On April 18, 1997 a Japanese fishing fleet leader, carrying a Filipino passport checked into a Manado homestay to lodge three Filipino fisherman. After checking them in he was overheard instructing the fisherman "change your clothes so we can transfer the water bombs". The tourist informed the Homestay owner , who in turn informed an immigration Justice Department official., who immediately took steps to investigate the case. Five days later two of the fishermen were finally apprehended and interrogated. The ensuing investigation led to the Harbour city of Bitung, N.E. Suluwesi, in which at least 120 illegal fisherman were arrested and deported ( most Filipinos and some Taiwanese). Others were kept for further investigation of illegal fishing practises in Indonesia waters. The investigation is continuing as only the tip of the iceberg in the raping of Indonesian waterways, coral reefs and fish life continues.
At the same time, a Japanese fishing fleet of four trawlers were outside the harbour of Manado awaiting final clearance to go fishing. They had formed a joint-venture partnership with an Indonesian so that they could fly the Indonesian flag. They would be legal and free to roam parts of the Indonesian Archipelago. The sponsor, in fact, would only share a portion of the assets without even once going to sea. The Japanese fleet, is nothing like the local Indonesian fishing fleets, which are large wooden boats with draw lights and two way radios, this fleet of steel, loaded from top to bottom with sophisticated satellite tracking devices and all other advance technology needed, means "real" business! The advantage of this fleet is that it can track schools of fish quickly, haul the fish and load them onto partner ships, and transfer the load out of Indonesian waters undetected. At the same time, they can keep a track on any Navy or Coast Guard boat to avoid any possible detection. A problem sometimes neutralized by the easily obtained Indonesian flag they are flying. This may seem farfetched but in fact it was verified by a Filipino ship owner. He admitted he takes five to ten times the allotted quota thus raping the seas further. Meanwhile over 90% of Indonesian fish fleets using traditional methods of fishing sometimes spend many days catching a meager load compared to the Japanese fleet. In fact almost all traditional indonesian fishingboats are registered at the fisheries department and do register there catches.
Further more, according to the fishermen many foreign fleets primarily of Taiwanese, Filipino, Hong Kongese and South Korean origins, using high tech satellite/ radar tracking systems, enter Indonesian waters flying either no flag to avoid identification, or their own flag unfearful of detection. These fishing boats don’t have the correct licensees or documentation and due to superior technology they go undetected.
Meanwhile in April 97, a couple hundred kilometers south east, in the Gorontalo area, an uninvited European photographer stumbles upon a massive construction of holding pens, full of the protected Napoleon Wrasses, turtles, other large migrating sea mammals, and large coral fish. These remind him of the simpler version of holding pens he discovered around the Tukanbesi Islands, Togian Islands, and Banggai Islands, however these were different. Different due to the fact that they were built as fixed structures. They had walkways along the pens leading to an office and connecting rooms. Outside the main office a large satellite communication dish stood, inside high tech communication systems with two way radio, not to mention the openly exposed cyanide gas bottles with the accompanying equipment plus water bombs. The photographer acting naive to the operation allowed the Chinese operators, (believed to be a Taiwanese or Hong Kong Chinese who spoke poor Indonesian) to give him a tour of the illegal operation he was running. He was informed of the Hong Kong boat that arrived once a week, undetected in and out of Indonesian waters to pick up the tons of protected and unprotected species caught. Eventually the operators granted the reporter a lift par speedboat to his desired destination, an eastward remote village. Leaving the scene the photographer was left to wonder how many of these permanently fixed operations actually exist in Indonesia going undetected almost uninterrupted as they totally destroy and rape the reefs and sea life of Indonesia. How much time will it take?
At another location, 200 KM south of Gorantolo, a group of tourists were diving the partially beautiful reefs off the Togian Islands. After ascending from the dive they asked the dive instructor about the booming sounds they heard. He replied, "dynamite fishing" you can hear those explosions everyday. This is normal around these parts, to add to all the holding pens and turtle traps around the Togians. The locals are supplied the bombs and cyanide by mostly Chinese descendants as well as from foreign operators who pick up the living and dead catches. The tourist asked" how about the law?" The reply, "the law gets paid more to turn a blind eye, that’s more than their salaries pay. They in fact are just bystanders, to stop this would require lots of power, and stiff penalties, to those who pillage and profit from this."
It would be up to the government of Jakarta to make these sweeping reforms.
Two weeks earlier some tourists while seeking new dive/snorkel sites along the Tangkoko Reserve to the Lembeh Strait, accidentally discovered huge structures of draw and trap nets. These nets extending to the sea floor blocking and trapping anything swimming along the coast. What appeared to be strategically placed nets along the migrating zones and paths of sea mammals, large pelagic fish , to include manta rays and whale sharks. It was found the operation existed since March 96 and had taken, and slaughtered thousands of mammals and large fish, plus an estimated millions of smaller pelagic fish. Also discovered that the company was a joint venture involving Taiwanese partners and passive Indonesia shareholders. The company reported losses despite their huge hauls. Todate, they have yet to be held accountable for the damages committed on the ecosystem and the local fishing population. More of these nets are known to exists in other parts of Indonesia, thus also raping the coastal migrating mammals and fish. What will happen when there exits such "walls of death" all along the whole coastline? How long will the damage continue before it becomes beyond recovery.
All these various forms of fishing are illegal in most countries including Indonesia according the UN Charter of Fishing and Environmental Protection Laws. The reef bombing and cyanide destruction are obvious forms of destruction that require materials that are easily detectable. Because they are easier to detect these forms of destruction should be easiest to control and effectively eradicated. Extremely high penalties should be levied against those who violate these laws especially the supplier and the of course the user. Some open-seas trawlers and fishing boat are overfishing their quotas using Indonesian flags permitted through joint venture fronts must be better monitored to outright controlled by Indonesian authorities who should be onboard and held accountable for the catch -- a small cost to prevent overfishing. Also the number of so-called joint ventures should be reduced, limited, to outright banned in a country inwhich 60% of its population depend on fishing as their main way of survival . Commercial fishing could infact be exclusively done by Indonesias own fishing fleets, without foreigh exploitation. High -tech satellite fishing could be regulated as mentioned earlier or totally banned to allow fairness to the local Traditional Indonesian fishing fleets. Without doubt, the draw and trap nets should be outright banned . Coastal trapping of any kind must be outlawed to sustain fish stocks, coral reef life, and to protect a healthy coral marine life ecosystem. One can clearly read from the data of the last six weeks (only around parts of Suluwesi ), at the current rate of destruction within the Indonesian Archipelago, its days are numbered!! Indonesia should not be the stomping grounds of those who have destroyed their own waters but should be the one to be sustained and protected! Not only for the tourists who enjoy her beauty but also for her own people who’s proud heritage is to be preserved and enjoyed for future generations to come, this is only possible if there are living reefs and fish in the sea!?
Please help us to make aware to the government of Indonesia that we care for and love her country, people, and archipelago so much that we genuinely would like to stop the pillage and exploitation of their hospitality and natural resources. We request they allow other countries to offer their aid to stop these gross violations from continuing once and forever. The consequences of these violations can and do have long lasting detrimental effects on Indonesia and eventually the whole world. We all must eventually offer our support to level, extinguish, and alleviate these injustices to guarantee the once magnificent archipelago and the surrounding population a healthy and promising future.
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