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  ReliefWeb 22 Nov 05
Indonesia: Fishing's bright future needs protection in Aceh
International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

Banda Aceh/Geneva: Fishermen in Aceh, the Indonesian province devastated by last year's Asian tsunami, could emerge from the catastrophe with a brighter future.

Humanitarian assistance is helping to put them back on their feet. But a danger of overfishing and control of the industry by outside business people could wreck their chances, warns the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The waters off Aceh are rich in red tuna, a fish for which foreign markets are hungry. Fish stocks, though, need to be conserved. If fleets become larger than they were before the tsunami, overfishing may occur, particularly by small boats which already work the reefs and easy-to-reach points along the coast that serve as hatcheries.

The numbers of small boats are increasing rapidly and if all the plans of donors and agencies are carried out there will be far more than there were in 2004.

Investment in fishing should not be reduced, the Red Cross and Red Crescent emphasizes, but it should be directed to other corners of the industry once the size of the fleets has been restored.

"With too many small boats, the fish could be gone within a few years," says Antoine Munoz, head of a maritime rehabilitation project of the Red Cross Red Crescent. "Some people have boats who weren't fishermen before. We need to watch this carefully or the depletion that occurred in Europe's North Sea and other places will be repeated here in Indonesia. The tuna will go the way of Europe's cod."

With the Indonesian Red Cross and the International Federation, Munoz is rebuilding a deep-water fishing fleet for Meulaboh villages on Aceh?s west coast. Nearly all their large vessels were destroyed or seriously damaged by the tsunami and the 900,000-euro project will provide 17 replacements, resettling 289 fishermen and around 1,000 family members, as well as helping a local shipyard active and productive once again. The entire fleet will take eight months to build and the first boats will be in the water in December. The project will provide more than boats, however.

Before the tsunami, many boats had a single absentee owner who would take half the revenue and pay the fishermen what remained after expenses. Many worked for little more than a dollar a day and without any form of security.

The Red Cross Red Crescent is introducing cooperatives to change that. "We are here to help fishermen provide for themselves," Munoz says. The cooperatives would allow fishermen to own and share a boat and the proceeds. With a dramatically increased income, and the boats in their hands, the fishermen will need less fish to improve their lives and be open to conservation measures as a consequence.
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