Bad weather causes hardship among fishermen

Bad weather, marked by strong winds, high waves and heavy rain over the past month, has prevented thousands of fishermen along the northern coast of Cirebon, West Java, from going out to sea, causing further hardship.

As a result, many of them have been forced to rely on cooperatives for loans, or middlemen and shops selling basic necessities in order to provide for their families.

The head of the Cirebon Coastal Community Empowerment Institution, Siswanto, said on Tuesday the halt in fishing has lasted since the end of December.

“The fishermen have faced difficulties in going out to sea for almost three months because the weather has been so bad. They could not set out to sea without putting their lives at risk,” said Siswanto.

He added that due to the lull, the fishermen were deprived of earnings to support their families. “Their situations will worsen if the weather at sea does not improve,” he said.

The now idle fishermen can be found in six main fishing settlements: Kejaksan and Lemahwungkuk districts in Cirebon city and Gebang, Mundu, Kapetakan and Losari districts in Cirebon regency.

In the districts, hundreds of boats are tied along river banks, which serve as the fishermen’s operation base.

There are around 27,000 fishermen across Cirebon regency, 2,000 of whom are located in Cirebon city, with most of the remaining fishermen — 15,000 of them — based at the Gebang fishing settlement.

According to the head of the Cirebon chapter of the Indonesian Fishermen’s Association (HSNI), Dade Mustofa Effendi, there are currently around 2,300 fishing boats in Cirebon that have stopped operating, most of which are small sope vessels, measuring one to two meters wide and up to four meters long. Most of them are owned by boat owners or fishermen collectives.

“Each boat is manned by between four and six fishermen. However, during the current bad weather, a large number of the boats are not being operated,” Dade said.

Dade added that during this lull, fishermen in Cirebon were deprived of between Rp 30,000 (US$3.50) and Rp 50,000 daily. “The amount means a lot to them. When they don’t go out fishing, they lose their earnings, so they have to borrow money or do odd jobs,” said Dade.

According to Siswanto, besides borrowing money to survive, some of the fishermen are forced to engage in other jobs, such as construction hands, market porters or pedicab drivers.

“They have to work as laborers as they don’t have skills other than for fishing,” he said.

A fisherman from the Kejaksan fishing settlement in Cirebon city, Ratina, said he had not set out to sea to catch fish since early December last year.