Despite the damage to the global marine
ecosystem, Indonesia has no rules on shark fishing
The
lowly reef shark, it seems, is not a very dangerous beast despite its menacing
appearance. It grows to be anywhere from 5 to 10 feet in length, constantly
hunting squid and shellfish as well as almost any other type of fish haunting
tropical reefs.
They
are also extremely easy to catch, sometimes swimming curiously up to divers and
fishermen. As a result, they have been easy prey for those seeking to provide
China with its gigantic and growing hunger for sharks’ fins as the country
grows richer and sharks’ fin soup becomes a de rigueur dish at a growing number
of banquets, according to Riyanni Djangkaru, the Jakarta-based editor of
Divemag Indonesia, in an interview. And 15 percent of the world’s catch of
sharks, Djangkaru says – more by far than from any other nation – come from
around the 17,500 islands, most of them with teeming reefs, that make up
Indonesia. Few other nations, she said, supply anything more than 1 percent of
the catch.
“Indonesian
sharks are mostly reef sharks, they are not aggressive,” Djangkaru said. “That
is why Indonesia has the biggest shark-fin production in the world.” She swims
with the animals regularly, she said. They play an important role at the top of
the reef food chain pyramid, removing sick and weakened fish from the habitat,
playing a vital part in the ecological balance of the reef. The world Wildlife
Fund has called reef sharks one of the world’s most important species.
For a
decade or more, the world has increasingly caught on to the devastation from
shark-finning and made it a cause celebre, partly because of the gruesome
practice by some fishermen who catch the animals, cut off their fins and drop
them back into the sea to drown, although far more are caught in nets or on
hooks.
Campaigns
have been mounted in many countries to seek to stop the practice, which is
regarded as not only cruel to the sharks but a real environmental danger. But
not in Indonesia. At Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, one stall
in fact sells sharks’ fin to travelers on their way out of the country. In the
western Java city of Bandung, according to Djangkaru, the mayor, Dada Rosada,
suggested publicly that Indonesians supplement their diets with shark meat
According to a study for the Oceana Foundation, titled, Predators as Prey: Why
Healthy Oceans Need Sharks: “As top predators, sharks help to manage healthy
ocean ecosystems. And as the number of large sharks declines, the oceans will
suffer unpredictable and devastating consequences. Sharks help maintain the
health of ocean ecosystems, including seagrass beds and coral reefs. Healthy
oceans undoubtedly depend on sharks.”
And so
far, although across the world other countries are increasingly outlawing
shark-finning in their waters and restaurants and hotels have begun to drop
sharks’ fin soup, Indonesia at this point isn’t paying any attention. In
addition to supplying China and the Chinese diaspora, Djangkaru says, it has
become fashionable to eat shark in Indonesia itself, with warungs, or small
outdoor family-run restaurants, have begun serving shark steaks although shark
is neither very tasty nor particularly edible.
“In
Indonesian culture, they like something fashionable,” Djangkaru said. “In a lot
of Indonesian cities, it’s trendy. You can also find grilled sharks, there are
shark restaurants, in the rural communities, the little warung across the
street, those kinds of habits, it is a trend that is now threatening our
sharks.”
Djangkaru
and her diving colleagues in Indonesia have become increasingly worried about the
devastation to the country’s shark population. The diving industry in Indonesia
is growing in numbers and clout because of the country’s vast numbers of
island, which make it a divers’ paradise. Diving tourism is growing as well.
Divemag has been leading a campaign to try to educate Indonesians on the
depredation to the environment that shark finning is producing – and, she says,
to point out that sharks’ fin is basically tasteless. It is in fact
questionable, she says, why sharks’ fin has become a delicacy, other than
because of the taste of the broth, which has nothing to do with the shark’s
fin. One Chinese friend posited that because the shark is regarded as the most
powerful figure in the ocean, and because it is the fin that provides the
power, Chinese believe eating the fin can confer strength and power.
According
to a report by Mary O’Malley on the Birya Masr website, the Indonesian shark
catch increased from 1,000 metric tons in 1950 to 117,000 metric tons in 2003.
The value has skyrocketed as well. Of the 10 most-endangered species of sharks,
Djangkaru and a colleague, Priska Ruharjo, recently told an Indonesian
television talk show, every one swims in Indonesian waters. Across the planet,
Ruharjo said, 99 percent of the world population has been wiped out, a figure
that has been disputed by other authorities. Nonetheless, Ruharjo said, 32
percent of all shark species are endangered.
Others
dispute these figures, saying the number of sharks killed for their fins is far
smaller than advocates of outlawing shark finning say they are, and that
banning the shark fin trade isn’t going to help much, since many countries such
as Germany, France, Island and Australia have long killed the fish for their
meat. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies held a symposium in Singapore in
February at which detractors said claims that 73 million sharks a year are
killed for their fins are wildly exaggerated. Some put the figure at as low as
25 million – still a huge number of death sharks.
“Let’s
put the blame on Stephen Spielberg,” Djangkaro said, because of the popular
producer’s 1975 blockbuster movie Jaws, which stirred revulsion against the
animals. “People think sharks are dangerous, if you meet one you have to kill
it before they kill you. All over the world, fishermen are fishing for shark
fin.”
Although
the biggest decline in sharks was found in shark species that tended to stay
close to the shoreline, all sharks are at risk, according to O’Malley’s report,
which says the Thresher, a deep ocean shark, has fallen in numbers by 80
percent since 1986, Great Whites by 79 percent and that Hammerheads face the
worst calamity with an 89 percent drop from 1986 to 2000.
Shark
fin exports actually peaked in the mid-1990s, and by 2006 had declined to about
half the mid-1990s level, according to O’Malley’s study. That, she said,
“certainly suggests a serious decline in shark populations.” As sharks have
been depleted in the traditional fishing grounds in the western and central
portion of the Indonesian archipelago, the pressure has moved to the east,
including the waters of Raja Ampat, which she calls the richest and most
bio-diverse marine environment on Earth.
The
most important deterrent to the killing appears to be people who actually get
into the water with sharks and discover that they aren’t killers, and that in
fact when sharks attack people, Spielberg aside, they usually mistake them for
seals or sea lions.
Today,
eco resorts have started to appear, overcoming the reef shark destruction.
According to O’Malley, blacktip reef sharks can be seen cruising across the
lagoon in Raja Lampat, and recently were seen mating as tourists spent lots of
money to watch. There is world class diving and many of the top sites in Raja
Ampat are within a short boat trip. Misool Eco Resort, for instance, is now a
luxury dive resort in a tropical paradise. But it’s also much, much more. The
resort, she wrote, represents a model of conservation, sustainability and
service to its host community. Perhaps shark-watching eventually will catch up
with whale watching as a tourist pastime.
Asia
Sentinel
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment