Fish Crisis will Destroy Marine Resources

In the next 10 years the accumulated fish crisis in Indonesia is believed to totally destroy the country`s fish resources.The crisis began when it became difficult to find fish of certain species on the local and global market, and a drastic increase in the price of fish, Coastal and Marine Campaign Manager and National Executive of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) M Riza Damanik said in Jakarta.

In this context, the government needs to start revitalizing the potential of fish resources, by focusing on meeting national needs while at the same time recalculating the remaining marine resources according to an environmental report in the Antara News.

“In this case, the government needs to stop the export of marine resources by diplomatic means to build international support as well as focusing on illegal fishing,” he said.

These aims could be pursued by improving the system of licensing, control and the trial of fishing offenses in a professional and transparent way.

It would also be possible for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the relevant government authorities to have fishermen and the public involved in overcoming the approaching national marine resources crisis.

Right now, he added, only a little more than 30 percent of the total marine resources remained. This information came from the Ministry of Marine and Fishery Affairs, which also disclosed that only about 60 percent of the national marine resources had been exploited.

But the facts show that, first of all, the fish catch of fishermen in many places had been declining, such as in the waters of Bitung in North Sulawesi, in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, and in Bengkalis, Riau, as well as in Lampung Bay.

Secondly, the declining raw materials for the fishery industry. Consequently, by 2006 four fishery industries in North Sulawesi had to discontinue their operations, he said.

It is also a fact that certain fish species, like the “terubuk” in Bengkalis islands, Riau are now very hard to find, he said, adding that the FAO had even predicted that in the meantime, the world`s consumption of fish and marine products continued to increase.

This hard fact is based on the growth of the world population (by 1.8 percent per year) and world fish consumption which had reached 19 kg/capita/year.

It is therefore difficult to deny that in the next eight years, consumption of fish and marine products may reach 50 million tons, while the world`s marine resources might be 9 to 10 million tons short each year, he said.