Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
""Neupiyoh, ungkot mantong baroe ditren dari kapai (Come and drop by! The fish are fresh from the boat),"" a fishmonger calls out to potential buyers.
The fish are laid out on tables and their smell fills the air. People stroll through the fish market, examining the goods on offer. Nearby, scores of fishermen unload baskets of freshly caught fish from boats that have just moored.
This is the scene every day at the Lampulo fish auction market in Banda Aceh, both before the tsunami and now.
The fishing sector in Aceh is slowly returning to normal. Aceh fishermen work with available but limited equipment. The tsunami and earthquake had an adverse impact on 54,516 fishermen, or more than 70 percent of the people working in the industry.
The government is making efforts to restore the fishing industry, but so far only 47 percent of the infrastructure damaged in the tsunami, mainly fishing ports and fish landing facilities, has been rebuilt more than a year after the disaster.
Iskandar Ahmad, head of the Aceh Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Office, said the damaged fishing facilities were located in 13 regencies and municipalities across the province. Of the 38 damaged, only 18 have been rebuilt.
""So far, at least 70 percent of the fishermen in Aceh have returned to work, despite having to use limited equipment,"" Iskandar said.
Besides equipment and infrastructure limitations, many shoal areas silted up after the tsunami, restricting fishing in shallow waters.
""Silt from the tsunami has covered the coral reefs where marine life gathers. As a result, traditional fishermen who are only equipped with limited fishing equipment are forced to fish in deeper waters far from the shore,"" said Iskandar.
A foreign relief agency involved in restoring fishing infrastructure in Aceh, CHF International, funded by Americare, rebuilt the Lampulo fish auction site in Banda Aceh and is helping fishermen to procure fishing vessels.
Americare President Curtis R. Welling said they had spent Rp 3.24 billion (US$380,000) on the reconstruction of the Lampulo fish auction facility. ""This is a form of our care toward the people of Aceh,"" said Welling.
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