Activists renewed calls Saturday for the government to stop issuing fishing permits to large vessels, because fish numbers in many Indonesian bodies of water have reached critical levels due to overfishing.
The Peoples Coalition for Justice in Fisheries (Kiara) warned the government that failure to restrict fishing in the country’s waters would result in a major fish shortage by 2015.
The coalition proposed a five-year moratorium on permits for big fishing vessels — foreign-or domestic-owned — of 30 deadweight tons or more.
“Our finding shows overfishing has occurred in most of the country’s waters,” Kiara’s secretary-general Riza Damanik told The Jakarta Post.
He said that several countries, including China, Japan and European states had implemented moratoriums in their own waters to allow time for fish to replenish.
Indonesia is one of the 10 biggest fish producing countries in the world.
Quoting statistics from the National Commission on Fish Resource Assessment, Riza said fish numbers in six Indonesian bodies of waters had become critical since 2006.
The six areas are the Malacca straits, the South China Sea, the Java Sea, the Flores Sea, the Makassar Strait, the Pacific Ocean and the Sulawesi Sea.
“The areas have been over-exploited but the government has not moved to protect the sea resources,” he said.
Many trawlers still operate in bodies of water where trawling is illegal, including off the coast of northern East Kalimantan. The government banned trawling in Indonesian waters in 1980.
“The Presidential Decree [which bans trawling] is still in place but trawling continues in East Kalimantan. We have found trawlers operating in waters off Tarakan where traditional fishermen have been complaining about decreasing catches,” he said.
“Where trawlers operate, fish stocks dwindle, coral reefs are damaged and social divides among fishers are triggered,” he said.
About 15 million people work as traditional fishermen in the country.
The government has repeatedly acknowledged that illegal fishing is rampant in Indonesian waters, often involving foreign vessels.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad has accused foreign vessels of illegal fishing in Indonesian waters. Many of those had no fishing permits or instead carried fake documents.
Data from the ministry showed the country impounded 186 foreign vessels for illegal fishing in Indonesia in 2008, compared to 184 the previous year.
The coalition has said Indonesia’s fisheries potential is slashed by 30 to 50 percent every year due to illegal fishing.
