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span class="inline inline-left">Fisherman: KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASASome 2,400 fishermen in Yogyakarta province are expected to attend trainings on alternative livelihoods such as fish breeding, fish processing and marketing offered to help them survive the economic hardships resulting from global warming.

“The same trainings will also be held in other marine regions including in Sulawesi, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara,” Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif C. Sutardja said in Yogyakarta on Wednesday.

The minister was in Yogyakarta to officially launch the operation of a fresh fish market in Depok Beach, Bantul regency, established to help improve fish production in the province and to hand over the training program to local authorities.

He said he had told all regents and mayors across the country to help fishing communities in their respective regions by providing staple foods and trainings on alternative livelihoods.

Waters all around the globe, Sharif said, have been changing due to global warming. Fish populations globally have stagnated, if not declined, and changing weather patterns have produced strong winds and high tides that often force fishermen to stay aground.

“This has often caused a food crisis for fishermen. If they earn nothing from the sea, and going to the sea is their only source of living, they will not be able to support their families,” he said, underlining the urgency for alternative livelihoods for them.

He also reminded fishermen to help maintain fish populations in the global-warming-affected sea by helping to preserve the environment. Doing so, he said, could help make migrating fish stay longer in Indonesian waters.

“We can do so by preserving the coral reefs as they are the homes for the fish,” the minister said.

Challenging times have fallen hard on Sudiyo, a fisherman from Samas Beach, Bantul. He said that if previously during bad weather fishermen in his region could just spread nets from the beach to catch fish, they could no longer do so presently.

“The waves are so irregular that the nets we spread get easily tangled, rolled into one,” he said.

Respective governmental offices will be responsible for holding trainings on alternative livelihoods, for which Rp 4.9 billion has been allocated in 2012, with the program in Yogyakarta alone costing Rp 1.9 billion.

Separately Bantul Regent Sri Surya Widati expressed hope that the operation of the fresh fish
market in Depok Beach would help improve the fish business in the regency. She said Bantul had experienced promising developments in fish production. In 2009, the regency only produced 2,500 tons of cultivated fish. One year later, the regency quadrupled production to over 10,000 tons.

“Fish cultivation opens varied business opportunities ranging from seedling, breeding, marketing and running restaurants. They all have big opportunities for further development,” the regent said.