Background
Indonesia entered into a series of countries that have the best quality of coral reefs in the world. Countries with a very supportive climate for the development and growth of corals. Coral reefs are typical of tropical ecosystems and is one of the coastal ecosystems that have a very high ecological and economic value. Coral reefs are also habitat for thousands and even millions of types of marine life. They make use of coral reefs as a place for breeding and foraging. So it can be said that coral reefs are one source of biodiversity.
But currently, Indonesia experienced a critical time, where the damage to coral reefs continue to increase throughout the year. According to data presented by the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) in 2011 showed that 30.76% of Indonesia's coral reefs have unfavorable condition or damaged. The data collected from 1,076 observation stations scattered throughout the territory of Indonesia.
The Head of Research Center of Oceanography LIPI, Zainal Arifin, said the damage to coral reefs continue to increase every year because of the behavior of fishermen in catching fish. The fishermen are still using techniques that are not environmentally friendly, such as traps, lampara basis, kelong, gillnet, poisons and bombs. The ways of destroying the reefs. Now only 5% of coral reefs in Indonesia are classified as in very good condition.
The damage of coral reefs will have a negative impact on marine life and reduced levels of marine productivity. However, this has not been fully realized by all fishermen in Indonesia. Traditional fishermen do not understand the purpose of the system catching marine products that are environmentally friendly. They are really do not understand the direct impact on their life if the coral reefs damaged. It is hard to imagine if the catch of the fishermen decreasing and Indonesia as an archipelago, but has to import fish to fulfill protein needs of society.
Case example:
This is my personal experience when I saw firsthand the life of the fishermen in the islands of Sangihe regency, North Sulawesi. Fishing life there is very dependent on fish catches. Several times there the fish catches of fishermen were gained a lot. Then, the fish were sold to traditional markets, consumed in private, but the fish still so much left. The fishermen community have no creativity in processing the fish after catching. They only processing the rest of the fish catches into salted fish for food supplies. In fact, the fish could be processed into fish products with high economic value.
This happens because the lives of the fishermen are isolated in the islands that far from the reach of government and the activities of modern markets. It is difficult to sell their catch in large amounts, and they do not have the ability to process the catch of the fish into products that are durable and economically valuable. Moreover, often happens an illegal fishing carried out by fishing vessels from the Philippines. The same thing may also happen in other islands in western, central, and eastern Indonesia. Therefore, overall handling is needed to maximize the production of marine products in Indonesia.
Solution:
Departing from national concerns about damage to coral reefs and some of the things described above, I am thinking to propose a national management in Indonesia that can improve the lives of coastal communities, especially fishermen, and reduce the damage to coral reefs from fishing activities ie, doing fish production management in Indonesia based on environmental friendly. I think why not, if the fishermen in Indonesia become the civil servant in the fisheries industries. I made ​​a plan where the government of Indonesia would set up a fish factory in various regions in Indonesia. The investors of the factory must be Indonesian citizens. This is solely to improve the economy of Indonesia.
The fishermen will be permanent workers, but with different task. The fishermen will be divided into three sections based on their duties:
1)Fishermen: assigned to catch fish in the sea using modern fishing boats facilitated by the government.
2)Factory workers: assigned to wrap the fish catches to be marketed, and processing fish into fish derivative products.
3)Marine police: assigned to monitoring the coral reefs, the underwater national park, and monitoring the illegal fishing.
The three tasks based on Indonesian territory which is the vast archipelago. Therefore, it requires good management and professional human resources in managing the Indonesian marine products. If this materialized, the benefits are:
1.Indonesian coral damage levels which largely due to the fishing activity will decrease.
2.The life quality and economy of the fishermen will improve.
3.The national fish production well-organized.
4.Reducing the number of illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.
5. Â Â Â Improving Indonesia's economy.