Jakarta, Dec 2 (Antara) - The Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry will map out polluted areas in the Indonesian waters and take necessary steps to preserve the water quality to ensure healthy fish populations.
"We will collect data on polluted areas in the Indonesian waters that contain hazardous waste materials," Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti stated on Tuesday.
The minister made the statement in response to the incident wherein thousands of fish had been stranded ashore and had died at the Ancol Dream Land beach in North Jakarta on Monday.
The deteriorating water quality and climate change phenomenon are believed to be the reasons behind the mass death of fish.
Officials of the Water Police Directorate General (Ditpolair) of the Jakarta Regional Police suspect that hazardous liquid wastes settling on the seabed are causing the mass death of fish.
"We suspect that the sediments of poisonous wastes in river estuaries are being carried down to the seabed," Head of the Law Enforcement Affairs of the Ditpolair Commissioner Edi Guritno claimed on Monday.
He noted that several days prior to the reported mass death of fish, residents living in proximity to the location had witnessed the water color changing to black. Edi suspects that the hazardous and poisonous waste sediments had been deposited in the river estuaries during the drought as the water currents during the season were not swift.
As rains fall, large volumes of sediment are eroded from the river estuaries and deposited in the sea.
Two years ago, a similar incident had occurred in the areas of Ancol Beach in North Jakarta wherein thousands of fish had also died.
However, Edi claimed to have not yet known the type of refuse causing the mass death of fish, yet officials have obtained samples of the dead fish and sea water and have submitted them to the Jakarta Regional Government Service for laboratory examination.
The local residents found thousands of dead fish at Ancol beach on Monday.
"We have taken samples of the dead fish to be tested at laboratories," he noted on Monday.
Edi explained that the dead fish were found ashore and died along the beach lines from the Jimbaran area to tip of the Ancol beachline early on Monday.
The fish species found dead include milk fish (bandeng), mullet fish, snapper fish, and the so- called kentang-kentang fish.
The officials on Monday cleaned up the beach and removed the dead fish from the areas. The police are still awaiting the results of the laboratory examination on the dead fish samples.
The Jakarta Environmental Agency (BPLHD), according to the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday, suspected that the deaths of thousands of fish in the waters of Ancol were caused by industrial pollution.
"We have to check the water quality. It is possible that these [deaths] were caused by industrial waste since 13 rivers flow into Ancol," BPLHD head Junaedi was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as telling CNN Indonesia on Tuesday.
A BPLHD team will collect water samples from the Jakarta Bay and rivers around Ancol for further investigation. The Jakarta Police's forensic laboratory (Puslabfor) and the city's Fisheries and Marine Agency will also join in the investigations.
"The Fisheries and Marine Agency will take samples and the police will help investigate the case," Junaedi said.
Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said her ministry would take stock of polluted water areas in an effort to create healthy conditions in the country's waters.
"We will ask for data on the polluted areas in Indonesian waters that contain hazardous waste material," the minister said here on Tuesday.
She said her ministry would seek assistance from a number of countries which own satellites, such as Norway, to collect data on the areas contaminated by hazardous material.
The minister said although the country did not have a satellite, yet Indonesia has remained committed to deploying task forces to check illegal fishing to cruise through and examine the country's water areas. "Although we do not have a satellite, we must carry out what we are committed to. We have our task forces which we will deploy," she said.
Earlier, the People's Coalition for Fishery Justice (Kiara) had called on investors to put a halt to industrial activities that had destroyed and contaminated the ecosystem.
It urged the Indonesian delegation to the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to apply pressure on investor countries in Indonesia to stop causing pollution in the sea and coastal areas.
"President Joko Widodo, who attended the conference, should urge the investor countries in Indonesia to abandon industrial activities that are detrimental to and contaminate the ecosystem in the sea and coastal areas," Kiara Sectary General Abdul Halim emphasized on Monday.
He said Kiara had also urged the government to avoid polluting the coastal areas, including the plan to reclaim North Jakarta's coastal areas.
Halim believed that Minister Pudjiastuti was adopting a hasty approach in allowing the reclamation of North Jakarta's coastline for the development of electricity plants and public ports.
"She should have checked it first to ascertain whether the reclamation would benefit or disadvantage the coastal residents as it has been the case, so far, in other places," the Kiara secretary general said, adding that Indonesia should urge the COP21 participants to stop fish poaching activities in the Indonesian waters. ***4***
(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 02-12-2015 15:49: |
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