Jakarta, Aug 28 (Antara) - The government, through the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP), will replace fishermen's environment-unfriendly fishing tools, such as trawls and seine nets, with friendly ones.
For this purpose, the KKP is collecting data on fishermen who will receive assistance from the government to replace their fishing tools.
"We are making an inventory of fishermen recipients. We have time to collect data on them until Dec 2017. Their fishing equipment must be replaced with environment-friendly ones," Saifuddin, director for licensing and fishing affairs of the KKP, said in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Sunday.
The government is providing fishing tool replacement assistance for fishermen with fishing boats of 10 gross tonnage (10 GT) and lower. But the KKP accords priority to those with vessels of 5GT and lower.
Actually, on the national scale, there are not many regions where fishermen use unfriendly fishing tools. Among the regions are Central Java, Lampung, and West Kalimantan. The replacement of their tools will not be done all at once, but in stages.
According to the head of the Fishing Tool Unit of the Catch Fish Directorate General of KKP, Endroyono, his office was preparing 89 fishing tool specifications, consisting of nine types of equipment to replace fishermen's environmentally unfriendly trawls or seine nets. The nine fishing tools are gill nets, trammel nets, fish trap, crab trap, fishing line, bottom longline, drifting longline, troll line, and pole and line.
In order to replace fishermen¿s trawls and seine nets, the KKP Ministry is allocating a budget amounting to Rp148.69 billion to procure fishing tools, which is targeted to reach 5,275 units this year.
"The fishing tool assistance included equipment which will replace other tools whose use is banned by the government," Fish Catch Director General of the KKP Ministry Sjarief Widjaja noted in a press statement in Jakarta on Monday (August 14).
Of the targeted 5,275 fishing tools to be procured in 2017, some 892 units have been distributed to various regions in Indonesia. Some 1,383 others are still in the process of distribution.
Based on field studies, regions where fishermen will get fishing equipment assistance to replace their banned ones are Central Java, East Java, West Kalimantan, West Java, Banten, Lampung, Jambi, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and East Kalimantan.
Fishermen recipients who need fishing tool assistance should possess fishermen¿s cards, evidence of fishing boat registration, small or big passes, and must own fishing vessels below 10 GT.
Widjaja hoped that some 13,975 fishermen would benefit from the KKP fishing equipment assistance. Besides, the government, through the KKP Ministry, will provide environment-friendly fishing tools of 49 technical specifications for fishermen, involving the provincial and district service offices of the KKP ministry, the fishing affairs centers, and universities.
The government is providing fishing tool assistance in an effort to solve the problem of fishermen whose fishing products have been declining due to a ban in the use of trawls and seine nets.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has earlier promised to seek a solution to the ban imposed on fishermen. "The government will find the best solution for fishermen," President Jokowi stated after inaugurating the start of the construction of rusunami, or subsidized low-cost apartment in Ciputat, South Tangerang, on April 27, 2017.
The president claimed he had received several reports on protests lodged by fishermen over the ban on the use of trawls. "I will check the condition in the field first. I will evaluate the policy adopted by the maritime affairs and fisheries minister, but believe me, we will offer the best solution to fishermen," the president emphasized.
Regulation of the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Number 1/PERMEN-KP/2015 on Prohibition of the Use of Trawls and Seine Nets in the Fishery Management Area of the Republic of Indonesia has both pros and cons.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti claimed recently she has met with the president. "I met the president. I have been requesting an extension period and directives from the president. We have extended the period of trawl use until the end of 2017. This is mainly for fishermen in the Central Java region," she stated.
The minister promised to distribute fishing tools to replace trawls, locally known as "cantrang," to the fishermen soon. "Ships under 10 GT will receive the replacement during this time but not the bigger ones. Hence, we would provide assistance to banks," said Pudjiastuti.
Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said that trawls are banned since the fishing equipment is dragged across the seabed, thereby harming the marine ecosystem. "We agree that the trawls are dragged across the seabed, and hence, they are destructive," she said in a written statement last April.
Pudjiastuti said the use of trawls could damage the ecosystem, which is a habitat for the organisms that the fish feed on, and so, it could reduce the productivity of the seabed.
Cantrang could also net several types of fish of varying sizes, and hence, its use runs counter to the principle of sustainability and the Indonesian fishery policy. "Actually, several fishermen have already switched to using other equipment. Cantrang is no longer used by small fishermen, but big players and several of them also use gillnet and purse seine, and hence, its use is not yet over," she revealed.***1***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 28-08-2017 21:37: |
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