{"id":69828,"date":"2021-07-23T13:09:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T06:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/?p=69828"},"modified":"2021-07-27T15:21:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T08:21:28","slug":"east-halmahera-fishermen-face-the-brunt-of-environmental-degradation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/2021\/07\/east-halmahera-fishermen-face-the-brunt-of-environmental-degradation\/","title":{"rendered":"East Halmahera fishermen face the brunt of environmental degradation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story was first published in Indonesian<\/a> on 4 June 2021 by Tirto.id<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Haris Prabowo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anas Pajung slowly advances in the deep mud in the bay of Moronopo. It takes the 28-year-old man a lot of effort and energy to move his legs in the calve-deep mud. The sandals he wear often gets trapped in the mud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anas is trying to prove that the mud he is walking on is the result of years of sedimentation build-up from waste released by PT Aneka Tambang (Antam). The state-owned mining company that has been reaping annual net profit<\/a> of around Rp1.15 trillion, has also been dumping waste from its nickel mining operations high up on the hill, to the coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The waste released by the company that has been operating there since 2006, has now covered and polluted the bottom of the coastal area. Anas says that the place where he is now standing, was once teeming with corals, a habitat for fishes and other marine life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His father, who was a fisherman from Sulawesi and moved to the area under the government\u2019s sponsored transmigration program in the 1980s, often recounted that there used to be so many fishermen working in Moronopo Bay but now no more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mackerels which are commonly consumed by people were a staple. But now their habitat has been destroyed,\u201d Anas said during an interview in mid-May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Moronopo Bay is administratively located in Soasangaji village, in the Kota Maba sub-district of East Halmahera, North Maluku. It takes five hours to reach the area from Sofifi, the main town in North Maluku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The East Halmahera Environment Agency has noted that the waste sedimentation had covered an area of four hectares. At the farthest point from the coastline, about 100 meters from the source of the waste disposal, the waste layer, consisting of mud and rock, rises up to almost one meter from the beach surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company tried to cover the waste by planting mangroves but Anas said it was a failed attempt as the waste continued to flow into the bay and the mangrove could not survive, in contrast to the naturally grown mangroves in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Hafitz
<\/span>Hafitz Maulana \/ Tirto.id<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Thick sediment from PT Antam's mine waste that pollutes the mangrove area in Moronopo Bay, Maba, East Halmahera. According to local residents, this area was once a thriving fish habitat.<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

In one corner where mangrove seedlings had just been planted, a board that says \u201cPT Antam Mangrove Planting Conservation\u201d sticks out from the ground. The board also indicates the first mangrove was planted in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, these mangroves were planted in hopes to reduce the impacts of the waste pollution and it has been done several times, but they are still a far cry from the massive scale of their mining activities,\u201d Anas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worsening condition of the Moronopo bay is what prompted local residents to hold a protest<\/a> on April 7, 2021, demanding that Antam cease all its mining activities. There was no response from the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nickel mining operation on top of the hill in the Moronopo Bay area, is part of a mining concession owned by Antam and will expire in 2040. The concession of some 39,000 hectares, or more than half of the surface of the nation’s capital, Jakarta, straddled two subdistricts \u2013 Maba and Kota Maga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antam is also mining nickel in Tanjung Buli, Maba subdistrict, since 2001; and in Pakal Island, in Kota Maba subdistrict, since 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1998, Antam started mining nickel in Gee Island, Maba. The island has entered rehabilitation phase, although remnants of exploitation of the area remain evident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Antam also built a nickel refinery in Tanjung Buli but this facility is not yet in operation, while the permit will expire in 2032.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company that was established not long after the establishment of the New Order, has been exploiting mineral in these two subdistricts of East Halmahera for more than two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Hafitz
<\/span>Hafitz Maulana \/ Tirto.id<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The nickel refining smelter plant which is currently not operating in Tanjung Buli, East Halmahera.<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Fishes unfit for catch<\/strong> and consumption<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nur Santi, 32, is busy laying fishes to dry on a mesh supported by wooden poles in front of her home. She uses her right hand to lay the fish on the net while her left hand carries a black bucket containing a variety of fish including anchovies and mackerels. Not far from her are a group of men who gather dried fishes and place them into gunny sacks for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A native of Sangir Talaud of North Sulawesi, Santi and her husband who is a fisherman, migrated to the Belemsi island in the sub-district of Maba in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says that the income of fishermen on that island has been shrinking from year to year. She still remembers the time when the island\u2019s fishermen could catch up to 22 tons of fish in a month, more than enough to meet their daily consumption. These days, being able to catch 500 kilograms of fish in a month is a triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe average income of a head of a family here is only Rp3 million a month,\u201d Santi told me at the end of last May. \u201cIn 2008, they could earn up to Rp10 million a month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Santi, Rp3 million is not enough to cover her family\u2019s daily needs. The cost of living there is high as food ingredients have to be purchased from another island, using boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne cannot plant here. There is only fish. We have to buy vegetables,\u201d she said.\u201d We also need boat to take clean water and that would mean needing money for the fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Hafitz
<\/span>Hafitz Maulana \/ Tirto.id<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Ronaldo and Santi have been living in Belemsi island and a fishing family since they moved there in 2007.<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

What Santi has been going through was revealed earlier during a research<\/a> conducted in 2016 in the area where Belemsi fishermen went fishing. The report titled \u201cThe Impact of Nickel Mining on Fishing areas in the Waters of East Halmahera District,\u201d<\/em> showed that the massive mining operations in the area has led to the degradation of the quality of the water in the surrounding area, and also on the size of capture fishes by fishing platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research concluded that anchovies — one of the main catches of the Belemsi fishermen — were no longer fit for catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe presence of nickel in the water can have an effect on the survival of the marine life, including fish, because nickel is toxic,\u201d the researcher cited in the report. \u201cThe heavy metal content can affect the presence of fishes, and can even lead to the contamination of the fish, which then affects the safety for consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another research<\/a>, a high nickel content is dangerous and cause \u201csystemic disorders, immunological disorders, reproduction disorders, developmental disorders, carcinogenic effects, and death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catching waste instead of fish<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Belemsi island is just one of several small islands in the Maba sub-district, nestled in the middle of a number of islands where Antam operates. In the West, there was Tanjung Buli, Gee Island to the north, and to the east Pakal Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its population is a mere 200, split in 32 families living in 23 houses and the only other building there is a church where residents often gather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All are fishermen and their family rely on the sea for their livelihood. I saw several fishing boats, known locally as bagan<\/em>, off the coast right across where Santi\u2019s home is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santi\u2019s husband, Ronaldo Riung, 46, says that the local fishermen are not only struggling with decreasing fish catch but also the threat of passing large ships owned by the mining company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronaldo has been operating a fishing bagan<\/em> since 1995. He would spend a night or two at a specific location before he gathers enough catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in recent years, Ronaldo says, the fishing bagans <\/em>of fishermen were often forcefully moved away by the mining company\u2019s ships without their consent.  Displacing these bagans<\/em> often results in damages to the fishing nets or also to the platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause they say our bagans<\/em> are disrupting the route of the ships,\u201d Ronaldo said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Adlun
<\/span>Adlun Fiqri \/ Tirto.id<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Gee Island in Maba District, one of the islands where Antam has been mining nickel from since 1998. The island is currently undergoing rehabilitation.<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Antam’s large ships also dumped their waste into the sea in areas where fishermen operate. Just one week prior to meeting Ronaldo and Santi, a number of bagans<\/em> had fallen victim to the release of dirty oil from the mining ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronaldo showed me a number of photographs showing nets and tarp which are part of the bagan<\/em> that had been exposed to the nickel waste and oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf hit by the waste, all the fish accumulated in the bagan<\/em> are lost,\u201d Ronaldo said.\u201d It is not possible that the ground (below the sea) releases oil, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fishermen from Balemsi have then been forced to routinely wash their nets and tarp, at least once a week, something that Ronaldo and the other fishermen never had to do the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they are not washed within a week, we will not have the strength to lift the nets because they would have a lot of reddish sludge on them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can mostly be sure that it is (the sludge) mining waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 10, 2021, Antam finally admitted that one of the factors of the declining catch of fishermen was because of their activities in the waters of the Maba subdistrict. They promised<\/a> to provide up to Rp500 million in aid to the fishermen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their response to the complaints, Antam’s corporate secretary, Yulan Kustiya, claims that the company had made sure that its mining operation respected the environmental policies that all parties must comply with. Antam is also committed to honor its obligation to perform its social responsibility towards the people living around its mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Yulan also claims that the fishermen around the mining area were not at all impacted by the company\u2019s activities and are able to carry out their activities as they normally would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBased on the research conducted by academics from the Fishery and Maritime Faculty of the Khairun University (Unkhair) in Ternate, the sedimentation that is taking place in the coastal area of Moronopo was only temporary in nature and does not interrupt the activities of fishermen,\u201d Yulan told Tirto<\/em> (4\/6), without giving further details about the research she quoted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yulan also note that the Moronopo area is a Mining and Economic Growth Zone, as stipulated in the East Halmahera Spatial Zoning Plan for 2010-2029.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A profession reduced to mere memory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For people in the Maba and Kota Maba sub-districts, Belemsi island is often regarded as the \u201clast fishermen village,\u201d that still supplies fish. However, this profession could soon become extinct if the expansion of the nickel mines do not take into account its environmental impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n