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xtreme weather conditions battering Bali’s shores over the past weeks have forced local fishermen to stay ashore, affecting the supply of fresh fish.

Made Gunaja, head of the provincial agency for fishery and marine affairs, said that his office received reports that many fishermen were being kept on land by the huge waves and heavy rains, including in the island’s center of fish production in Kedonganan, south Badung.

He said the fish supply at local markets had declined significantly, with fish now being shipped overland from Java to supplement the catch from the few fishermen who were still brave enough to go out to sea.

“Some places are relying on fish supplied from Java,” he said, citing the center of pindang fish in Kusamba, Klungkung regency, as an example.

Fish seller at Badung traditional market, Jro Melati, said fish supply to vendors had dropped by around half the normal supply, both in quantity and in the variety of fish.

“There are usually 10 kinds of fish, but now we only get supplies of around five kinds,” she said.

For each variety, vendors usually received around 30 kilograms, but they only got between 10 to 15 kilograms these days, she added.

At the market, the limited supply has increased the price by around Rp 3,000 to Rp 5,000 (31-52 US cents) per kilogram.

Gunaja predicted that this situation would persist until March, the end of the rainy season.

To help fishermen facing these conditions, he said the agency had implemented a program in which the fishermen were helped to breed freshwater fish, so that they would not be jobless and could still earn some money during the rainy season.

“We provide the fry and the food, and the fishermen provide an area in which they can make a fish pond,” he said, adding that the program had been implemented in Ketewel, Gianyar.

According to the agency’s data, fish catches during 2012 had decreased by 12.73 percent to 781.64 tons, from 100,501 tons in the previous year.

“Besides the bad weather in certain periods, another reason is that the fish population around Bali has decreased. It might be due to unsuitable catching equipment,” Gunaja said.

To help fishermen catch more fish, the agency last year also donated 30 large boats that enabled them to go further than 12 miles out to sea.

A similar situation can also be seen in Cirebon with thousands of fishermen in a number of districts, including Kapetakan, Gunung Jati, Mundu, Gebang and Kecamatan Losari, deciding to halt fishing operations due to bad weather along the northern coast of West Java.

The total number of fishermen and fish farmers in Cirebon is estimated to be 25,000.

Dade Mustofa Effendi, head of the Indonesian Fishermen’s Association Cirebon branch, said the fishermen had stopped catching fish for around a month.

The fishermen, Dade said, chose to fix their damaged fishing gear and boats while waiting for clearer skies and for high tides to subside.

“Heavy rains and strong winds have taken place over the last month. Large waves can reach up to 4 meters high. Such conditions are not ideal for fishermen to go fishing,” Dade said. He added that the fishermen owed money to local cooperatives to buy daily staple foods as they had no income.