Traditional fishermen of Muara Angke in North Jakarta have voiced their concern about environmental degradation and loss of income after the construction of man-made islets near their homes and waters.

They gathered recently in a move to '€œconsolidate'€ themselves in their legal battle against the construction of the islets.

According to the latest Google Earth satellite images, there are one-and-a-half islands already constructed in waters north of Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) in North Jakarta, less than 10 kilometers from the fishermen'€™s home in Kali Adem, near Muara Angke Port.

The finished island, Islet D, is being marketed by developer PT Kapuk Naga Indah as Golf Island. According to a price list obtained by The Jakarta Post, a 128-square-meter house on a 90 sqm plot of land on Golf Island is priced at Rp 3.77 billion (US$278,000).

Rokili, 53, one of the fishermen, said that the construction of the islets had changed the surrounding sea from PIK through Muara Angke.

'€œBefore, the sea was quite clear, the sunlight penetrated into the sea. But after the development, there is white mud in the water, making it murky,'€ he said.

'€œFish and crabs have died in the muddy water,'€ he said.

He said the situation had forced fishermen to sail farther into the open sea to make their catch, forcing them to shell out more money on boat fuel.

However, sailing farther into the sea is not easy for some of the fishermen. Chastam, 40, said that in order to sail into the open ocean most fishermen in Muara Angke needed to upgrade their boats.

According to Rokili, land reclamation efforts also involved cutting down mangrove trees around Jakarta'€™s northern coast.

'€œWe had many mangrove trees along the coast before. Now, they have disappeared,'€ he said.

Kapuk Naga Indah, a subsidiary of Agung Sedayu Group, could not be reached for comment.

Islet C, the half-finished islet and Islet D, aka Golf Island, are part of the city'€™s controversial coastal reclamation project to create 17 man-made islands along Jakarta'€™s 32-kilometer northern coast.

Besides islets C and D, Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama also issued Gubernatorial Decree No. 2238/2014 in December last year, legalizing the development of Islet G by PT Muara Wisesa Samudra, a subsidiary of Agung Podomoro.

Gubernatorial decrees relating to islets C and D have not been released by the city administration, despite
the Post'€™s request to obtain them. Kompas.com has reported that former governor Fauzi Bowo issued a permit for one island built by Kapuk Naga Indah. According to Google Earth images, in September 2012, a month before Fauzi left office, there was a small white dot on the location that would become Islet D.

The city administration claims that the capital needs the coastal development because of land shortage.

The People'€™s Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara) and the Indonesian Traditional Fishermen'€™s Association (KNTI) have registered a petition at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) regarding the decree on Islet G. They expect the second hearing to be held on Thursday.

In June this year, Tempo magazine reported that former Thousand Islands regent Tri Djoko Sri Margianto had said that the regency had lost five islands because of sand mining to build the new islets. He claimed that the mining was illegal and said he had reported the case to the National Police in March.

According to a press release by one of the Islet G contractors, Dutch firm Van Oord, the 160-hectare islet will need about 20 million cubic meters of sand. Meanwhile, the consultant for Kapuk Naga Indah, Dutch company Witteveen+Bos, said on its website that islets C, D, and E, all around 800 hectares, would need about 50 million cubic meters of sand. (saf)

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