Bits of pink, blue and white plastics lay part buried in the mud-flats that make up the shore of an international yacht-mooring lagoon on Serangan Island, south of Sanur beach.

This rainbow of pollution that has washed into the seas surrounding Bali from rivers and rubbish dumps is one of the many issues facing Indonesia'€™s fishing industry in the future, says Saut Hutagalung, director general for fisheries production, processing and marketing at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.

'€œThis is solid waste coming from household waste, industry and city dumping,'€ says Saut, stressing that Indonesia'€™s fishing industry needs to deal with the issue '€œin an integrated manner with the local government, including campaigns in families, the public, schools'€.

He was speaking on the many issues threatening the country'€™s fishing industry and solutions being implemented, such as the phasing out of trawler fishing, during an adult lobster release at Serangan Island last Friday.

The event was aimed at increasing local understanding of why breeding adult lobsters and other breeding sea creatures must be protected and left to breed in the seas.

'€œThis morning we are very happy that a company official here in Bali reported to our officers that his company had 27 pearl lobsters weighing 1.5 kilograms each.

'€œThat is Rp 1.5 million each '€” a lot of money. He was clued up environmentally, he said they had eggs,'€ says Saut of female lobsters that may attract a high return on sale, but a much greater return if left in the sea to spawn their eggs.

'€œWe have to show to the fisherman that if we leave these adults to grow to breed in the sea, we can catch more later on, within four to five months. One lobster lays millions of eggs. If 10 percent grow and live, we can get even more.'€

The message from the ministry is reaching its target audience. On a corner of the narrow track circling Serangan Island, Ibu Norma is dry baking and partially smoking skewered baswal and tuna fish she bought at the local fish market earlier in the day.

Glistening golden from a turmeric wash and wrapped in whorls of coconut husk smoke, Norma says the 50 kg of fish she prepares daily will be sold in Denpasar'€™s Badung market.

'€œThese are caught off Nusa Dua. My husband fishes, but he dives and uses a harpoon. We know from Ibu Susi that we may only catch the big fish,'€ says Norma, referring to Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti.

Her friend, 29-year-old Rika, who was nursing her child while visiting Norma, says it'€™s tough to be banned from catching small fish.

'€œIt'€™s not good because there are a lot of small fish and we could eat them, but now I am scared if I catch small fish, the police will get me. I do agree that we need to let the small fish grow, I just don'€™t agree we should be arrested if we catch them,'€ says Rika, adding that her only information on changes and proposed changes to fishing laws comes from television. '€œWe'€™ve had no official message that we must not catch small fish, we only know from TV.'€

Saut Hutagalung

Saut says education for fishermen, producers and the wider public on sustainable fishing is a critical component of the ministry'€™s long-term program.

He believes the country can see a much stronger industry in 10 years, with a focus on greater quality rather than quantity, but this demands '€œ['€¦] appropriate, adequate socialization to families, to restaurants and to hotels, so that we share one vision'€ on land and sea pollution, fishing techniques and the protection of breeding adults and undersized catches.

Seated on the yellow sands by his perahu, or local fishing boat, the head of Sanur'€™s Segara Agung fishermen'€™s group, Made Eka Putra, says it is education for fishermen, coupled with enforced regulations, that will ensure the long-term survival of the fishing industry, particularly at the local level.

'€œWe need lessons, education for the future, not for now, because the fishermen are not only fishing for now, but for the future. We need education on how to protect small fish, and maybe other courses on what we should and shouldn'€™t fish. At the moment there is a view to take as much as you can from the sea until it'€™s all finished.

So we need education on our profession for the future,'€ says Putra, adding that he would also like to see regulations on net gap sizes to prevent small fish being harvested.

'€œIn our group we have a body watching the people who are using cyanide and other poisons to fish. Poison is now very rare because we can call the police. But the small netters, we don'€™t have regulations preventing that,'€ says Made Eka, proving that the government and small fishermen are on the same page when it comes to the future of the Balinese fishing industry.

Manna from the seas: A woman cooks fresh bawal and tuna fish. Grassroots level fishermen are learning to take regulation-sized fish to ensure the sustainability of their industry into the future.

Wind of change: Grassroots fishermen in Sanur and Serangan Island agree that changes must be made on what fish and sizes can be caught, but change can be tough at first.

'€” Photos by JB Djwan