DEGORONTALO – Threatened coral reefs of Lemito sub district, Pohuwato, would eventually impacted its residents.
“If coral reefs are destroyed then it will threaten food security, especially protein supply for 3,000 people of Lemito,” said Nilmawati of Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW), in a recent discussion held in AJI Gorontalo.
Based on DFW data, fishermen of Lemito and Popayato uses destructive fishing tools, including bombs, which produce 70 kilograms of fish per trip. Meanwhile, fishermen using trawls and compressors could catch at least 200 kilograms of fish per trip.
These results are contrast to fishermen committed to use environmental friendly fishing tools. DFW reveals that using arrows and fishing equipment would only earn five and seven percent of the fish catch.
“It means that one fish bombs equals to 27 days of using trawls, 16 days of using fishing equipment, and ten days of using arrows,” said Nilmawati.
Satellite image analysis shows declining coral reefs cover area, from 883.63 hectares in 1990 to 749.61 hectares in 2014.
“Although, it is still not drastic and significant decline, coral reefs growth is very slow, one centimeter per year. There is nothing can replace destruction rate if these destructive fishing keep going on,” she said. “These fish bombings not also endanger fishermen but also threaten coral reefs conservation in the area.”
Foto : koranmakassaronline.com
CHRISTOPEL PAINO
The article has been published at Degorontalo, member of Ekuatorial content syndication.
