the Maritime Development Research Institute, said any revisions to the law should also prohibit foreign vessels from fishing in Indonesian waters.
“There must also be a zoning system to allocate special areas to traditional fishermen, otherwise they won’t be able to compete with businesses that operate huge vessels in their areas,” he added.
Riza said Indonesia could adopt regulations applied by the Philippines, which totally prohibits foreign ships from fishing in its waters.
The Philippines also forbids large vessels from operating in its coastal areas.
“The law should have an answer for law enforcement against rampant illegal fishing and the use of trawls,” he said.
Experts say the melting of the polar ice caps and sea level rises will cause the inundation of low-lying islands and the destruction of coral reefs, as well as have an impact on food security from marine sources.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi previously said if climate change adaptation and mitigation were not implemented, about 2000 Indonesian islands would be lost by 2030.
Data from the ministry shows the country’s fishery output reached 8.71 million tons last year, from 8.24 million in 2007
It exported 895,000 tons in 2008, a 4 percent increase from the 854,329 tons it exported in 2007.
