Local Fishermen in Maluku Needs Empowerment

Local Fishermen in Maluku Needs Empowerment

AMBON, Kompas – Maritime and fishery sector’s potential in Maluku Provinnce having sea area around 658,312.75 square kilometers or 92.4 percent of the province’s area has not been well utilized yet. The main factor is local fishermen who have not been optimally empowered.

“If the government wants to rely on maritime potential at the area to improve people’s welfare, local fishermen must be empowered. It is very ironic seeing coastal people’s condition commonly living under poverty line. Whereas, Maluku waters are rich with resources,” said Masudin Sangaji, Maritime Science and Fishery Faculty Lecturer of Pattimura Univertsity in Ambon, Maluku, on Thursday (1/8).

Geographically, Maluku Province consists of 1,340 islands whose area is 712,459.69 square kilometers. Nine regencies and two cities at the province have coastal areas. Its coast line reaches 10,662 kilometers.

According to Masudin, the empowerment comprises the purchase of proper fishing vessels and fishing instruments. So far, local fishermen in Maluku can only have fishing vessels with maximum capacity of 30 GT. Even, it is not more than 5 percent of the total fishery household of 60,000 units.

The vessels with such capacity have the furthest voyage distance of 7 kilometers from land. Moreover, they have to face extreme Maluku waters during bad weather. When sea wave is high, the vessels are forced to be berthed on land.

Another empowerment to be conducted is the training to use vessel technology and modern fishing instruments. “Local fishermen do not find it difficult to adapt since they are sailors. The government only needs to give a little training,” he said.

When the government prohibits foreign fisherman usage as occurring now, firms must employ local fishermen for fishing. The effort is also conducted to lower poverty and to prevent dependence toward foreign fishermen.

Maluku Provincial Government, Masudin said, has not shown its real efforts in utilizing maritime potentials. Even though the government often promotes Maluku as a national fish barn, it gives no concrete policies. Local fishermen as the main pillar to support the program has not been concerned.

Atok Tuasela (41), a fisherman from Waai Village, Salahutu District, Central Maluku Regency, said his family’s captured fishery business worked on since 1960s has not been supported by the government. He has two fishing vessels having 25-GT and 30-GT capacity each. “In the beginning, we employed fishermen from Manado (North Sulawesi) to train our vessel crews. We did it ourselves by borrowing money from banks for our captured fishery business,” he said.

Similar complaint was also delivered by Dedi Suhardi (54), a fisherman from Eti Village, West Seram District, West Seram Regency. “We have poor vessels so when bad weather strikes, we cannot sail,” Dedi said. He only has a 40-PK motorboat. (Kompas)