N. Sulawesi to tap natural resources to raise incomes

Jongker Rumteh, The Jakarta Post, Manado

The North Sulawesi provincial administration is striving to tap the region's natural resources to diversify its revenue base.

To realize its goals, the administration has embarked on various initiatives, including its decision to host the World Ocean Conference in the North Sulawesi capital of Manado in 2009.

"I want support from all sides for the conference as it will not only promote North Sulawesi to other regions throughout Indonesia, but also to the world," North Sulawesi Governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang said.

"I'm pretty sure the conference's success will be followed not only by higher exports from the province, but also increasing numbers of tourists," he said.

Sarundajang's optimism is based on the assumption that the international conference will be attended by between 2,500 and 3,000 participants, including heads of government from various countries, scientists, investors, NGO representatives and journalists.

The participants will discuss current international maritime issues, and the use of marine resources to promote the welfare of all human beings.

The governor said he had discussed the plan with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and a number of Cabinet ministers in 2006. Further, he had also visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York to secure support and sponsors.

Sarundajang said he hoped the central government would fund a number of projects to support the holding of the conference, such as the expansion of Sam Ratulangi airport, the widening of some major roads, and the construction of conference venues. He also urged investors to build more hotels in Manado to accommodate the expected large number of visitors.

"I want Indonesia to become a center of marine research. I expect that by holding the conference, marine tourism in North Sulawesi, and all over Indonesia, will grow significantly," Sarundajang said.

He said that besides the conference, the provincial administration was also promoting a number of other sectors to help promote public welfare.

"We have tried, for example, to eliminate poverty around the province by implementing programs in a number of sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries and tourism," Sarundajang said.

The administration has also successfully encouraged people to plant corn on more than 80,000 hectares of fallow land. At least 16,000 people have participated in the corn-planting drive over the last two planting seasons.

It has also promoted seaweed cultivation on over 400 hectares of coastal land in projects that now employ about 4,000 workers, the processing of virgin coconut oil (VCO) involving 100 farmers' groups that now produce 40 tons of VCO every six months, and the cultivation of castor plants on more than 3,000 hectares to produce castor oil as an alternative fuel.

The North Sulawesi administration has also provided low-interest loans to develop micro industry.

In the education sector, the administration has provided scholarships and extra allowances for part-time teachers.

Provincial data shows that economic growth came in at 4.9 percent in 2005 and 5.87 percent in 2006, and is expected to hit up to 6.30 percent this year.

The number of tourists also increase from 19,940 in 2005 to 22,328 persons in 2006, according to the figures.

The governor said that he would continue trying to improve the business climate, and provide both fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to attract investors.

Sarundajang also criticized the many local administrations that depended heavily on the central government for funding.

He also said that central and local government needed to establish good cooperation so as to help improve people's living conditions.

High tide floods coastal subdistrict

JAKARTA (Jakarta Post): The combination of a high tide and high rainfall Sunday inundated hundreds of houses in Penjaringan subdistrict, North Jakarta.

Subdistrict head Budi Santoso said his staff had prepared two inflatable boats for possible evacuation, and established a coordinating center with a communal kitchen in the subdistrict offices.

"We estimate that our area will continue to be flooded until Monday," he was quoted as saying by the Tempointeraktif news portal.

Jakarta officials warned last week that high tides in December threatened to flood coastal areas in the city, following an alert from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The head of the Jakarta Crisis Center, Heru Joko Santoso, said officials were warning that Penjaringan and Pluit subdistricts in North Jakarta would be threatened by high tides between Dec. 8 and 12, and Dec. 20 and 25. -- JP

RI seafarers to get new biometric IDs

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian seamen have hailed the government's ratification of an International Labor Organization convention allowing them shore leave, transit and transfer in transit privileges at destination seaports.

The chairman of Indonesian Seafarers Association (KPI), Hanafi Rustandi, said that by ratifying the 2003 Convention 185 on Seafarers Identity Documents (SIDs), the government would need to issue new biometric SIDs for more than 35,000 Indonesian seafarers working on vessels flying both Indonesian and foreign flags.

The convention requires all ILO member countries to recognize the seafarers' SIDs and let them enter their territories for short shore leaves without visas.

"Certain countries, particularly the United States and Britain, will have no reason to reject our seafarers from stopping over or entering their territories," Hanafi told The Jakarta Post when asked to comment Friday on the ratification.

He said Indonesia moved quickly to ratify the ILO convention, which took effect on Feb. 9, 2005, because the U.S. and Britain had rejected Indonesian seamen entry following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington D.C.

"So far, Indonesia is still on the list of 25 countries considered prone to terrorism, which has affected our seamen," he said.

The House of Representatives endorsed the bill on the convention's ratification in a plenary meeting Friday to protect Indonesian seafarers overseas.

Chairwoman of the House's Commission IX for labor and health issues said the ratification not only showed Indonesia's commitment to implementing international labor standards, but also encouraged job seekers to work with shipping companies to reduce unemployment and improve the country's income through remittances from seafarers.

Related to the convention, the ILO approved in March 2004 a biometric verification system that provides a more rigorous response to the need for increased security in the maritime industry.

The new identity document for seafarers allows for the use of a biometric template to turn two fingerprints of a seafarer into an internationally standardized 2-D bar code on the SID.

Transportation Minister Jusman Safii Djamal praised the quick deliberation and ratification of the ILO convention to protect Indonesian workers working in international waters.

"Allowing seafarers to have shore leave at seaports means they can go to hospitals for medical treatment, mail letters to their families back home and report on any piracy and smuggling activities to the authorities," he told the plenary session.

"Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno and I will soon meet to coordinate the issuance of SIDs for all Indonesian seafarers."

RI to bring up marine resources` carbon-absorbing capacity at UNFCCC

Nusa Dua (ANTARA News) - Marine resources are believed to have a potential carbon-absorbing capacity many times the capacity of forests and therefore the Indonesian delegation to the United Nations climate change conference here will draw the conference`s attention to the matter so that it can be taken up in discussions on efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

"The sea has a carbon-absorbing capacity many times the capacity of forests. With the amount of biomass phytoplankton on earth reaching only 0.05 percent compared to all plants on land, the sea has the same carbon-absorbing capacity as forests," Jana T Anggadiredja, chairman of the climate change conference`s Working Group on Technology Transfer, who is also a member of the Indonesian delegation, said here on Saturday.

Marine resources such as algae, coral reefs and mangrove trees need nutrition in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) to grow, he said.

Actually, the Indonesian delegation had already discussed the matter with at least 12 other countries taking part in the 12-day conference and would try to get it included in the agenda of the Conference of Parties (CoP), he said.

The countries to initiate the inclusion of the issue in the agenda of the CoP to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) included Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, China, India, Australia and New Zealand.

He said marine resource scientists were in the middle of preparing a methodology for calculating the capacity of marine resources to absorb carbon.

"In our rough scheme, global forests have a capacity of absorbing 5 billion tons of carbon and marine resources at least 6 billion tons of carbon per year. Meanwhile, fossil fuels emit up to 23 billion tons of carbon per year," he said.

Russian Submarine Order to be Reviewed

Thursday, 06 December, 2007 | 22:59 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Surabaya: Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff, Admiral Sumardjono, has said he would review the order of Treoguci submarines from Russia.

The reason for this, he said, was that the Navy was doubtful whether it could maintain the ships.

His institution instead planned to change the order to small ships with the same combat power as that of large ships.

“They will be produced domestically and we will order as many as we can,” said Admiral Sumardjono yesterday (5/12).

In the future, he said, his institution will rely more on domestic equipment procurement, from Batam, Surabaya and Manokwari.

According to Admiral Sumardjono, up until 2009 the Navy has planned its equipment procurement for airplanes and warships.

The equipment will include two Sigma Class ships from Netherlands and two Landing Platform Doc (LPD) ships to be built at the PT PAL Indonesia docks, Surabaya.

The Navy is targeting that by 2009 it will be able to add two Cassa airplanes plus between 8 and 10 patrol ships, 40 meters in length.

“Some LPD ships used to be built in Korea, but now they are built in our country,” said Admiral Sumardjono yesterday.

This measure, he said, is an effort heading to independence and technology transfer.

The Navy also aspires to empower the domestic industry.

On a separate occasion, TNI Commander candidate Gen. Djoko Santoso said that now TNI's power was inadequate to maintain the nation's security.

The ideal number of soldiers and which follows other countries is 0.4 percent of population.

“For Indonesia, this is still far from ideal,” he said.

Now TNI has 387,870 personnel, comprising 298,517 Army personnel, 60,963 Navy personnel and 28,390 Air Force personnel, plus 68,667 civil officers.

According to Djoko, ideally the TNI should have 880,000 personnel.

ADI MAWARDI | EKO ARI

Floods engulf three villages in Pamekasan

Pamekasan, Madura (ANTARA News) - Floods hit and inundated three villages, namely Galadek Anyar, Karteker and Kolpajung, in Pamekasan regency, Madura, East Java, on Friday night (Dec 7).

In many places the flood waters are chest deep, and even reached the roof of many homes at Jalan Amin Jakfar.

The first time hitting the three villages, the floods came suddenly and unexpectedly after a river embankment caved in Galadek Anyar village, reaching and inundating nearby homes.

"At least 50 homes were flooded," said Fauziyah (38), a resident at Jalan Amin Jakfar, Galadek Anyar village.

Many residents were crying in panic when seeing their homes almost disappearing from their sight engulfed by raging flood waters.

Residents were trying hard to block the flood waters, by anything they could lay their hands on, including wooden planks, mud and clay, but to no avail.

According to Fauziyah, on Friday night many residents took shelter at the local village office, but many stayed near their flooded homes watching out for looters.

Tempe lake suffers from severe sedimentation

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

Lake Tempe in South Sulawesi was once called the "fish bowl of Indonesia". Today, as a result of chronic sedimentation caused by erosion and water plants, fishing is drying up.

The sediment piles on at a rate of five centimeters per year, causing the lake to shrink away in the dry season and overflow in the wet season.

Three regencies border the lake -- Wajo, Soppeng and Sidenreng Rappang. Wajo, in particular, is at risk from seasonal floods which threaten thousands of private and public buildings.

Once the lake was 30,000 hectares in area and 10,000 meters deep. Now, Tempe is never larger than 10,000 hectares and shrinks to 1,000 hectares with a maximum depth of two meters in the dry season.

The Wajo regency administration and several environmental organizations say the lake may remain only a memory in future years.

Nine rivers flow into the lake and sedimentation is attributed to upstream erosion. The condition is worsened by household waste and the rampant growth of water hyacinth, called eceng gondok.

Wajo environmental agency head Andi Tenri Lengka explained the Eceng gondok speeds up sedimentation because dead plants accumulate under water instead of rotting. They choke the lake during rainy season and are still there when it dries out.

While eceng gondok is sometimes suitable for handicrafts, the Tempe variety is not, Lengka said.

Tempe's receding shoreline bodes ill for fish including bungo, biawang and bete-bete. A handful of other species are hanging on.

In the 1960s, Lengka said, the lake produced some 50,000 of fish per year, which helped feed the country's prison population. Today only about 10,000 tons are caught annually.

"We could catch a lot of fish easily (even) during the dry season, several years ago. Now, it is not easy to find them," said Wahid, a fisherman.

Most local fishermen have had to start farming when the lake dries up, sowing corn and soya beans on the lake bottom.

Lengka said he welcomed solutions to the environmental disaster from whatever quarter.

Wajo administration mitigation efforts include excavation of Cenrenae River and attempts to channel rainy season overflows into smaller lakes and rivers in the Tempe drainage.

Lengka said the administration needed Rp 43 billion (US$4.70 million) to implement its programs and hoped the province and central government would help.

Govt told to shift focus to maritime sectors

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Maritime experts have reminded the government of the pressing need to develop the country's long-neglected maritime sector.

The point was made at a discussion organized by the Indonesian Maritime Council and the Indonesian Press Council at an event commemorating the Juanda Declaration and Archipelago Day.

Council secretary Prof. Rizald Max Rompas said the under-appreciated sector could contribute as much as US$150 billion to Indonesia's income annually if developed properly.

Recalling the "Juanda spirit", he said Indonesia had "forgotten one of the richest resources that makes us stand out from the rest of the world.

"The sea makes up 75.3 percent of our country."

At present, he said, "Only one point of our (national) long-term development plan involves the maritime sector."

The Juanda Declaration, named after former Prime Minister Djuanda Kartawidjaja, was issued in 1957 on Dec. 13, which is each year celebrated as "Archipelago Day".

Indonesia was declared an "archipelagic state", with the ocean forming an inseparable part of the nation, which annuls the principle of a three-mile territorial sea.

The declaration was later incorporated into a key 1960 law significantly expanding Indonesian territory.

Concepts introduced in the declaration were reaffirmed by the third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982.

According to Bonar Simangunsong, council advisor, the National Maritime Convention held in Makassar, South Sulawesi, in 1996, also played a role in the development of Indonesia's maritime self-image.

"We saw Indonesia as no longer a country made of islands, but as a large area of water through which islands were scattered," Bonar said, referring to the event.

He also called for a shift in focus in national development strategy -- from land to sea.

However, in addition to the vast marine potential, Rompas pointed to certain risks.

He said the number of patrol ships assigned to monitor the safety of Indonesian seas was not sufficient to cover the country's vast marine territory.

"Every year we suffer a great loss from illegal fishing. The sea is also a favorite entry point for drugs and is used frequently by human traffickers," he said.

"We need to improve our maritime security."

Prof. Kanjeng Pangeran Tarnama Sinambela, a businessman turned educator, said education played an important role in the development of the maritime sector, which included fishing, tourism and trading.

"So I've established the Maritime Department at Mpu Tantular University to produce qualified human resources for the job," he explained. (lva)

Indonesia`s CP Prima to spend US$242 mln on shrimp production

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - The world's largest shrimp producer PT Central Proteinaprima (CP Prima) (JSX:CPRO) will spend up to US$242 million to boost the shrimp production of its two subsidiaries in Tulang Bawang, Lampung.

CP Prima's chief financial officer Gunawan Taslim said Tuesday that the company would set out on a program to revitalize PT Wachyubni Mandira and PT Aruna Wijaya Sakti, (formerly called PT Dipasena Citra Dharmaja.) CP Prima acquired Dipasena in May after the government announced that the aquaculture company could not pay its debt to the state.

High tides could flood Jakarta: Officials

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta officials on Tuesday warned that high tides in December threatened to flood coastal areas in the city, following an alert sent by the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The head of the city's crisis center, Heru Joko Santoso, said officials were warning that Penjaringan and Pluit subdistricts in North Jakarta would be threatened by high tides between Dec. 8 and 12, and Dec. 20 and 25.

"The tides could be worse than the last incident," he said.

Last Monday, battered sea barriers in the two North Jakarta districts were breached by an unusually high tide.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto said all the administration could do was provide an early warning "to alert residents about the high tide, and install a communal kitchen and health tent".

Heru said expected high rainfall levels in December would exacerbate the high tides, and floodwater could reach as far as the city-owned Laguna Pluit low-cost apartments and the office of the Pluit subdistrict administration.

He said the area around the Riverside apartments in Kapuk Muara subdistrict could also be affected.

Heru said tents would be set up around the Penjaringan subdistrict administration office and near Muara Karang bridge, to accommodate those forced from their homes.

He said the crisis center had warned Penjaringan residents about the possibility of flooding.

Meanwhile, heavy rain on Monday evening and Tuesday morning inundated hundreds of houses in Cawang subdistrict, East Jakarta, with floodwater reaching chest-level in some areas.

Another 1,500 houses in the Pondok Arum housing complex in Tangerang, Banten, were under 1.5 to 2 meters of water.

Flooding also affected Dr. Subki Abdulkadir Islamic Hospital in Bekasi, forcing it to close.

Heru said other parts of Jakarta, including Cawang, Kramat Jati and Jatinegara in East Jakarta, Cakung in North Jakarta and Pancoran in South Jakarta, were at risk of flooding because of heavy rain.

Governor Fauzi Bowo has met with the governor of neighboring Banten, Ratu Atut Chosiyah, to try and put together a plan on revitalizing water catchment areas along the border between the two provinces.

Study finds marine conservation cuts poverty

Stevie Emilia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Well-managed marine conservation can significantly help reduce poverty and enhance the quality of life for local communities, according to a new study.

The study, Nature's Investment Bank, which was released by The Nature Conservancy in Manado, North Sulawesi, on Thursday, was based on more than 1,100 interviews within poor communities in four countries, including Indonesia, from November 2006 to May this year.

In Indonesia, the study was conducted in North Sulawesi's Bunaken National Park, a popular diving destination in the province.

"This important study demonstrates that conservation and the well-being of humans are indelibly linked," said Stephanie Meeks, acting president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy.

"It's clear from this study that taking steps to protect vital natural systems, such as through the establishment of marine protected areas, provides clear benefits to people as well as wildlife."

Governments around the world are wrestling with questions about whether investment in conservation benefits the lives of the extremely poor.

This new study suggests that such investments do bring about measurable economic and quality of life benefits.

In the study, it was found that restoration of local resources, be they fisheries or coral reefs, increased fish catches and economic opportunities, improved community health as well as directly enhanced the lives of local residents.

Craig Leisher, who co-authored the study along with Dutch economist Dr. Peter van Beukering and Brazilian/Australian social scientist Dr. Lea M. Scherl, said when protected marine areas are developed with government support and scientific data, and are managed primarily by local communities that take pride in the management of their natural resources, significant improvements in quality of life can be seen.

"Building networks of resilient marine protected areas will help maintain the food and income necessary to support coastal communities as well as curb the use of destructive fishing techniques," he said.

Poverty has risen to the forefront of global issues, with nearly 3 billion people around the world living on the equivalent of US$2 a day or less, forcing millions to make decisions that damage their environment in order to feed themselves and their families.

When poverty increases, fish stocks are depleted. Fishermen are often driven to use destructive methods to catch what little is left, damaging the reefs and fish habitats that produce the food local communities depend upon for survival.

With every 5 percent loss of coral reefs, 250,000 to 500,000 tons of fish are lost as well, threatening food security for millions.

According to the study, tour operators in Bunaken National Park noted that tourists come for world-class diving and their presence directly benefits the local economy and tourism sector.

Marine conservation also directly benefits local farmers and fishermen because hotels and restaurants purchase much of their food from them.

In Bunaken National Park, the study found that marine conservation has benefited local communities, such as from the creation of more than 1,000 new jobs open to the local community, and by allowing those working in tourism to earn twice as much as fishermen. Moreover, 20 percent of park entrance fees are used for local community projects.

The study also found out that fishermen in Bunaken's marine protected area spent some 50 percent less time per year fishing than fishermen in areas without a marine protected area, while their income was roughly equal. This finding suggests in protected areas fishermen have more time to invest in other activities, such as the tourism industry.

The study, which was co-funded by the Nature Conservancy, Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Australian government, WWF-Indonesia and was completed in collaboration with local NGOs and universities in each of the four study sites, also found similar results in other areas researched.

Japan gives RI three boats to patrol Malacca Strait

The Jakarta Post,

Jakarta The Japanese government on Friday presented three patrol boats for use in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes -- the Malacca Strait -- to the Indonesian Water Police.

Japanese Ambassador Shin Ebihara said before signing the handing-over agreement at Tanjung Priok Port, North Jakarta, the patrol boats were meant especially to help Indonesia handle piracy, maritime terrorism and weapon smuggling in the strait.

He said 20 percent of the tens of thousands vessels passing through the Malacca Strait annually belonged to Japan. He expressed hope the the three boats could benefit both countries.

"I hope Indonesia can use the boats effectively to secure the Malacca Strait, so we can continue strengthening and developing our relationship," said Ebihara.

National Police chief Gen. Sutanto, who signed the agreement with Ebihara, said the new boats had a number of advantages over the Water Police's older vessels.

He said the boats, which could travel at speeds up to 32 knots, were made of high-quality steel and equipped with state-of-the-art communication and navigation technologies.

"We can monitor chased boats with these vessels," said Sutanto.

Sumidagawa Shipyard Co. Ltd., a Japan-based manufacturer of patrol boats, ferries and medium-class warships, completed the construction of the three boats in seven months.

Each of the three boats is 27 meters in length and can carry up to 12 personnel. They are named "Hayabusa", "Anis Madu" and "Taka".

"We will place these three boats in Tanjung Batu, Riau and Belawan, Medan (North Sumatra), in accordance to the agreement with the Japanese government," said Sutanto.

Sutanto said Japan's grant of the boats was a follow-up to its gift of 10 war boats in 1962.

The old vessels, he said, were still in use today.

Sutanto said the new patrol boats were needed to oversee Indonesia's territorial waters around the Malacca Strait, which are susceptible to crimes such as piracy, marine terrorism, natural resource plundering, illegal fishing, and weapons and human smuggling.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported pirate attacks in the strait dropped from 79 in 2005 to 50 in 2006. In 2004, the region accounted for 40 percent of piracy worldwide.

The IMB reported in October 2007 that Indonesia continued to be the world's most pirate-infested region, with 37 attacks since January 2007, although this number was an improvement over the same nine-month period a year earlier. The IMB said of the navies in the countries around the strait, Indonesia's was least equipped to combat piracy.

Pirate attacks, however, have not stopped the 50,000 ships that transit the narrow passage of the Malacca Strait annually. The sea-borne cargo that goes through the strait accounts for some 40 percent of the world's trade. The strait is the most important route for oil from the Middle East to East Asia. (wda)


(*) Pictue Above: JAPANESE GIFT: National Police chief Sutanto (third right) and Japanese Ambassador Shin Ebihara (second left) inspect one of three police patrol boats given to Indonesia by the Japanese government after a ceremony at Tanjung Priok sea port in North Jakarta on Friday. The boats will be used to patrol the Malacca Strait. JP/J. Adiguna

More than 400 Indonesians evacuated after ferries hit reef: official

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - More than 400 Indonesians were evacuated to safety from two ferries that plunged into a coral reef off Sulawesi island on Friday, a rescue official said.

"We have evacuated 420 passengers out of all 450 passengers aboard the two ferries which hit reefs this morning," said Roki Asikin, chief of Southeast Sulawesi's provincial rescue office.

"We are now transporting the remaining 30 passengers... There are no victims in this accident thanks to swift action from the rescue team," he told AFP.

One of the two ferries travelled off-course due to human error and the second followed in its wake several minutes later, Asikin said.

The Tagori and Super Jet provide a daily service from the South Sulawesi capital of Kendari to the port of Bau Bau.

They were travelling up to 25 nautical miles (29 kilometres) per hour when the accident occurred, he added.

A ferry sank last month off Bau Bau, which is around 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) northeast of Indonesia's capital Jakarta, killing 31 people and leaving about 30 missing.

Indonesia is an archipelago nation of some 17,480 islands where both sea and air links are crucial, but safety standards are notoriously lax.

High tides affect fish farmers

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Indramayu

Rising tides in Indramayu regency, West Java, have forced farmers to harvest their fish ponds earlier than expected to avoid huge losses.

Reports Thursday indicated farmers were forced to harvest hundreds of hectares of traditional fish farms early because they had been engulfed by seawater from high tides in the Java Sea.

"The farmers had to harvest early to avoid further losses," said leader of the Indramayu Fish Farmers Association (PPTI), Nono Sudarsono.

Nono said high tides had gradually inundated some 100 hectares of traditional fish farms from Nov. 27.

The majority of damaged ponds are located in the coastal areas of Kandanghaur and Indramayu regencies.

"Most of the damaged farms consisted of milk fish raised traditionally by farmers," he said.

He added the high tides had caused farmers to suffer hundreds of millions of rupiah in damages.

"They usually harvest fish into the third month of raising, but due to the floods, many farmers were forced to harvest earlier to prevent huge losses, even though they had only raised the fish from between one to two months."

Farmers can yield 1.5 tons of fish per hectare under normal conditions, but due to the premature harvest, they have only been able to harvest half the volume.

"They can only harvest around 800 kilograms of fish per hectare at most," Nono said.

An environmentalist from the Workers and Environment Foundation (YLBH), Yoyon Suharyono, has urged fish farmers to replant coastal areas with mangrove.

According to Yoyon, replanting coastal areas with mangrove trees is crucial, since mangrove forests act as barriers against high tides. He said pounding waves could easily reach land and damage residents' homes and fish farms due to the chronic condition of mangrove swamps.

"A mangrove forest can block waves and minimize the damage, but if it's damaged, seawater can easily reach the shore and cause extensive damage," he said.

Hundreds Indonesian fishermen detained in Darwin

The Jakarta Post

BRISBANE (Antara): As many as 201 Indonesian fishermen are being held in a detention center for their alleged involvement in illegal fishing in Australian waters, an Indonesian diplomat said Thursday.

Buchari Hasnil Bakar from the Indonesian Consulate in Darwin said his office received news Wednesday 129 fishermen were being held at a detention center in Darwin.

The number may now be higher with the arrival of a further 72 fishermen recently arrested by Australian police, Buchari said.

He said police had seized around 1.1 tons of sea cucumber (a protected species in Australia) along with fishing and diving gear they used to catch them.

Buchari said, last week Australian Customs Service had arrested another 118 Indonesia fishermen in 12 boats for illegal fishing in Australian waters.

On Nov. 21, police rescued 16 fishermen from eastern Indonesia after their boat sank in the Timor sea and then arrested them for illegally entering Australian waters. Their cases are currently being processed at the immigration office on Christmas island, West Australia.

26 Indonesian sailors feared dead: officials

Taipei (ANTARA News) - Twenty six Indonesian sailors are feared dead after their Panamanian freighter hit rough seas off Taiwan's north coast, officials said late Wednesday.

Television images showed coast guards plucking one surviving sailor from the sea, but transport ministry official Ho Wen-chih said he feared the others were dead.

"I'm afraid the other people are dead. After all, the chance of surviving (in) such bad weather for a whole day is really low," Ho told AFP.

Taiwan's coast guards launched a major sea and air search Tuesday after they received distress signals from the Mezzanine, Ho said.

The surviving sailor told rescuers the ship was submerged barely five minutes after tonnes of water gushed into the cabin of the ship, loaded with iron ore from Indonesia.

The survivor said he was on the ship's deck when the accident happened, allowing him time to throw himself to the sea.

"Given the emergency signals, the ship may have sunk," Jeffrey Tsao, another transport ministry official based in the northern Keelung Harbour, told AFP.

The accident happened as the ship was heading to the Chinese port of Tianjin.

The coast guards said the search for the missing sailors would not end before the 72-hour period in which they estimate people could survive is up.

RI lost 24 islands by disasters, environmental damage: minister

Gorontalo (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has so far lost 24 islands because of natural disasters and environmental damage, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said here on Thursday.

He said four islands disappeared when a massive tsunami devastated Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province on December 26, 2004, while 20 others in Riau province and in the Seribu island group in Jakarta Bay had also vanished because of unbridled exploitation and environmental damage.

Consequently, Freddy Numbery said, the total number of islands in Indonesia had declined from 17,504 to 17,480.

"Scientists have even predicted that Indonesia could lose at least 2,000 islands by 2030 if the government fails to anticipate it and take preventive measures," the minister said.

Therefore, the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry had recounted the islands in Indonesia and reported the result to the United Nations, Numberi said.

The minister said one of the ways to prevent more islands from disappearing was preserving their environments, especially their forests and seas.

VP gives port operators two years improve Tanjung Priok Port

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla gave the seaport operators in Indonesia two years improve and develop Jakarta`s Tanjung Priok port into one of the best in Southeast Asia.

Currently, Tanjung Priok port is comparable only to the port in Cambodia, by inferior to those in Singapore and Thailand, the vice president said when making an inspection of Tanjung Priok port on Wednesday.

In developing a sea port, there must be clear sectors, Kalla said, adding that the container sector, for instance, must be separated form the car export-import and cargo terminals

The vice president earlier dedicated the Jakarta Car Terminal whose activities include loading and unloading cars for exports, imports and for domestic needs.

The inaugural function was marked by the mooring of 172-meter MV Fuji Transworld Voyage 83 which unloaded 979 imported Toyota cars of different types from Thailand, Japan and Singapore.

After the unloading operation, 250 Toyota and Daihatsu cars were loaded onto the vessel for export to Thailand and Japan.

The vice president said, "if we think of car export-imports, there must be a special port to preserve the cars".

On the domestic need of cars, the vice president said it would be difficult to distribute cars to the regions in the country, if such a special port was not yet in place.

Pertaining to the smuggling of luxurious cars into the country, he said the cars managed to enter Indonesia in containers.

"Luxurious cars were always smuggled into the country in containers and it is to be dealt with by customs personnel, not the port authority," he said.

Global, regional warming to blame for Jakarta floods

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Jakarta's regular floods can be partially blamed on global and regional warming, a scientist has said.

"This will get worse in the years to come. It has been estimated that by 2050, 25 percent of Jakarta will be inundated," said Armi Susandi, a climate change expert at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) on Wednesday.

He added that poor city planning, bad zoning systems and a lack of infrastructure were contributing to the problem.

Armi has studied flooding in Jakarta since 2005. He received his Ph.D on climate change in 2004 from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

He said regional climate change such as has take place in Jakarta has the potential to increase local temperatures, "inviting" more rain.

"The city's severe pollution has created regional warming. This warming has moved the rain from Bogor in the south to Jakarta in the north," he said.

"We have managed to record and identify the pattern of the shifting rain -- how the rain keeps moving to Jakarta. The increase in the city's rainfall rate could reach up to 5 percent per year," he said.

Global warming has also increased the sea level north of Jakarta by 0.57 centimeters per year. The increasing sea level and the lack of a buffer zone due to the decreasing size of the mangrove forest that once covered the area would certainly aggravate the erosion of the beach and floods in the coastal areas of the city, he said.

He added that the fact that the city's land has sunk by 0.85 centimeters per year due to the pressure imposed by concrete buildings and skyscrappers as well as the massive exploitation of underground water springs hasn't helped the city in dealing with the worsening floods.

Armi said that currently 40 percent of the city already lies below sea level.

The government, he said, should construct a buffer zone in the coastal areas to prevent the sea's waves from entering the city. The buffer could be made of mangroves or a six-meter-tall concrete wall.

"When dealing with climate change-related problems, our country has a very low adaptation capacity. In fact, all we have to do is decide whether we will plant mangroves or construct a wall. Otherwise, we need to relocate the residents who live along the coastal areas," he said.

"In January 2008, the floods, I believe, will be worse than the ones we had in 2007 provided that the rainfall rate doesn't change," he said.

Police search for U.S. national

SURABAYA, East Java (Jakarta Post): East Java Police are still searching for John Bernard, a U.S. national allegedly involved in the trade of protected species of seashells.

East Java Police criminal division deputy chief Snr. Comr. Rusli Nasution said Tuesday he believed Bernard was still in Indonesia.

"The police are still investigating the case. It seems the suspect exported the seashells, which are worth billions of rupiah, from Situbondo to America," he said.

He added that the police previously had arrested a truck driver, identified only as SW, on the Gempol-Surabaya highway. Inside the truck, police found 480 boxes of shells. The truck was on its way to Tanjung Perak Port.

"SW shows us a document stating that the container was filled with handicrafts belonging to PT Niaga Segara Transindo. But when we opened the boxes in the container we found a large number of rare, protected seashells," he said.

Besides SW, the police have also detained three staff of PT Niaga Segara Transindo and declared them suspects in the case.

They have been identified as YT, IM and DN.

The suspects say that the U.S. national purchased the shells from fishermen in Situbondo. One container of shells cost Bernard Rp 500 million (approx. US$50,000) and could be sold for Rp 3 billion (US$300,000).

Rusli said the shells included the Yellow Helmet (Cossis cornuta), Melo Amphora (Melo corona amfora) and Perlized Nautilus (Nautilus pompilis). -- JP

City to fix flood system in response to tides, rains

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration says it will improve Jakarta's flood management system to tackle floods caused by rain, high tides and global warming.

"We will soon upgrade the existing flood management system making it suitable for our present environmental conditions," Governor Fauzi Bowo said Wednesday.

Fauzi said the administration had built embankments to deal with high tides but said they were only a short-term solution, as Jakarta's flood management system needed to be able to respond to global warming.

He said the administration would improve the dam system, which pumps water in the city out to sea or into canals throughout Jakarta.

"The Netherlands, for example, which has a lot of land beneath sea level, uses pumps to expel water back to sea which come on automatically if the sea level changes ... We haven't applied such a system yet," Fauzi said, as quoted by Antara.

A 2.2-meter-high tide submerged Pluit and Penjaringan subdistricts Monday, disrupting traffic and forcing residents to flee their homes in North Jakarta's coastal areas.

Fauzi said the city administration, through the Public Works Agency, would renovate several embankments in areas affected by the tides.

Previously, head of the Public Works Agency's water and coastal resources management unit, I Gde Nyoman Soewandhi, said the floods in North Jakarta were caused by the damaged Pluit and Muara Baru embankments which could not hold the high tide back.

Nyoman said Monday some 20 meters of the Pluit embankment was damaged due to the high tide. The Public Works Agency repaired the embankment using river stones reinforced with iron and sand sacks, but on Tuesday said other parts of the embankment had also burst.

According to Nyoman, the damage was related to the age of the construction -- almost 20 years.

In 2007, the administration allocated money from the budget to renovate and raise the Muara Angke embankment by 30 centimeters.

"We can't delay the construction. We must raise Pluit and Muara Baru embankments by next year, otherwise city dwellers living nearby will be in danger," he said.

The Central Jakarta administration is currently restoring river embankments to anticipate floods at the peak of the rainy season in December.

"The work is part of Fauzi Bowo's first-100-days agenda," Mayor Muhayat said.

The river embankments being restored are near Jl. Teuku Umar, Jl. Diponegoro (opposite Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital), Jl. Cikini Raya, Jl. RP Suroso and Jl. Cempaka Putih Indah, to name a few.

Some 10 areas prone to floods in the municipality are Matraman Dalam, Kali Pasir Kwitang, Kebon Kacang, Pejompongan, Jati Pinggir, Karang Anyarm, Mangga Dua, Gunung Sahari, Serdang and Cempaka Putih.

Muhayat also said his administration was currently preparing rubber dinghies, boats and life jackets to respond to floods. (tif)

High Waves to Peak on December 8

Wednesday, 28 November, 2007 | 13:03 WIB,

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Jakartans are asked to be on the alert as high waves are still a threat for the capital city’s northern coast.

The Indonesian Naval Hydrology and Oceanography Agency has estimated that high waves will reach a peak this December 8.

“These could be worse than the current ones,” said Major Saroso, Head of the Oceanography Section at the Hydrology and Oceanography Agency, yesterday (27/11).

According to Saroso, on December 8, the high waves will reach their highest point of the whole year.

The reason is the date coincides with the dark of the moon, when as usual, in the cycle of Qomariyah moon system, tides will rise.

In addition, the high tides will culminate because in early December, it is predicated that Jakarta will have rain.

Strong winds from south of the equator at speeds of 12 knots will also pull sea water towards the land.

“This will enlarge the water flow,” said Saroso.

During peak of high tides, according to Suroso, the height of waves may reach 2.2 meters.

High tides reaching 1.2 meters have hit the Jakarta coast since last week.

The high tides breached the sea water dike in Muara Baru, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Monday evening (26/11).

In a short period of time, sea water flooded almost the entire north and west parts of Jakarta.

So that sea water flooding does not happen again, next year Jakarta Provincial Government will build a dike of one kilometer long in Muara Baru.

“We propose a budget of Rp15 billion,” said Public Works Service Head, Wisnu Subagyo.

FERY FIRMANSYAH | RUDY PRASETYO | SUTARTO | AYU CIPTA

Navy nabs vessel carrying logs to Malaysia illegally

Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - Personnel from the Indonesian naval base at Tarakan intercepted a motor vessel named `Uru Cina` which was carrying 30 cubic meters of logs to Tawao, Malaysia illegally, spokesman of the Navy`s Eastern Fleet Command, Lt Col Toni Syaiful, said here on Wednesday.

He said the vessel was stopped and detained in Batu Putih waters, Berau district, East Kalimantan, because its skipper failed to produce the required documents.

The boat`s skipper, Irwan, could not show the required permit to sail and bill of lading for 150 logs his boat was transporting to Tawao, Toni said.

CP Prima inks deal with local shrimp farmers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Central Proteinaprima (CP Prima), a member of Neptune consortium that manages Asia's top aquaculture company -- PT Dipasena Citra Darmaja, has signed a key agreement with local shrimp farmers.

CP Prima, the world's top integrated shrimp producer and Indonesia's market leader in shrimp fry, shrimp feed and fish feed production, signed Friday the partnership agreement with the farmers, who are grouped under PT Wachyuni Mandira (WM) in an arrangement called a "core-plasma" scheme.

This means WM acts as a nucleus for making loans, training and supervising the farmers and they in turn sell their produce to the company.

The agreement also establishes standard operating procedures for profitable, sustainable shrimp farming, according to a media statement.

"After two months of intense discussion we have come to an agreement on the substance. This will of course provide business certainty that benefits both parties," said Rizal Shahab, CP Prima's corporate communication director, in the statement.

He did not elaborate on the substance of the agreement.

The farmers will now work on some 20,000 hectares of dedicated land with some 3,220 shrimp ponds.

CP Prima is currently also in the process of securing the license to develop another 30,000 hectares of land, according to Rizal.

Herwindo, chairman of the Indonesian Fishery Entrepreneurs Association, welcomed the deal, saying this would benefit all stakeholders involved, including the government.

He also thinks the other, smaller companies in the industry may be able to apply the partnership model developed by CP Prima.

CP Prima's operations extend to frozen shrimp, probiotics, poultry feed and poultry day-old-chick (DOC) farming.

Company-wide, CP Prima now has 50,000 hectares active in shrimp farming and provides over 38,000 jobs, including for 12,500 full-time workers.

RI urges CCSBT members to lift embargo on its tuna exports

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has urged Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) member countries to lift their embargo on Indonesian tuna exports.

Indonesia made the request during the 14th CCBST meeting held in Canberra recently, the head of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry`s Statistical Data and Information Center, Saut Hutagalung, said here Thursday.

The commission had clamped trade restrictions on Indonesia and deprived it of chances to export its tuna to CCSBT member countries, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, he said.

"At the Canberra meeting the Indonesian delegation conveyed its views that the time had come to lift the trade restrictions," he said.

The Indonesian delegation also took the opportunity to explain the latest developments in coordination and consultation meetings among government agencies, including their meeting with stakeholders in October 2007, he said.

When it came to tuna catch monitoring which became a contentious issue at the meeting, Indonesia was open to cooperate with CCSBT members, he said.

Citing an example, he said Indonesia had established cooperation with Australia, Japan and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).

Sympathy for endangered species on the rise in Bali

Alit Kertaraharja, The Jakarta Post, Singaraja

Balinese people's awareness of the importance of protecting endangered animals is on the rise, as indicated by the release of newly hatched baby turtles into the sea by fishermen in Seririt, Buleleng, on Tuesday.

The fishermen set free 15 of 85 baby turtles, which belong to an endangered species protected under Law No. 5/1990 and a 1999 government regulation.

Local fishermen also released nine adult turtles into the sea earlier in the year. "This ceremony was the first to be conducted by the fishermen. But their awareness of the importance of protecting endangered animals has been improving since the release of the nine adult turtles earlier this year," Sulanyah village head Gede Sutarma said during the release of the 15 baby turtles.

The turtle release was witnessed by Seririt district head IGN Wiarsana, the head of the Bali Natural Resources Office, Putu Citra S.A., and the founder of the Pemuteran turtle project, Christ Brown.

Sulanyah beach has long been known as a favorite site for turtles to lay eggs. Local people often find eggs scattered across the sand. Many of the eggs are eaten by dogs or simply collected by residents for consumption.

"Basically they didn't know how to care for the eggs until they hatched, until now," Sutarma said.

About two months ago, local people found an adult turtle that was ready to lay eggs. Unsure what to do, they contacted Brown, who has been developing the Pemuteran turtle project in Gerokgak district.

Following Brown's suggestion, the local people collectively tended and protected the turtle until it finally laid 350 eggs.

On Nov. 17, 85 of the eggs hatched and 15 of them, which were strong enough to survive, were released into the sea.

The rest of them are being raised in the Pemuteran project's nursery until they are of sufficient size to be released.

About 250 eggs are being kept on the nearby beach. "We are waiting to see whether they are going to hatch," said Sutarma, who acted as the coordinator of the baby turtle release.

Bali has been in the spotlight over the last few years as it is considered to be a location where turtles are butchered for their meat. Protests have come from many parts of the world with urgent calls to the government to end the slaughter.

Their protest is understandable as the endangered turtles, which can be found in all oceans throughout the world, belong to the global community. The turtles frequently emigrate long distances in a relatively short period of time. They can travel 3,000 kilometers in 58 to 73 days, according to experts' observation.

Turtles have various cycles to lay eggs from once in two years, to once in eight. Turtles that once laid eggs on Indonesian beaches can frequently be found around Hawaii.

While male turtles spend most of their time at sea, the female ones go to the beaches when they are about to lay eggs. On the sandy beaches, the female turtles lay eggs and bury them in a hole. Out of hundreds of eggs laid by a female turtle, only dozens reach the sea.

West Sumatra to export frozen fish to US

Padang, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) - an Indonesian fish processing industry PT Denpo Andalas Samudera (DAS) in West Sumatra will start exporting frozen fish to the United States as of December 2007.

"In the initial export, we will ship 10 tons of frozen fish to the US," President Director of PT DAS Subakti Kurnia said here on Thursday.

West Sumatra will export tuna, grouper, and sea perch in 20 containers which will be shipped to the United States through Teluk Bayur Harbor, West Sumatra Province, he said.

Australian Navy rescues 16 from sinking boat off northwest coast

The Jakarta Pos

CANBERRA (AP): Australia's navy rescued 16 people, 10 of them children, from a boat sinking in rough water off the northwest coast, the defense department said Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear whether they were trying to seek asylum in Australia, or where they were from. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the three men, three women and 10 children had set off in wooden boat from Indonesia's Rote Island.

Two navy patrol boats were diverted to assist the 10-meter-long vessel after workers on an offshore mining rig saw it taking on water Tuesday, a defense department statement said. Naval officers rushed to the scene and pulled all 16 passengers from the overcrowded boat as it sank in rough seas.

Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said immigration officials were working to determine the identities and nationalities of those rescued.

Many asylum seekers set off from Indonesia in rickety boats bound for Australia.

In February, the Australian navy intercepted a boatload of 83 Sri Lankans, the largest group of asylum seekers to try and reach Australia since 2001, when the Norwegian vessel Tampa rescued 433 mostly Afghan asylum seekers from a sinking Indonesian ferry and attempted to take them to Australia.

Prime Minister John Howard refused to allow the ship to dock on Australian soil, and eventually adopted a hardline policy of refusing to allow asylum-seekers to reach the Australian mainland by boat.

Fishermen hamper mangrove reforestation efforts

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Efforts to revitalize Jakarta's dwindling mangrove forests in Muara Angke have been hampered by local fishermen farming shrimp and fishing in the designated conservation area, a ranger from the Forestry Ministry told The Jakarta Post last week.

Angke Kapuk mangrove reserve ranger Resijati Wasito said fish farmers had cleared approximately 80 percent of the 100 hectare wetlands.

The reforestation program has been hindered by fishermen rearing milk fish and shrimp and removing mangrove trees and their roots, he said.

"It's hard to deal with the illegal fishermen. We've asked them to leave, because this conservation area belongs to the Forestry Ministry, but they keep returning.

"They damaged seedlings we planted, and even threatened us with machetes to try to stop us planting more trees," Resijati said.

He said there were currently some 30 fishermen and their families living in shanties in the Angke Kapuk reserve, even though the land was acquired by the ministry in 1988.

Resijati told the Post the government also gave compensation to fishermen who left the area, but those efforts appeared to be fruitless.

"We continue to ask them to leave because we have no authority to expel them. We've also asked for military personnel to protect new trees," he said.

The reserve has changed substantially with the fish farming. Where once stood a shady forest of mangrove trees, now there are only milk fish ponds.

In 2002 the Forestry Ministry and the reserve developer, PT Murindra Karya Lestari, planted some 50,000 mangrove seedlings, but most of them were uprooted by fishermen, leaving only around 100, Resijati said.

Since 2004 some 14,000 mangrove seedlings have been planted with better supervision. Around 10,000 can now be seen near the ponds.

Resijati said left undisturbed it would take seedlings nearly 10 years to grow into a forest.

Kapuk Angke natural reserve, together with the nearby Muara Angke wildlife reserve and protected forest, are the only remaining mangrove forest sites in Jakarta, whose coastline stretches some 32 kilometers from east to west. The three reserve sites total some 170 hectares.

Most of Jakarta's mangrove forests have been cleared not only for fish farming, but also for building developments, which have an even greater environmental impact, Resijati said.

He said mangrove forest wetlands play a crucial role in slowing the abrasion of beaches, protecting the city from big ocean waves and flooding, and serve as a nursery for marine life and a feeding grounds for a large number of animals.

The forests, he said, also function as green belts, protecting groundwater in nearby areas from salination. (wda)

Thousands of fish die in Kuta

The Jakarta Post

KUTA, Bali (Antara): Thousands of dead fish washed up on Kuta beach in Bali on Tuesday.

Antara reported tourists who had been planning to swim off the beach were forced to cancel plans.

Authorities suspect the fish died at least two days ago before washing up on the beach on Tuesday.

Badung administration spokesman Eka Merthawan said laboratory tests would be conducted to determine the cause of the deaths.