A Bali-based company is breaking new ground in the fishery business by implementing environmentally friendly fishing practices for sustainability amid the ongoing issues of fishing practices that threaten the marine ecosystem.
UD Pulau Mas, a company located near Benoa harbor, exports around 150 to 200 tons of live grouper per year to Hong Kong and China.
The company, one of the largest grouper and lobster exporters in Indonesia, realized that sustainable practice was the key to maintain its business, while maintaining the fish population in their fishing zones at a normal level, despite overfishing and destructive fishing in many areas of Indonesia.
Heru Purnomo, the company’s owner, shared with Bali Daily that the company had been applying environmentally friendly ways to catch fish since it was established in 1998.
At that time, we still had very limited knowledge about the issue, and we keep learning until now, but one thing that we believe is that our business fully depends on nature. If we don’t catch fish in a sustainable way, it would not be good in the long run.
Since last month, the company has officially joined a program called Seafood Savers initiated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia.
The establishment of Seafood Savers aims to promote a sustainable fishery industry by ensuring that seafood is produced, caught, processed and distributed sustainably throughout the supply chain, from the sea to the plate.
We share a similar mission to promote sustainable fishing practices, and we want to cooperate and learn from each other, Heru said about the company’s interest in joining the program. Margareth Meutia, WWF senior officer for the program, said Pulau Mas was one of few companies that had committed to adopt international standards for the live reef fish trade to improve the quality of its product.
Through this program, we want to appreciate companies that have been consistently practicing their fishery businesses in a sustainable way amid tight competition in the business, she added. Growing market demand for consumption has threatened the population of reef fish species and the entire marine ecosystem in the Coral Triangle area, experts said. Trade of live reef fish sourced from the marine nursery area is one of the most lucrative seafood industries in the Asia Pacific, but it is also one of the biggest threats to coastal and marine environment.
Overfishing and destructive fishing practices, such as the use of cyanide and explosives, are being driven by an increasing demand for seafood across the Asia Pacific. These practices are exacerbated by the lack of effective systems to sustainably manage the industry.
Up to 70 percent of reef fish in some places in the region are being taken from the ocean before they even have the opportunity to mature and reproduce, and this will have devastating effects on the ocean food chain in the long term.
Moreover, the negative impact of unmanaged trade on fish stocks is now apparent. There has been a move of fish catching area from the western part of Indonesia to the central part, and now to the east, due to decreasing fish stocks that force fishermen to look for new sources, Heru said.
This fact has driven Pulau Mas to adopt a regulation from Australia that determines the minimum size of fish allowed to be caught at 600 grams.
We have applied a regulation for fishermen. We don’t accept fish that are caught using explosives or cyanide. And we don’t accept fish weighing less than 600 grams, he said, adding that the fish should be wild catch, not raised in a hatchery.
He said the minimum size had been set to allow the fish to mature and reproduce. The company’s fishermen catch fish from waters off East Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara and Papua.With the population of life reef fish under threat, Heru expects the government to make a specific regulation on live reef fish trade to ensure sustainability. A fishermen’s group in Nusa Lembongan, Celagi Buana Putra, was also aware that destructive fishing would have a negative impact.
They believed that catching fish in a sustainable way would be good for the environment and for themselves. We rely on fishery and marine tourism for our livelihood here, so we should protect this area, said Made Suriada, head of the fishermen’s group.
PT. Bina Media Tenggara © 2012