The Impact of Overfishing in Indonesia for Small Fishermen

Guardians of the sea, there are around 4,000 species of fish scattered in Indonesian seas. Of this amount, Indonesian seas are able to contribute 50% of the animal protein needs of its citizens. However, this fact does not automatically make our small fishermen prosperous. The rise of overfishing in a number of regions in Indonesia has caused a decline in catches and made it difficult for small fishermen to escape poverty.

Overfishing is a term or status given to a water area whose fish resources have been overfished and exceed the ability of these fish resources to recover. According to Dahuri, there are indicators to measure whether an area has experienced overfishing, including the total volume of catch (production) being greater than the fish resources, the fish catch tends to decrease, the average size of fish caught is getting smaller and the fishing ground or area fishing is getting further away from land or deeper into the seabed.

The decline in catch results and the increasing distance of fishing grounds have reportedly occurred in a number of sea areas in Indonesia, including the Malacca Strait, the eastern waters of Sumatra, the Java Sea and the Bali Strait.

In a research measuring the impact of overfishing on fishermen's income in Rokan Hilir Regency, Riau Province, it was found that overfishing had caused a decrease in fishermen's catches by 68.91% and a decrease in income from fishermen's catches by 68.72%.

Before overfishing became widespread, a respondent who was a small fisherman in the area was able to catch 80kg of fish just by traveling 1 km from the shore. Of the total number of respondents in the study, numbering 98 fishermen, their fish catch in a day can reach 2.9 tons of fish per day. However, since overfishing has become widespread in the Rokan Hilir waters, the number of catches has decreased. These fishermen are now only able to collect no more than 1.7 tons per day.

This condition automatically reduces the income of local fishermen. Before overfishing occurred, there were 10 people out of 98 respondents who were able to earn IDR 4 million a month. Now only 4 fishermen have been able to touch this figure, even with a distance that is farther than before.

According to WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) there are several factors that cause overfishing: advances in fishing technology that make it easier for fishermen to operate on a large scale, too many fishing fleets operating at sea, lack of law enforcement in the fisheries sector which allows foreign vessels entering and overfishing (Illegal Fishing), fishermen who do not comply with maritime laws and agreements, large-scale catching of Junville fish and other species, destructive fishing and lack of fisheries conservation and fisheries management in various parts of the world.

Large-scale fishing technology and lack of law enforcement can also be seen from the discovery of a number of fishing industry players and companies who were caught falsifying fishing activity records.

In a report on the problem of overfishing in Indonesia, there were 13 tuna canning companies that received red report cards for this activity. Some companies on the list even carry out fishing in ways that are not environmentally friendly because there are no reports on their fishing industry activities.

These companies clearly only care about profits without considering that all the potential natural wealth they have exploited will disappear. Even though the alarm that the world's fish stocks will run out was sounded long ago. In 2002, 72% of the world's marine fish stocks were harvested faster than reproductive rates. Based on a recent four year study from an international study group (environmental scientists and economists) said that all seafood from wild species is now projected to collapse by 2050, an estimated 90% depletion

Coleman and William said that overfishing is a major problem in the marine environment. Excessive fishing activities have caused population decline, reduced species and genetic diversity, as well as extensive consequences for damage to the trophic level and ecosystems.

The consequences of this will clearly have an impact on the lives of fishermen, as has happened in several regions in Indonesia such as Rokan Hilir, Riau Province. Fishermen are also predicted to continue to be in poverty, because their catch continues to decrease. Data from the 2017 National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) shows fishermen as one of the poorest professions in Indonesia. The decline of fishermen into poverty has also caused a drastic decline in the number of fishing households. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that from 2 million in 2000 to 966 thousand in 2016. If overfishing activities continue to occur, it is possible that the fishing profession will slowly disappear. In fact, the role of small fishermen is very important in the fish supply chain to supply the animal protein needs of 50% of Indonesia's population.

Well the guardian of the sea, what would our sea be without these little fishermen?

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SOURCE: PENJAGALAUT 

PHOTOGRAPHY : HENDROHIOE