"Sea guardians, there are around 4,000 species of fish spread across the waters of Indonesia. Of that number, the waters of Indonesia can contribute 50% of the animal protein needs for its citizens. However, this fact does not automatically make our small fishermen prosperous. The rampant overfishing in several regions of Indonesia has led to a decline in catch and made it difficult for small fishermen to escape the abyss of poverty."

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

The decline in catch results and the increasing distance of fishing grounds have been reported in several marine areas in Indonesia, including the Strait of Malacca, the waters off eastern Sumatra, the Java Sea, and the Bali Strait.

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

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

This condition automatically causes the income of local fishermen to decline. If before overfishing occurred, there were 10 out of 98 respondents who could earn Rp4 million in a month. Now only 4 fishermen can reach that figure, and even then with a longer distance to travel than before.

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

"Large-scale capture technology and the lack of law enforcement are also evident from the discovery of several actors in the fishing industry and companies found to be falsifying records of fishing activities."

In a report on the issue of overfishing in Indonesia, there are 13 tuna canning companies that received a red report card from this activity. Some companies on the list even engage in fishing practices that are not environmentally friendly as there are no reports on their fishing industry activities.

These companies clearly only prioritize profit without considering that all the potential natural wealth they have extracted will disappear. In fact, the alarm for the world's fish stock running out has been sounded long ago. In 2002, 72% of the world's marine fish stock was harvested faster than the rate of reproduction. Based on a recent four-year study from an international study group (experts in environmental science and economics), it is stated that all seafood from wild species is now projected to collapse by 2050, with an estimated depletion of 90%.

Coleman and William mention that overfishing is a major problem in the marine environment. Excessive fishing activities have led to population declines, decreases in species and genetic diversity, and widespread consequences for damage to trophic levels and ecosystems.

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

"Well, sea guardian, what would our ocean be without these small fishermen?"

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SOURCE : PENJAGALAUT 

PHOTOGRAPHY : HENDROHIOE