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Six fishermen killed as high waves hit Cilacap sea
At least six fishermen in Cilacap, Central Java, have been killed by the high waves rolling through the seas off the regency's south coast during the past week
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t least six fishermen in Cilacap, Central Java, have been killed by the high waves rolling through the seas off the regency's south coast during the past week.
On Thursday, high waves swept away three fishermen who were fishing in the sea. Only one survived. The body of one was retrieved and the third is still missing.
Last week, four fishermen were killed when their boat was rolled by high waves in the same waters.
"High waves have been hitting the South Sea. Many fishermen are deciding not to sail for the time being," chairman of the Cilacap chapter of the Association of Indonesian Fishermen, Atas Munandar, said Friday.
"We also encourage them to not to go fishing for their own safety. Nevertheless, many keep on sailing," he added.
Atas said most of the 35,000 fishermen in Cilacap had low incomes and depended greatly on fishing to support their families.
This creates a dilemma for the association in deciding what action to take, Atas said.
On the one hand, he said, it was impossible for the association to stop its members from sailing because they needed to fish to make a living.
On the other hand, the high waves are so dangerous that fishermen face the very real risk of death.
"What we can do is just encourage them not to go fishing right now," he said.
According to Atas, on average 10 fishermen from the regency die each year while fishing at sea, mostly during the high-wave season in December-January.
He said most of the victims were fishermen using small boats about 9 meters long, known locally as compreng.
"That is the smallest type of boat used by local fishermen," Atas said.
Compreng, he said, could only be used to go one to two kilometers from the shore, as the vessels can be easily sunk when hit by high waves, even if no more than 500 meters from land.
"To prevent any accidents from happening, there is no other way but to avoid sailing during this bad weather," said Atas, adding that fishermen could enter safer waters such as Segara Anakan.
