5.2 State of Destructive Fishing
The state of destructive fishing in the studied island is examined from the history of its initiation, and its situation that observed during field work in 2004
and 2005. Furthermore, taking coral is considered also as destructive practice.
History of Destructive Fishing
Blast fishing in the provinces of South and Southeast Sulawesi was introduced by the Japanese troops during the war. They involved local resident to
dive in order to collect fishes. Subsequent to Japanese occupation, they left behind abundant bombs, which were believed to be stored in Southeast
Sulawesi, Papua and Maluku. During the 1960s and 1970s, blast fishermen still used the left-over bombs, but since 1980s they used materials from fertilizers.
In Taka Bonerate, the proliferation of destructive fishing has mostly conducted by external fishers originating from, among others, Buton, Bau-bau,
Kendari and Masuduk part of Southeast Sulawesi province, Takalar, Sinjai, Kayuadi, Kayupanda, Bulukumba, Selayar MCS 2002b, 2003a.
As early as the early 1960s, outside fishers were accessing Taka Bonerate, especially residents of Sinjai, Butonese from Southeast Sulawesi, Palue people
from Flores, and the Balinese. The Butonese and Palue people from Flores, and the Balinese. The Butonese, Palue people, and the Balinese exploited most all
resources, including many protected species, such as green turtles, giant clams, and black corals. Fishers from Sinjai, Madura and Palue are noted for their
destructive fishing and lack of respect for traditional fishing management practices Alder and Christanty 1998.
In the mid to late 1970s, owners of large commercial live fish industries from Makassar commenced operations in the area. Since 1985, fishers from
other areas such as Flores have increased. Taka Bonerate has been hard hit by the live fish trade seeking popular restaurant fish, and the use of poison fishing
have been started ibid. These traders have a contractual relationship with the buyers abroad i.e. Singapore, Hong Kong, etc, therefore would do anything to
achieve their targets. An observation that made in 1989 shows that the use of explosive and
muroami to catch reef fishes are frequently practiced by non-resident fishermen, who come to Taka Bonerate just to fish Soekarno 1989. Residents have
responded to the pressure on their livelihood from outside fishers by taking up
some high-yielding but destructive practices Alder and Christanty 1998. In Spermonde Archipelago, poison fishing was introduced by divers from Taiwan
and Hong Kong fishing vessels around 1985 Halim 2002.
Destructive Fishing 2004
Each island situated in Taka Bonerate MNP is not free from destructive fishing activities. There is always at least some number of resident fishers who
conduct destructive fishing. Rajuni Besar has the slightest community members who conduct destructive fishing, if compared with Rajuni Kecil and Tarupa. In
Rajuni Kecil, a small number of fishermen conduct poison fishing and other groups conduct blast fishing. Nevertheless, destructive fishing activities in these
islands are limited, compared with Tarupa where such activities are proliferated, and believed that nearly half of the population is using poison or explosives.
In Barrang Caddi, half of fishermen are using poison fishing. The rest is using hook and line, gill net, and bottom trap. On the other hand, there was no
resident fishermen using blast and poison fishing in Kapoposang, or even when it exists the number is trivial.
Barrang Caddi: divergent resource use patterns
Fishermen in Barrang Caddi is divided into two big groups; one conduct poison fishing and collect live reef fish, and another use hook and line to catch Skipjack tuna
and live reef fish. The rest of fishermen uses gill net and fish bottom trap. The popularity to catch Skipjack tuna and coral grouper in the island have been started
since 1990. Fishermen prefer to catch exported fishes, such as coral grouper and Skipjack tuna, therefore it is sometimes difficult to find consumption fish in the island.
They rather selling the exported fishes than eating them, because of its high price. Fishes consumed daily by the community occasionally bought from Makassar city.
Fishermen using poison is distinguished by the routine of their fishing activities, which is different from fishermen using hook and line or other fishing gears.
Fishermen normally leave for fishing early in the morning and come back in the afternoon or evening. The former usually reach the island on 3 to 4 p.m., while hook
and line fishermen only arrive around 6 to 7 p.m.
Fishing grounds of poison fishermen of Barrang Caddi are located in the marine area of Kapoposang TMP and the Bilango reef. These fishing grounds are well known to
have wealthy and abundant reefs in Spermonde Archipelago. Fishing grounds of hook and line fishermen in catching Skipjack tuna is in the marine area of Lumu-
lumu and Langkai islands, as well as in the marine area of the Sarappo island to catch coral grouper.
From July to March, many hook and line fishermen migrate and fish in the marine area of Nusa Tenggara, a group of islands on the eastern of Bali. The fish harvested
in this area is abundant, even only using hook and line gears. Dufing on fishing period that lasts for 3 months, a fisherman can earn Rp 10 to 20 millions. Moreover,
punggawa often encourage fishermen to go fish to the coastal area of Kalimantan. Fishermen also fish in the East Kalimantan and the Central Sulawesi.
In 2004 poison fishing existed in Tarupa and Barrang Caddi, as well as in Rajuni Kecil with lower proportion Table 35. Bomb fishing existed only in Tarupa
Figure 12. On the other hand, the use of hook fishing had been high in all islands, especially in Rajuni Besar and Kapoposang Figure 13.
Nevertheless, this data must be taken in cautious, because the fishing gears reported by respondents might only show the particular fishing gears
utilized during the survey April-June 2004. Fishers are normally using different types of fishing gears depending on seasonal calendar see Chapter 4.
Nevertheless, the use of illegal fishing, namely poison and bomb, are dynamic depending on various factors, as will be further clarified in the subsequent
chapters.
Table 35 Fishing gears in each island 2004
Fish gear Tarupa
Rajuni Kecil
Rajuni Besar
Barrang Caddi
Kapoposang Total
Hook and line 86
99 69
215 94
563 43,4
61,5 97,2
66,0 95,9
65,9 Net 28
57 1 7 1
94 14,1
35,4 1,4 2,1 1,0
11,0 Bottom
trap 0 3 0
3 0,9
0,4 Dive
without 54
0 1 25 3 83
poison 27,3 0 1,4 7,7 3,1
9,7 Poison
22 5 0 76 0
103 11,1
3,1 23,3
12,1 Bomb 8
0 0 0 8
4,0 0,9
Total 198
161 71
326 98
854 100,0
100,0 100,0
100,0 100,0
100,0
Note: Lambda 0.106 P 0.05.
20 40
60 80
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil
Barrang Caddi
Island N
um ber
o f f
is h
er s
Poison Bomb
Figure 12 Number of fishers using bomb and poison. Total N: 3,990.
50 100
150 200
250
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil
Rajuni Besar Barrang
Caddi Kapoposang
Island N
um be
r of f
is her
s
Hook Net
Bottom trap Dive without poison
Poison Bomb
Figure 13 Fishing gears of each island. Total N: 3,990. Destructive Fishing 2005
The dynamic of fishing gears in these islands is apparent from the second survey that taken place in 2005. Here respondent were asked how do they
assess the use bomb fishing in their island Table 36. The response was that the frequent use of bomb fishing was high in Rajuni Kecil, Rajuni Besar and Tarupa.
On the contrary, Barrang Caddi and Kapoposang had high response on ‘never’ use bomb fishing.
For poison fishing, the frequent use was existed in Barrang Caddi, while ‘never’ was high Kapoposang and Rajuni Besar. In summary, Barrang Caddi had
higher poison fishing than other islands; while Tarupa, Rajuni Kecil and Rajuni Besar had bomb fishing; and Kapoposang had neither Figure 14.
Table 36 Use of bomb fishing in each island 2005
Bomb fishing
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil Rajuni Besar Barrang Caddi
Kapoposang Total
Frequent 5 7
4 2
18 29,4
31,8 30,8 5,4 0
18,0 Rare 6 4
1 1
0 12 35,3
18,2 7,7 2,7 0
12,0 Never 6 11
8 34
11 70 35,3
50,0 61,5
91,9 100,0
70,0 Total 17 22
13 37
11 100 100,0
100,0 100,0
100,0 100,0
100,0
Table 37 Use of poison fishing in each island 2005
Poison fishing
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil Rajuni
Besar Barrang Caddi Kapoposang Total
Frequent 5 8
3 31
47 29,4
36,4 23,1 83,8 0
47,0 Rare 6 5
1 4
0 16 35,3
22,7 7,7 10,8 0
16,0 Never 6
9 9
2 11 37
35,3 40,9
69,2 5,4 100,0 37,0
Total 17 22 13
37 11 100
100,0 100,0
100,0 100,0
100,0 100,0
Figure 14 Frequent poison and bomb fishing by resident fishers. Total N = 100. Taking Coral
Another indicator of coral reef destruction is taking coral or coral mining for house building Table 38, Figure 15. These can detriment coral reef’s functional
Frequent bomb fishing
2 4
6 8
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil
Rajuni Besar
Barrang Caddi
Island N
um ber of
r es
pon s
e
Frequent poison fishing
10 20
30 40
Tarupa Rajuni
Kecil Rajuni
Besar Barrang
Caddi
Island N
um ber of
r es
pon s
e
use as coastal protection which may result in coastal erosion. The ‘frequent’ response on taking coral is in Rajuni Besar and Barrang Caddi. Some parts of
Barrang Caddi Island have been experiencing abrasion, so community members occasionally take coral for placing them along the beach near their houses.
Table 38 Coral taking in each island 2005
Taking coral
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil
Rajuni Besar
Barrang Caddi
Kapoposang Total
Frequent 0 8
4 12
0 36,4 0 11,8 12,4
Rare 3 4 0 7 2 16
17,6 18,2
20,6 18,2
16,5 Never
14 10 13 23 9
69 82,4 45,5 100,0 67,6
81,8 71,1
Total 17 22 13 34 11
97 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0
100,0 100,0
Coral taking
25 50
75 100
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil Rajuni Besar
Barrang Caddi
Kapoposang
Island P
e rc
en tage
of r
es pon
s e
Never Rare
Frequent
Figure 15 Coral taking in each island. Total N = 97. Index of Destructive Fishing
Comparing the rate of bomb and poison fishers between surveys in 2004 and 2005 is somehow problematic. First, because this issue is taken in caution by
fishers, thus data generated might not be fully precise. Second, because the data collection strategies for surveys in 2004 and 2005 were not the same. See
Chapter 3 on data collection method. The situation of destructive fishing bomb, poison, and taking coral varied significantly with island Chi-Square test, p
0.05 Table 39.
Table 39 Means and test of variance of destructive fishing in 2004 and 2005
Tarupa Rajuni
Kecil Rajuni
Besar Barrang
Caddi Kapoposang Total
p- value
2004
Bomb or poison
1
0.15 0.03 0.00 0.23 0.00 0.13
0.000
2005
Bomb
2
1.94 1.82 1.69 1.14 1.00 1.48
0.000 Poison
2
1.94 1.95 1.54 2.78
1.00 2.10
0.000 Taking
coral
2
1.18 1.91 1.00 1.44 1.18 1.41
0.002 Note: p-value is statistically significant.
1
0 Other than bomb or poison; 1Using bomb or poison.
2
1 Never; 2 Rare; 3 Frequent.
Using the data presented above, the index for poison and bomb fishing is calculated for each year Table 40. Index for 2004 is taken from the percentage
of fishers using bomb or poison fish. Index for 2005 is calculated from the percentage of responses saying ‘frequent’ use of bomb or poison fishing by
resident fishers.
Table 40 Index of destructive fishing in 2004 and 2005
Tarupa Rajuni Kecil
Rajuni Besar
Barrang Caddi
Kapoposang 2004
Bomb 0.04 Poison 0.11
0.03 0.23
2005
Bomb 0.47 0.41 0.35 0.07
Poison 0.47 0.48 0.27 0.89
Taking coral 0.09 0.46 0 0.22 0.09
Source: Household survey April-June 2004, total N = 854; Resource user survey July- October 2005 total N = 102.
Figure 16 shows that Kapoposang has neither fishers using bomb nor poison fishing. Rajuni Besar in 2004 had no bomb and poison fishing, but
proliferated in 2005. Increase in bomb and poison fishing also occurred in Tarupa and Rajuni Kecil. However, both data cannot fully be comparable, especially for
Barrang Caddi. There was no significant increase of the use poison fishing by fishers in this island. The difference shown in both years is because the different
questions were asked. Data in 2004 shows the number of actual fishers using poison fishing, while data in 2005 shows the response of fishers on the frequent
use of poison fishing.
Figure 16 Index of bomb and poison fishing in 2004 and 2005.
Source: Household survey April-June 2004, total N = 854; and Resource user survey July-October 2005, total N = 100.
5.3 Status of Fishery Sustainability