Government Urged To Tighten Control Over Trawl Usage

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Association of Indonesian Traditional Fishermen (KNTI) urged the government to tighten control over the operation of trawlers  in the Indonesian sea.

The Marine and Fisheries Ministry has said fishing with trawl nets is damaging.

"Conflicts over the use of trawls  and the damage they caused have not settled until now," a KNTI leader, Marthin Hadiwinata said here on Monday.

In Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, double pair trawls are still used  freely at night , Marthin cited.

"Local traditional fishermen saw the illegal operation almost every day at night , but we could  nothing," he said.

Too many hands involved with authority has made control  and law enforcement ineffective, he said.

"There are 13 agencies including the  marine and fishery ministry, the navy , police , foreign ministry , the Sea Security Agency (Bakamla) sharing the authority ," he said.

As a result the management of budget for the same job is not efficient,  and ineffective  with different standards of operations that weakened the control, he said.

Regulation calls for the destruction of trawls as they would damage the growth of aqua culture , he said, adding  fishing with trawls woulds also drag fish eggs and fish pry resulting in rapid depletion of fish in certain water territories .

Marine and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti has ordered for the destruction of all environmentally destructive fishing nets including trawls.

If fishing with trawls is allowed, fish would soon be depleted from  Indonesian waters, the minister said. (WDY)