This article was featured in The Jakarta Post, Oct 24th 2016 issue, written by one of our Founders, HS Dillon.
Independence was supposed to bring prosperity to the people of
Indonesia, but while many millions have indeed been lifted out of
poverty there is one group that has largely been left behind:
fisherfolk.
It is true that some coastal communities have
prospered over the years, mainly those fortunate enough to have ready
access to larger markets, but for the vast majority employed in actual
fish catching, little has changed.
The government has come and
gone, but livelihoods have remained uncertain with usually informal,
often seasonal employment and the lack of even a semblance of welfare
protection. Often it is a pattern of debt repayment that lasts from
cradle to grave, as the proceeds from a successful fishing trip merely
cover the expenses accrued by the family during the time away; there is
little to save for life’s emergencies.
Much of the blame for
this can be placed squarely on the shoulders of lackluster governance in
the past and a common attitude about the exploitation of the nation’s
resource riches: Let’s cash in today and tomorrow can take care of
itself.
If these are the growing pains of a young nation,
reality demands we take responsibility for putting in place policies
that will not only raise the standards of the current generation but
also ensure that their children’s children can enjoy the fruits of their
labors.
Moreover, this must apply across the Indonesian
population as a whole, not just favor little cliques as in the past.
Fortunately, in Susi Pudjiastuti we have a fisheries minister who
understands not only the urgency of the situation but also the fisheries
industry itself and the reasons for its current distress. From her own
experience she has seen how large foreign fishing vessels plunder our
waters and damage our coral reefs, thus threatening long-term viability.
Indonesia is not alone in suffering from the ravages of
illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which has emptied the
world’s oceans of fish over recent decades.
Moreover, the World
Bank estimates that IUU fishing has cost Indonesia up to US$20 billion
per year in lost state revenue, while at the same time causing lost
livelihoods for countless Indonesian fisherfolk, despite increased
catches being hauled from their traditional fishing grounds. During a
moratorium imposed from November 2014 through October 2015,
investigations of some 1,100 foreign-built vessels that had been
licensed to operate in Indonesian waters were carried out.
Results
confirmed suspicions and revealed a range of violations and criminal
offences. Some pertained to fishing activities such as the employment of
foreign crews, fishing outside permitted areas, use of destructive
fishing methods and equipment, turning off location equipment when at
sea, illegal transshipment of catches at sea and deliveries to foreign
ports without customs checks or proper documentation.
Others
were of a more sinister nature, however, such as the smuggling of
people, goods and endangered species, for IUU fishing is often linked to
the trafficking of arms, drugs and people, and where a culture of
bribery exists it also stimulates money laundering and tax evasion. With
transnational crimes occurring in more than a single country, the sums
involved are often large enough to attract international crime
syndicates.
Moving swiftly to combat IUU fishing, the task force
of five government agencies operating as a single unit under the
direction of the minister has already hit the headlines on a number of
occasions.
Yet while the removal of IUU fishing is a primary
goal to restore Indonesian control over its own marine resources,
equally important is the utilization of these resources to provide
livelihoods for Indonesians and regulation of the fisheries industry to
ensure a balanced sustainability of marine biomass moving forward.
To
this end, following input from a wide cross-section of the industry, a
ministerial regulation was issued last December, the implementating
regulation for which is expected later this month.
This was no
sugar-coated placebo to safeguard the interests of those who have
operated with impunity in the past, but a corrective medicine that in
some quarters will be hard to swallow. In a first for Indonesia, and the
world, corporations in the capture fisheries business are obliged to
have an internal human rights policy, conduct human rights due diligence
and obtain human rights certification as prerequisites for obtaining a
business license.
Not all will agree, of course, but in
answering questions about those fishermen and boat owners demonstrating
against the regulations and demanding a return to seine net fishing,
Susi suggested it had been provoked by only a handful of boat owners who
oppose the government regulations.
Confirming there will be no
return to seine fishing, she pointed out that it is a relatively new
introduction from outside and Indonesian fishermen had previously
employed far more ecofriendly methods of catching fish.
Furthermore,
the government is helping to facilitate the replacement of the nets
with more conventional fishing equipment. Meanwhile, to answer charges
that the issuance of permits for fishing vessels is taking time, she
countered that the process is not being helped by owners who register a
vessel as being of a certain capacity and then carry out modifications
to increase its capacity.
While it will take several years
before the effects of these measures start to become fully apparent,
Indonesian fisherfolk stand to see great benefits, not least in the
recognition of their rights as workers and a guarantee of humane working
conditions in what has often been a lawless grey area that few cared
about.
Susi’s actions are a clear demonstration of how President
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s “mental revolution” is supposed to work. They
are also proving that transparent and responsible governance is possible
in Indonesia, a fact that is earning plaudits and support from world
leaders for Susi’s campaign to build a sustainable fisheries industry
that benefits all Indonesians.
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The writer is founder of the Center for Agricultural and People Support Indonesia.
Source: The Jakarta Post