Despite its fame as a national fishing hub, fish remains expensive in Maluku. The main reason is the minimal amount of fishing boats.
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AMBON, KOMPAS – Despite its fame as a national fishing hub, fish remains expensive in Maluku. The main reason is the minimal amount of fishing boats. A majority of local fishing boats are less than 2 gross tons and have limited seagoing range. The condition has led to non-optimal fish production across the nation, even in provincial fishing hubs.
Observations conducted on Monday (19/2) at a fishing boat harbor on Eri Beach, Ambon, showed that small boats less than 2 gross tons could only haul 90 kilograms of fish, commonly pelagic fish.
A bucket of around 120 fish costs Rp 700,000 (US$51.8). A 1-kilogram skipjack tuna sells for Rp 80,000 per head.
“When fish is in abundance, the price could be only half of today’s,” said Costantia Sarimule, 60, a fish trader who has sold fish in the area for more than 10 years. Similar fish species in the market could cost 10 percent and 20 percent higher.
Fisherman Kris Tuhupuring, 26, said that he once went out about 24 kilometers offshore with a boat of only 1-gross-ton capacity. He set sail at 3:30 a.m. and returned around six hours later. “Many refuse to go out to sea, as the weather is worrying,” he said.
Kris said the waters he usually visited had an abundance of fishes. However, because of his small boat, he cannot catch more fish. Moreover, boat fuel is expensive and bad weather threatens fishermen’s safety.
The Maluku maritime affairs and fisheries agency data shows that, as a result of better fishery management, the national fishery potential has increased from 6.7 million tons in 2014 to 9 million tons in 2017. Maluku waters, comprising three marine management zones, contribute around 30 percent of the national potential.
Maluku maritime affairs and fisheries agency head Romelus Far Far said that the abundance of fishes was not exploited effectively. Many local fishermen were disempowered, with less than 10 percent of Maluku’s 151,000 fishermen receiving government assistance.
Since late 2014, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministries had distributed 134 boats to Maluku. Of these boats, 60 percent have less than a 3-gross-ton capacity. Some 20 boats of more than 10 gross tons cannot be used because of licensing problems.
The ministry’s fishing boat assistance relies on proposals from fishing cooperatives that are submitted online through the ministry’s website, a complicated procedure for traditional fishermen with limited knowledge and Internet access. “The ministry should entrust local governments to help fishermen submit their proposals. There has been no coordination so far,” Romelus said.
Ship burning
On Monday morning in Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of traditional fishermen burned eight cantrang (seine net) boats in Belawan waters to protest the government’s ineffective ban on cantrang. In the past few years, traditional fishermen have been catching less and less fish as a result of damage to the marine environment caused by cantrang.
The Medan branch head of the Indonesian Traditional Fishermen’s Association, Muhammad Isa Al Basyir, said that the traditional fishermen in Belawan were agitated because the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry allowed a grace period for the use of cantrang on January 16. “According to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister’s Regulations No. 2/2015 and No. 71/2016, the ministry would take action against boats using cantrang starting in January 2018,” he said.
Basyir said that more and more cantrang boats were seen in Belawan waters since the government gave signs that it would allow the use of cantrang. As a result, traditional fishermen in Bagan Deli subdistrict of Medan Belawan district, protested the policy reversal by burning cantrang boats.
Bagan Deli fisherman Zulfikar, 40, said the group had been planning the ship burning since Sunday night. At around 5 a.m., they were informed that eight cantrang boats were about to head out to sea. “Around 200 traditional fishermen immediately took out their boats to chase after the cantrang boats,” he said.
The traditional fishermen then stopped the cantrang boats of around 5 gross tons. Some 20 people of the cantrang boat crew were taken aboard the traditional fishing boats. The fishermen then poured oil on the cantrang boats and set them on fire some 3 kilometers offshore.
In the last few years, many traditional fishermen in Medan have suffered from significantly reduced fishing yields. Traditional fishermen in Medan usually use motorized boats measuring around 6 meters long and 1 meter wide.
Ten years ago, they could make Rp 200,000 to Rp 300,000 a day. These days, they earn only less than Rp 50,000 in a single day. “Now, I can only catch two to five kilograms of leaftail croakers a day. Several years ago, I could catch up to 30 kilograms [a day],” said Bagan Deli fisherman Tagor, 47.