SEMBILAN ISLAND, Indonesia — Until recently, skippers on this island relied on their day’s catch of grouper, mackerel and snapper tipping the scales at around 50 kilograms (110 pounds). Today, Mukhlis provides for his family with just a fraction of that daily haul. “They’re using cantrang fishing gear,” Mukhlis told Mongabay Indonesia, referring to the common name for a purse seine net used by some large fishing boats locals say are intruding here. Seine fishing is an ancient method in which fishers use expansive nets weighted down to the reach the bottom of the sea to capture large quantities of fish. However, research has proved the fishing practice in its supersized modern form has become increasingly unsustainable owing to its indiscriminate nature. Today, cantrang nets often measure in the kilometers. When towed behind motorized fishing boats, they envelop not just the target species but a retinue of other marine life. Approximately 90% of fish species worldwide are today considered either fully exploited or overfished. Sembilan is an island of around 8,000 people off the southern coast of Borneo, almost 450 kilometers (280 miles) from the port of Surabaya, Indonesia’s second city and the capital of East Java province. Mukhlis said large fishing vessels flagged out of Central and East Java provinces are encroaching on the community’s fishing grounds here. Local fishers have seen these cantrang boats prowling waters just 8 km (5 mi) off the island’s coast, he said. “That violates the rules,” Mukhlis said. Regulations enacted by Indonesia’s Ministry…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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