T

he Maluku office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) warned Friday that it was dangerous to sail the Maluku waters with waves reaching three meters.

Meanwhile, in Parigi Moutong, Central Sulawesi, four fishermen were reported missing after their fishing boat was smashed by high waves at the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Bad weather and rough seas are making life tough for Maluku province, which is an archipelago, where about 94 percent of the total area is seameaning sea transportation is the residents' lifeline.

"The average wave is three meters high in the Maluku seas," Benny Sipollo of the Maluku BMG office told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"The government and shipping sector have to pay attention to this by being careful, especially in the Arafura Sea."

Sipollo said the three-meter high waves were caused by a combination of weather patterns.

"It is currently the western wind season, plus there are some effects of La Nina in the South China Sea with high air pressure there, at the same time as lower pressure in our waters," he said.

"All of this causes changes in the wind direction which blows to areas with lower air pressure, generating cumulo nimbus clouds, which then affect the height of the waves."

On Thursday, high waves damaged two houses and flooded dozens of others along the Losari and Kapahaha beaches in Ambon.

On Feb. 2, 2006, hundreds of families living along Kapahaha beach had to evacuated as massive waves smashed their houses to pieces.

Separately, in Parigi Moutong, the regency police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Soemarno said search efforts were hampered by bad weather.

The four missing fishermen are Idris, 35, and Mukhlis, 21, from Paranggi village and Mat, 25, and Sofyan, 54, from Ampibabo village.

"We are working with local residents in our search efforts but we cannot hold much hope because the weather is very bad," Soemarmo told the Post by telephone on Friday.

"We received the news after two other fishermen who survived the rough seas reported the incident to the police and local residents."

Soemarmo said police deployed four speedboats and fishing vessels owned by local businesses to conduct search and rescue efforts in Tomini Bay.