THE STATUS OF MANAGEMENT OF THE MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES OF INDONESIA

Transcription

1 THE STATUS OF MANAGEMENT OF THE MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES OF INDONESIA 1. Introduction Punvito Martosubroto Directorate General of Fisheries Jakarta, Indonesia Indonesia has a vast area of marine waters lying between many islands in the archipelago which extends from Sumatra in the west to Irian Jaya in the east. The total area of marine waters is around 3.1 million km2 with a total coast line of 80,000 km. Approximately 2.7 million km2 was added by the Indonesia Exclusive Economic Zone (IEEZ) where the country has access to exploit the fishery resohces. With this geographical situation marine fisheries have been the main fisheries of the country. The development of the fisheries in Indonesia commenced when the first five-year economic development scheme was launched in The production of marine fisheries has increased from 800,000 tons in 1969 to 1.8 million mt in Most of the fisheries products are consumed locally, either fresh or processed. Only 84,000 mt with a value of $259,000 were exported in The exports went mostly to Japan, Hongkong, Singapore, U. S. A. and some European countries. The development of fisheries has been marked by the increased use of motorized boats from 25,992 units in 1978 to 95,623 units in 1985 or an increase to more than three times. During the same time the number of non-motorized boats slightly decreased from 222,121 to 220,823. Synthetic materials for fishing nets became more common while efficient fishing gears like trawls and purse seines started to develop at the end of the 1960's. In this era of fisheries development, the number of fishermen has also been increasing to reach to 1.3 million in This situation has caused heavy fishing pressure on the resources especially in those areas where concentration of fishermen &curs such as on the north coast of Java and the Malacca Straits. Various management measures have been introduced as early as 1976 when trawl fisheries had developed very rapidly. Management measures introduced are not only for trawl fisheries but also for other fisheries such as purse seines and lift nets. However, it is the management of trawl fisheries which had put the government in a very difficult position at one time. Implemetation of management measures has been very weak due to various contraints, and many components of fisheries management still need to be established and strengthened. The multispecies nature of the tropical resources coupled with the large number of small scale operators in the fisheries need special treatment in the formulation of a sound management scheme. 2. Status of the fisheries The Indonesian economy has been much dependent on the oil industry. About 70Vo of the government income derives from the oil sector. The fisheries sector has only contributed 1.7% of the total GDP. Nonetheless the number of people involved in the fisheries sector reached 1.3 million excluding those engaged in the processing plant. The trend in marine fisheries production has been substantial and the production of the western part (which is arbitrarily defined as the area west of Makassar Straits and Lombok Straits) accounts for well over 50% of the total production. (Table 1). This is more or less related to the distribution of fishermen the greater number of whom are found in the western part. The large number of fishermen engaged in fisheries reflects the fact that the majority of them are small-scale operators. Table 2 provides details of the trend in demersal compared with

2 pelagic fisheries, and Table 3 the trend in the value of total production compared with value of exports. The large-scale fisheries are limited to shrimp fisheries in the Arafura Sea, tuna fisheries in the eastern part of Indonesia and some purse seine fisheries in the Java Sea. In terms of contribution, the production of small-scale fisheries accounts for 90% of the total production (Table 4). Most of the large scale fisheries are aiming for export commodities so that in terms of value their contribution accounts for almost 20%. In western Indonesian waters, concentration of fishing activities occurs on the north coast of Java and in the Malacca Straits. During the trawl era (prior to 1980) conflicts between trawl fishermen and gill net fishermen were significant in those areas. Trends in marine fisheries production of the two areas and trends in numbers of respective fishermen are presented in Table 5. The trend in productivity may indicate to a certain extent the present state of exploitation of the resources. In other parts of western Indonesian waters the level of exploitation has not been as intensive as in those two areas. There is still room for further development in areas such as those off Kalimantan. In eastern Indonesian waters the situation is somewhat similar except for the Arafura Sea where the exploitation of shrimp resources has reached optimum level although in specific locations within the Arafura Sea slight reduction of effort is necessary (Naamin 1984). Tuna fisheries have also developed in eastern Indonesian waters and production reached 120,000 mt in Pole and line fishing has been dominating the tuna fishery. However, limited availability of bait resources may hinder further, development of the fishery in the long run. On the other hand, in certain areas gill net and purse seine fishing may lead to further development. As small-scale fisheries are still dominating the fisheries of the country, the majority of fishermen come from the small-scale fisheries. They are still using traditional gears and their operations are still on a daily basis which generates relatively low incomes. In fact more than 60% of them live below the national poverty threshold (which was originally pegged at kg of rice equivalent). The government has helped the small-scale fishermen through the establishment of various credit schemes. Credits are not only financed by the state bank but there are some financed by international financing agencies such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. The following are examples fo credit schemes (Anon 1986): a) The KIK (Kredit Investasi Kecil or Small Investment Credit) programme was introduced by government in The credit allowed fishermen to buy a small fishing boat including engines and fishing gears with a total loan of Rp. 10 million, and an interest rate of 10.5%. Repayment period is 10 years with a four years grace period. b) The KMKP (Kredit Modal Kerja Permanen or Permanent Working Capital Credit) programme was designed as a supplementary to the KIK programme through provision of loan for operational funds. The interest rate is 12% and the repayment period is 3 years. c)~ The Rural Credit Project (RCP) is an IBRD-supported credit programme established in The credit is not only for fishermen but for small holders in general. It includes loans for purchasing boats, installation of ice plants, and also for obtaining operational funds for brackish water ponds. d) Mini-Credit and Midi-Credit are small loans ranging from respectively Rp. 10,000 to Rp. 200,000 and from Rp. 200,000 to Rp. 500,000 for small investment and working capital. The loan period is relatively short, 1 to 3 years for the former and 3 to 5 years for the latter. e) Bimas Fihery Credit (Bimbingan Massal Fihery Credit, or Credit Scheme for Mass Extension) programme. The scheme was introduced following the decision to ban trawl fishing in The credit was given to extrawl fishermen to convert their fishing activities to other means of fishing. The maximum loan was Rp. 5 million with a loan period of 5 years. f) A special credit arrangement made by a foundation in Lombok. This scheme was designed by the Foundation in cooperation with the Indonesian-German Small-Scale Fisheries Development Project in Lombok.

3 The Project provides supervision not only for fishing (gears and boat design) but on financial management as well, to enable fishermen to repay the loan. The scheme is quite new, only two years old, but the results seem to be promising. In general the credit schemes (except the last mentioned) seem to show problems of repayment. The low level of repayment has caused concern to the government and its policy on credit schemes is now being evaluated. Experience of the Lombok scheme indicates that close supervision of both fishing and financial management is of vital importance to the success of any credit scheme. 2.2 problems related to fisheries management The government of Indonesia started inviting foreign and domestic investors to invest their money in fisheries during the first five year development phase (commenced in 1969) following the establishment of foreign and domestic investment law. The high price of shrimp abroad had attracted investors to put their finance in to the shrimp trawling business. As a result the trawl boom appeared in many parts of Indonesian waters. When conflict between trawl fishermen and traditional fishermen arose in the mid 1970's the government introduced several measures through Ministry of Agriculture Decree. An important measure was the one dealing with the establishment of fishing zones. Although the idea of zoning is to prevent direct conflict between various gears, in particular trawls with other gears, conflict has not been reduced due to lack of enforcement. As a result the drastic decision was finally made in 1980 to ban trawl fishing completely. Weakness in institutional arrangements especially in enforcement allowed certain fishermen to undertake illegal trawling during 1986, but this was finally &bed through tough measures by the government. Development of a purse seine fishery has not caused significant conflict like the trawl fishery. Purse seine fishing, which started to develop on the north coast of Java in the late 1960's, has been for the round scad (Decapterus spp.). Mesh size measures were introduced in 1975 to ensure fishing for adult fish. Fast development in the fishery has forced fishermen to fish farther off-shore, which reduced conflict with fishermen using other gears. This situation is quite different from that during trawl use, when the trawl fleets had been fishing in the inshore areas resulting in various conflicts with other gear operators. A small conflict that occurred in early years regarding fishing around fish aggregating devices (FADs) owned by other fishermen had finally been solved by the fishermen themselves. Any fishermen can fish around the FAD of other fishermen as long as it is not noticed, or, when it is noticed, a half of the catch shall be shared by the owner. A further development in recent years is where a group of fishermen install FADs and do nothing but stay by them. They will allow purse seine fishermen to fish around their FADS and will let the purse seine fishermen keep 75% of the catch. The increased pressure on the pelagic resources in the Java Sea is reflected by the development of the purse seine fleet. Recently bigger boats have been built, their sizes reach to 80 GT (formerly only up to 30 GT) which increase their endurance to 2-3 weeks. Yet no limited entry has been imposed. Some conflicts occurred in the inshore waters of the Malacca Straits between fishermen using stationary gears (tidal nets or "Jermal") and fishermen employing small purse seine for anchovy. The conflict was solely due to market competition. Purse seine employed as a new gear was able to take a good share in the anchovy market causing annoyance for "jermal" fishermen. The conflict was finally resolved by encouraging purse seine fishermen not to fish close to "jermal" and at the same time limiting the number of purse seines. In the case of pole and line fisheries in eastern Indonesian waters which are fishing for skipjack, problems arose in relation to bait resources. When new fishermen come to a fishery and started fishing for bait, strong opposition comes from the established fishermen fiho are concerned about the bait. Recent development in the use of FADs in association with pole and line fishing, however, has somewhat reduced the conflict as the FADs can help reduce the amount of bait required. The shrimp fishery in the Arafura Sea where, following the trawl ban, trawls had to be modified by the installation of by-catch excluder devices (BEDS), is one of the large-scale fisheries in the country. A limited entry policy has been adopted ii the fishery and complaitlts by fishermen mainly stem from poaching by foreign fishermen.

4 From the limited examples given above it seems that management of small-scale fisheries needs a special approach and not necessarily the same as for large-scale fisheries. The experience of other countries dealing with the former need to be explored. 3. Approaches in fisheries management 3.1 Legislation and regulations The oldest regulation related to fisheries management was made during the Dutch colonialization, namely around 1920 concerning prohibition of fishing using explosives and other poisonous materials. In the mid 1%0's, when the development of trawl fishing was significant, management measures were introduced through the establishment of Ministry of Agriculture Decree. This action was followed up in subsequent years whenever measures needed to be produced. When higher impact measures are required these are formulated through Presidential Decree such as the one for the trawl ban. Not until 1985 was the government able to establish the Fisheries Act (U.U.* No. 9/1985) after long processing in the legislative body, the House of Representative. The Fisheries Act as it is contains the basic components of fisheries regulation, but further transformation in to details is accommodated in government regulations (P.P.+) which at present are still under preparation. 3.2 Adminktration mechanism for management The Directorate General of Fisheries of the Department of Agriculture is the agency responsible for the development and management of the Indonesian fisheries. The Directorate General of Fisheries delegates some of the authority to ~rovinciai Government through the Provincial Fisheries Service. Although marine waters are not divided into zones belonging to Provinces, fishermen are registered in their base in the Province. Licences for certain fisheries are issued by Central Government, in particular those for industrial fisheries, while some are issued by Provincial Government such as those for fishing with stationary gears and for mariculture activities. 3.3 Research programmes Sound management should be based on adequate information which includes information on the resources, fishermen and the industry. Information on the resources comes from various sources such as landing places, processing plants and Research Institutes. Fisheries Research Institutes, which had been under the auspices of the Directorate General of Fisheries, have been physically transferred to a new agency in the Department of Agriculture since,'1978 i.e. the Agency for Agricultural Research and Development. Marine fisheries research in the Universities has not been pronounced due to lack of funds and facilities. Communication between administration and scientists has been close although organizationally they are under different Agencies. Management measures have been formulated with the advice of scientists although it is not unsual for certain decisions to be made without research basis. Research in tropical fisheries is subject to many problems related to the multispecies nature of the resources, multigears used in the fisheries, and the complex nature of the small-scale fisheries, as well as the common problems of budget and manpower. It is only in recent years that the number of trained manpower in the Fisheries Research Institutes has been increasing which is encouraging. 3.4 Monitoring, control and surveillance activities (MCS) It is unfortunate that no fishery inspector is available in the Directorate General of Fisheries nor in the Provincial Fisheries Office. The fisheries authority has relied on information on MCS from the Navy and the Police. Although a coordinating body, BAKORKAMLA, was commissioned consisting of representatives, from the Navy, Police, Customs and the Department of Justice, it deals mainly dealing with problems relating to * Undang Undang = Law + Peraturan Pemerintah = Government Regulation.

5 security and smuggling. Only now has the committee been asked to cover fisheries aspects although there is still no representation from Fisheries Office. This weakness will be a problem to the implementation of any measure. A strong support from the Navy in MCS has been mostly in relation to foreign fishing in the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone. 3.5 Fishermen Organizations Fisheries management will work when there is strong participation by the fishermen. In Indonesia there is a national fishermen's organization, HNSI (Himpunan Nelayan Seluruh Indonesia, or Indonesian Fishermen Association), which in terms of age is still very young (less than 10 years). Although they are represented in the legislative body, their role in the management of the resources is still limited. Their voice was however strong in 1980 in favour of the small-scale fishermen in their effort to ban trawl fishing. Another organization dealing with industrial fisheries is HPPI (Himpunan Pengusaha Perikanan Indonesia, or Association of Fishing Enterprise) which was formed by Enterprises who own shrimp fleets operating in the Arafura Sea. Continuous contact with the Directorate General of Fisheries has been made with respect to the management of the shrimp fisheries in the Arafura Sea. They have been active in providing catch data to the Directorate General of Fisheries. 4. Constraints in fisheries management Constraints in fisheries management are varied covering various aspects of institutional arrangement, information acquisition and enforcement. The Directorate General of Fisheries has a Directorate of Resources Management which has the responsibility for fisheries management. However, this Directorate does not have any support unit dealing with enforcement of the regulation produced. In fact no unit of this kind is available in the Directorate General of Fisheries. Enforcement, which is supposed to guard implementation in the field, seems to be under the responsibility of authority of another Department. At the provincial level, fisheries management is not well represented. Any matter dealing with fisheries management is handled by Production Division as an additional responsibility. Historically fisheries management has not been an important matter with the results that no special unit has been accommodated in the organization. The kinds of information needed for fisheries management include those concerning the resources, socioeconomics of the fishermen, as well as the institutional aspects. Acquisition of information faces many problems especially in a country consisting of many islands like Indonesia. Transportation has been a major problem. It is not unusual that publication of fisheries statistics has at least 2 years time lag. Problems related to tropical resources and small-scale fisheries have been recognized. Although computer technology has helped with information filing and information transfer, its application to fisheries is still limited. It is an area where FA0 could provide help with the use of computers in tropical small-scale fisheries. With respect to enforcement it has already been stated that fisheries participation in this respect is minimal. As enforcement has been much under the responsibility of another Institution, the role of fisheries has been limited to provide extension to the enforcing agency. 4. References ANONYMOUS, Country Statement of Indonesia on Credit Facilities and Subsidies for fisheries. Paper presented 1986 to IOFC 4th session of the Committee for the Development and Management of Fisheries in the Bay of Bengal and the Fifth Meeting of the Advisory Committee for the Development of small-scale fisheries of the Bay of Bengal Programme, Male, Maldives, February 1986: 19 p. NAAMIN, N., Population dynamics of banana shrimp (Penaeus merguiensis) and its management alternatives 1984 (in Indonesian). Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, IPB : 281 P.

6 Table 1. Trend in marine fisheries production by major areas (in mt). Year Western Indonesia Eastern Indonesia Total Table 2. Trend in marine fisheries production by major species groups (in mt). Year Demersal Groups Pelagic Groups Total Table 3. Trend in marine fisheries production by value and value of exports (in '000 US$). Year Total Production by Value Total Exports

7 Table 4. Trend in marine fisheries production by type of fisheries (in mt). Year Small Scale Fisheries Large Scale Fisheries Total Table 5. Trend of marine fisheries production and of number of fishermen on the north coast of Java and in the Malacca Straits (in mt). YEAR NORTH COAST OF JAVA MALACCA STRAITS Production/ Production Production/ Production Fishermen Fishermen Fishermen Fishermen