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Bilih fish under threat in Lake Singkarak

It is feared that widespread and environmentally unfriendly fishing methods on Lake Singkarak in West Sumatra will eventually wipe out the lake’s endemic bilih fish

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb (The Jakarta Post)
Padang
Wed, September 30, 2015

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Bilih fish under threat in Lake Singkarak

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t is feared that widespread and environmentally unfriendly fishing methods on Lake Singkarak in West Sumatra will eventually wipe out the lake'€™s endemic bilih fish.

Bilih researcher Hafrijal Syandri of Bung Hatta University, Padang, West Sumatra, said that if nothing was done to save the fish species, it could soon disappear completely from Lake Singkarak.

He said the fish population had been in steady decline for the past six months. An indication of this, according to Hafrijal, was the progressively smaller catches of the fishermen, which in turn led to the price of the fish skyrocketing.

'€œIf a few years ago a kilogram of bilih was priced at Rp 40,000 [US$2.72], now it is Rp 140,000 per kilogram,'€ the professor told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He blamed the situation on the use of waring, fine-mesh fishing nets that are capable of catching under-sized bilih. Currently some 400 fishing rafts operate using waring on the lake every night.

The rafts are made by residents living on the banks of the lake and are placed some 25 meters from their respective houses. Electric lights are mounted on the rafts to lure the fish into the waring.

Although under-sized fish are thrown back into the lake many are already dead by the time the nets are hauled in. '€œThis is what has eradicated so many generations of bilih in the lake,'€ Hafrijal said.

As a result of the decline in the bilih population, many raft owners have stopped fishing. However, in the absence of regulations banning them from doing so, many fishermen continue to operate their rafts.

The lake, Hafrijal said, was located in the two regencies of Tanah Datar and Solok, adding that a regulation on bilih fishing had to be issued by the West Sumatra provincial administration.

Hafrijal suggested that a total year-long ban on fishing bilih in the lake should be imposed. Regulations governing the size of fishing nets used on the lake were also required, he said.

'€œOtherwise, the bilih will simply be a thing of the past in Singkarak,'€ he said.

Hafrijal added that bilih had been successfully introduced into Lake Toba, North Sumatra, after hatchlings were taken from Singkarak. As in Singkarak, however, the population of bilih in Lake Toba is declining as a result of unregulated fishing methods.

Head of the West Sumatra Marine and Fisheries Agency Yosmeri said it was difficult to deal with the problem as local people were largely dependent on the fishing to support their families.

He said he had tried to help the fishermen by providing larger-mesh nets but they soon returned to waring. He also set up conservation areas in some locations but they were frequently ignored.

'€œThey even catch parent fish gathered for spawning. This really speeds up the decline in the population of bilih in Singkarak,'€ Yosmeri said.

He added that in the past fishermen caught bilih of 15 centimeters in length on average. Now the fish caught were only between 5 and 6 centimeters in length.

'€œWe will have talks again with the two regency administrations and the people to deal with the problem. Otherwise the bilih will become extinct in Singkarak,'€ Yosmeri said.

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