Government asked to clean trawls from sea off Batubara

Medan  (Antaranews Sumut) - The North Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Association of Fishermen (HINSI) urged the government to clean trawls from the sea of Batubara.

The fishing with trawls hurts the traditional fishermen and is damaging the environment, Deputy Chairman of North Sumatra HINSI Nazli said here on Wednesday.

Nazli called on large fishing companies to comply with the regulation banning the use of trawl in sea fishing .

The government banned the use of trawl in January, 2018.

"Trawl, seine nets and such fishing net are no longer allowed to catch fishes in Indonesian waters," he said.

He said the ban is also based on the regulation of Marine and Fisheries Minister No 02 of 2015, and Ministerial regulation No 71 of 2017 as the nets are not environmentally friendly and could cause extinction of sea creatures.

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He said trawlers have expanded operation areas to the fishing grounds of traditional fishermen.

"The trawl fishing nets often damage ridges of rock and rumpons owned by traditional fishermen in the sea," he said.

He said incidents have often occurred between trawl operator and traditional fishermen in the sea, adding in some incidents angry fishermen set fire on trawls, illegally used in the sea off eastern coast of Sumatra. .

The trawlers operating in the Batubara waters belong to larger fishing companies in Belawan, Tanjung Balai and Ashan of North Sumatra, he said.

"Sea security officers, waters police, the navy and the marine and fisheries ministry officers in Batubara should act firmly on the illegal use of the fishing gears in that area," he added.

Earlier, tens of fishermen from the Batubara`s Association of Traditional Fishermen Community (Mantap) took to the street submitting protest to the district legislative assembly (DPRD) and police demanding act against the illegal use of fishing equipment.

Chairman of the Mantap of Batubara Syawaluddin urged the law enforcement agencies and the district Marine and Fishery Service to act more firmly against trawlers operating in district waters.

"In a week unless action is taken against the illegal operation of trawlers we will act ourselves to create order," Syawaluddin threatened.

The new regulation of the government, however, met strong opposition from fishermen using cantrang. The regulation also bans the use of cantrang.

The government said cantrang is the same as trawl, but the fishermen said cantrang is not the same as trawl.

Big protest in Jakarta forced the government to lift the bans on cantrang later in the same month.

The decision followed a meeting between the representatives of fishermen and President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Marine and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti.

Susi said the lift of the ban on cantrang must be followed with promise by the fishermen not to increase the number of fishing boats using cantrangs.

"I would not tolerate illegal operation of cantrang boats with measure markdown," Susi said.

She said the fishermen must not lie about the size of their boats , adding the authorities would sink boats measuring larger than allowed or false size.

"I want you to be master in the Indonesian sea . We explode and sink foreign fishing boats to give you control of the Indonesian sea," she said. (AS)



(T.SYS/A/H-ASG/F001) 23-05-2018 10:11:08