FISHERMEN NEED MORE HELP

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 15 (ANTARA) - The government needs to provide more attention to over 1.4 million underdeveloped traditional fishermen living in 10,000 villages along the country's 95,181 kilometer coastal line.          In order to improve the fishermen's standard of living, the government should provide them with capital, fishing equipment, fishing vessels, a fishing infrastructure and other forms of assistance that would help them advance their fishing businesses.          Fishermen still need assistance in order to compete with large owners who use trawlers in catching fish, not only in waters near the coastal areas but also in the high seas. Moreover, Indonesian traditional fishermen often face extreme weather, such as conditions which Indonesia recently witnessed.          "So far, traditional fishermen are only able to fish within one mile from the coast line with an average fish catch of 10 kg. It is hard for them to earn even Rp50,000 per day.  Due to their operational costs, Rp50,000 is not enough to also provide a living for their families. In addition, they have to stay home when the weather is bad," legislator Ma'mur Hasanuddin of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission IV fisheries said on Monday.          Ma'mur added that the government has paid less attention to small fishermen. Many programs designed for fishermen and provided through regional fishery services or regional governments have not reached traditional fishermen.          Traditional fishermen have fought for themselves to find the capital they need to work in fishing,  but when they make some progress and seek to also process their fish, they are hampered by high interest rates for fishery loans, which are set at a range of 12 to 16 percent, Ma'mur said.          The same opinion was also aired by Vice President Boediono when addressing a national coordination meeting of the ministry of maritime and fishery affairs (KKP) in Jakarta on Tuesday.          "The KKP should give high priority to the formulation of programs that touch upon the improvement of fishermen's communities," the vice president said.          Boediono noted that of the 70,000 disadvantaged villages in Indonesia, about 10,000 are fishermen's villages. The vice president, during his visit to several fishermen's villages, learned that the welfare and settlement standards of fishermen remain very low.          The standard of living found in fishermen's villages remain far behind normal agriculture-based villages.          In a dialog with fishermen, the vice president also learned that fishermen's earnings were very low. "I was surprised to learn that a family with six kids earned only Rp30,000 per day," Boediono said.          Therefore, the vice president urged the KKP ministry to focus special attention on the development of fishermen in the country.          According to legislator Ma'mur, the most immediate attention needed by fishermen is for the KKP to provide assistance to overcome constraints created by bad weather that has so far affected 1.4 million fishermen in 33 provinces. When the weather is poor fishermen are forced to stay home for as much as one month.          He said that the KKP could actually provide them with many ways to cooperate with different parties such as regional governments, relevant ministries and private companies which have corporate service responsibility (CSR) funds available.          With the KKP initiative, the impact of bad weather could be overcome so traditional fishermen could maintain their lives and activities, the legislator said.          Besides providing assistance to overcome bad weather, the maritime and fishery ministry should also be watchful of large owners who use trawlers. Using trawlers in catching fish is a disadvantage for traditional fishermen.          "Traditional fishermen find it hard to compete with big vessels and trawlers," Ma'mur said.          However, according to Director General For Fish Catching Affairs Deddy Sutisna, the size of almost all fishing vessels operating in the country's water is below 30 gross tonnage (GT).          "Of about 500.000 fishing vessels, almost 98 percent are below 30 GT," Deddy said. Thus, only about two percent of the fishing vessel fleet could operate in waters 12 miles away or in the exclusive economic zones (EEZ).          Therefore the government is providing assistance to about 1,000 fishing vessels for fishermen. Yet, this is also criticized by some who say that the program has missed the target.          Earlier, the House Commission IV urged the government to evaluate the program for the procurement of 1,000 fishing vessels because the program has been viewed as problematic.          "Commission IV urges the government to evaluate the 1,000 fishing vessel program," Commission IV Chairman Romahurmuzy told a working meeting with the maritime and fishery minister recently.          The commission also asked the government to increase the number of fishing boats below 30 GT for fishermen.          Maritime and Fishery Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo promised to carefully monitor the fishing vessel assistance program. "We will tightly supervise the program," Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo said in Jakarta on Tuesday.          The minister said that the three variables to be considered when purchasing ships are sail worthiness, the boat must be able to stand up against bad weather and sea conditions, that it contains suitable fishing tools, and that it is equipped with facilities to handle the fish catch.***2*** (T.A014/A/INE /o001) (T.A014/A/A014/O001) 15-02-2012 14:26:5