The availability of environmentally friendly fishing tools to replace \'cantrang\' urgently needs to be realized to prevent tension among fishermen.
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·3 minutes read
Kompas/Nikson Sinaga
Traditional fishing boats are moored as part of the fishermen’s strike on Monday (19/2) in Medan Belawan district, Medan, North Sumatra. The fishermen have demanded that the government ban the use of cantrang, or seine nets, which have damaged the environment and reduced their harvests. Earlier, the fishermen set fire to eight cantrang vessels to protest the government’s infirm stance on the issue.
The availability of environmentally friendly fishing tools to replace cantrang (seine net) urgently needs to be realized to prevent tension among fishermen.
This week, Kompas ran reports about the root of the problem on the use of cantrang. Findings in the field show some fishermen and ship owners are willing to stop using cantrang. The findings also show the existence of tension between the fishermen who do not use cantrang and those who use it.
Cantrang in its original form was allowed for use by boats weighing less than 5 gross tons. In practice, many violations occurred. The size of the nets increased, the mesh decreased in size and bigger ships started to use cantrang.
The ban on the use of cantrang, as mentioned by Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, was put in place because cantrang dredges the contents of the sea, capturing all fish and other sea products, big or small. As a result, it is hard for the sea to recover. The cantrang effects are similar to those caused by the use of trawls, purse seines, and the like. Fishermen’s catch continue to decrease, thereby affecting fishermen\'s livelihood.
The northern coast of Java has been experiencing over-fishing since the 1990s. Too many fishermen with small boats scrambled to catch fish in the waters around the coast. The government at that time banned the use of trawls and their modifications because they interfered with the sustainability of catch, including damaging coral reefs, which are important for the undersea ecosystem and the holding of sea waves.
The catching of fish and other marine products, especially shrimp, which exceeds the capacity, leads to the decline in catch and the number of fishing households by almost half during the 2003-2013 period. The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister said the positive results of the cantrang ban were that fish reserves doubled in the 2014-2017 period to 12.54 million tons and the term of trade of fishermen continued to improve to 109.86 in 2017.
We support the government\'s move to balance the utilization of the marine economy and the sustainability of its utilization. At the same time, we also want a way out for the fishermen using cantrang.
The government needs to explain the policies and strategies on sea fishing openly to the stakeholders. Starting from immediately providing adequate fishing equipment to replace cantrang, guidance on the use of the tool will provide understanding on the importance of maintaining the sustainability of fishery resources, up to capital assistance.
The issue that always accompanies the life of fishermen is the great dependence on climate and job risks that make banks be very selective in providing credit. This situation needs to be changed immediately by making fishermen switch to processing the catches or do other industrial activities at the village level. Assisting them to become entrepreneurs in the villages will help improve the prosperity of fishing villages and make the community self-reliant.
