Travel Destination » Sulawesi Fishing

FISHING ON THE NORTHERN COAST OF SULAWESI – Indonesia
Huge illegal fishing nets on the northern coast of Sulawesi pose a terrible threat to marine life, including protected species and large pelagics

Steve Morris and his wife took their two teenage children to Manado in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, hoping to show them the fabled pelagic life at Bunaken Island Reef. But Morris says they found the diving “pretty ordinary by Asian standards. I began to wonder where all the dive magazines got their incredible photos and stories from.” Local resort owners, dive operators and fishermen confirmed that there had been a serious decline in the number of large pelagics around Sulawesi. Then a recreational diver on holiday at the same hotel told Morris a story which he says he will never forget — but which helped explain the current situation.

Early in May, this hotel guest, Robin Marinos had been out snorkelling with friends in the Lembeh Straits. They came across huge nets laid just a few metres from the TangkokoBatuangus-Dua Saudara Nature Reserve — right across the migratory pathway of cetaceans and pelagics. The nets were filled with these sea creatures. According to an employee work-,rig on the nets, between March 1996 — when the nets were set 0own — and February this year, :he total catch had included 1424 manta rays, 577 pilot bales, 789 marlin, 326 sharks, 257 dolphins, 84 turtles, 18 whales and 9 dugong. Thou-sands of smaller fish had also been caught in the nets. As Morris points out, the extent of the 10-month catch was easily enough to explain at least part of the pelagic decline in the straits. “During the four years I’ve been diving in Southeast

Asia, I’ve only seen six giant mantas — to hear of nearly 1500 being caught within 10 months left me in shock!” The nets at Tangkoko were laid about 3km apart, 20-30m from the shore of the Tangkoko Nature Reserve. They extended approximately 400m towards the drop-off, and formed a “wall of death” from the surface down to the ocean floor. Draw nets were carefully laid out to form a maze leading to the final trap a floor net of 1cm sq nylon mesh, about 50-60m wide, 3035m deep, and suspended from floats. To trap the marine animals, a boat was used in conjunction with the nets. The boat entered the maze of nets and chased the fish to the final trap.

The Tangkoko trap nets were not the first evidence of the wholesale slaughter of Sulawesi’s coastal marine life. In April, near Gorontalo — a few hundred kilometres down the Sulawesi coast — a European marine photographer stumbled across a similar huge construction of holding pens and trap nets, which were attached to a superstructure of walkways and offices. The main office was fully equipped with the latest high-tech communications systems, all linked to a satellite dish on the roof. Also stored in the office were cyanide gas bottles and assorted accompanying fishing equipment.

Both the Gorontalo and Tangkoko nets were part of larger operations which include fleets of sophisticated foreign-owned ships, (some co-owned by Indonesian companies) who are bypassing export regulations in order to ship their

Manta rays and other large pelagics are now rarely seen off the coast of Sulawesi — dive operators and fishermen fear the loss of these animals will mean economic disaster for the area catches. Other partly foreign-owned fleets sneak into Indonesian waters at night flying Indonesian flags to escape and catch up to 10 times allotted quota. The catch is offloaded to smaller boats, ship them out of local wayers before dawn. Many of these operations also utilize dynamite skiing and cyanide bomb techniques.

The slaughter is hitting both Kcal fishermen and the tourist. Many fishermen have already reported reduced catches, a threat to their livelihood. The decline in pelagic and s-alley fish life is obvious to covers and operators in the area tour guides report that no whale sharks have been seen over a year.

Whales, dolphins, turtles and dugong are declared protected species under the CITES Agreement. Warry of the animals caught in the trap net are also on the red list of international Union for the conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). They are also covered by the 1995 UN conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. The Indonesian government co-sponsored the conference and agreed to all 11 of the articles which were implemented at the conference.

The government appears unaware of the extent of the problem, but groups such as SEA (South East Asia) Reef Relief formed by Morris and the Lembeh Strait Preservation Society are taking action. They have contacted international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Friends of the Earth, who promised to bring up the issue at the CITES conference in June. SEA Reef Relief showed Marinos’ film of the slaughter of a whaleshark at ADEC 97, a regional dive show, plus an exhibition of photographs.

On May 15, it was confirmed that the Tangkoko trap nets had finally been removed. Official reports stated that they had been “destroyed by local fishermen”. But there are rumours that local activists have begun to take matters into their own hands while local officials turn a blind eye. The nets were private property, and the Indonesian judiciary is investigating whether a criminal offence was committed by those who destroyed them.
But there’s a twist: if a criminal act was committed against the owners of the nets, the judiciary will then have to decide whether the nets were legally placed when they were set down. While the legal battles go on, destruction of the Tangkokc, nets marks only the first success in the battle to prevent further slaughter of Sulawesi’s marine life. Many other trap nets are still believed to exist in the seas around Indonesia.