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angrove conservation forests along the east coast of Surabaya (Pamurbaya) face threats not only from indiscriminate land clearing for fish or shrimp ponds, but also by the commercial interests behind them.

Rumah Mangrove Surabaya issued a report showing people resorted to illegal logging under the pretext of expanding their fish and shrimp farms, but later sell the land to developers who convert it into residential areas.

Rumah Mangrove Surabaya consortium director Wawan Some said 10 of the 400 hectares of mangrove forests in the Kalisari Damen conservation area in Kejawan Putih subdistrict, Mulyorejo district, had been destroyed.

He said such practices were once widely used by illegal loggers in the 1980s and 1990s.

“They intentionally expanded their farms toward the sea so they could obtain land ownership documents,” he said.

Wawan said that after shrimp farmers had occupied the land for two to three years, they would sell it to developers who would construct up-scale housing estates such as the Marina.

“The developers could very easily claim that they bought the land from the shrimp farmers legally. So any blame for damage to the conservation area falls on the shrimp farmers,” he said.

Wawan cited figures from the Surabaya administration, which showed there were currently 2,000 hectares of mangrove forests in the Pamurbaya area, 40 percent of which are damaged. The density of mangrove swamps in the area, which act as a natural buffer against coastal erosion, should ideally be between 200 and 300 meters from the coastline, while in fact, the density is only between 4 and 5 meters.

He said 80 percent of mangrove forests in the Pamurbaya area were “dominated” by developers, an indication of the extent of shrimp farming regulatory breaches.

In a recent police crackdown on illegal logging, Surabaya Police arrested four suspects: Amir, a logger, and Tosin, Ghoni and Chodjin, who are shrimp farmers.

The Surabaya administration is widely perceived to be negligent in its management of mangrove conservation forests, prompting the Ecological and Wetland Conservation Research Institute (Ecoton) to summon the Surabaya mayor.

Ecoton director Prigi Arisandi said the summons was intended to push the Surabaya administration to immediately issue a bylaw on coastal fish farms given that the area of fish farms in the Pamurbaya area increases each year.

“Between 2001 and 2011, there were four incidents of large-scale illegal logging. The administration should ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Prigi said.

The Surabaya administration plans to buy land from the shrimp farmers if they are proven to be the rightful owners as the area has been designated a forest conservation area and should be free of any commercial activity.