I

n a fishing village located on the North Jakarta coast, Siti Haminah sits in front of her house gazing vacantly toward the early morning sea, an activity that she has engaged in frequently over recent months, as work separating mollusks from their shells has become scarce.

Carrying her toddler, the middle-aged woman said that, since the reclamation projects kicked off, few shells had been found in the sea and, as things had not gone well for her fisherman husband either, she was desperate for a job.

'€œI keep telling myself that life will get better soon, but it doesn'€™t,'€ she said. '€œNow I scavenge along the coast and spend most of my time at home.'€

Despite protests from human rights activists and fishermen, the controversial reclamation project, featuring the development of 17 artificial islands off the North Jakarta coast, continues to pick up pace.

While the public has repeatedly been denied access to a copy of the permit, based on satellite imaging from Google Earth, the development of Islet C appears half-finished. The whole process has been strictly private; the public, including fisherman living nearby, have not been not informed. Yet, due to its affect on the population of marine life and the increase in sea pollution, reclamation has already had a marked affect on the livelihood of the fishermen on the North Jakarta coast.

Despite being the most affected by the reclamation project, fishermen claim that their opinion has not been heard by the Jakarta administration, which has issued five reclamation permits, or the project developers.

Legal action has been filed by a coalition of fishermen and human rights groups to stop the project. The case is currently being heard at the Jakarta State Administration Court. Arieska Kurniawaty from the Women Solidarity human rights group said that, in addition to fishermen, the reclamation project had also affected women, emphasizing that women were regularly overlooked by the city administration.

'€œDespite being the group of people most gravely affected by this project, women are considered no more than fishermen'€™s wives,'€ Arieska told The Jakarta Post.

She said Women Solidarity research had found that 15 percent of fishermen in the affected area were women and that 90 percent of marine products processing workers were also women.

According to the North Jakarta administration, there are currently around 20,000 fishermen in North Jakarta.

Arieska went on to say that, despite their significant numbers, there had been no initial study carried out prior to the reclamation program with regard to how it would impact women.

'€œThe women in the coastal areas were pushed away from the resources of the sea, from their livelihood,'€ she continued, adding that the women now had no other option but to look for alternate work opportunities, perhaps as a laundry worker or scavenger. '€œThe women work almost 18 hours per day to meet their family'€™s needs,'€ she said.