July 20, 2022 — A year after it was introduced as a replacement for a type of fishing net long seen as unsustainable, the square-mesh seine net has prompted concerns from fisheries experts in Indonesia.
The jaring tarik berkantong net was meant to be the less-destructive successor to the widely used cantrang net, which the Indonesian fisheries ministry effectively banned in July 2021. On paper, there are clear differences between the two: the jaring tarik berkantong has a square-shaped mesh, with a mesh size of 5 centimeters (2 inches), making it less likely for baby fish to be caught than in the diamond-meshed cantrang, with a mesh size of 2.5 cm (1 in).
In the year since the change was imposed, reports have been published and submitted to the fisheries ministry about violations related to the use of both cantrang and its replacement. In a recent interview with Mongabay, Oktavianto said the only difference between cantrang and jaring tarik berkantong is the shape of the mesh. In practice, both nets are dragged close to the seafloor, similar to trawling — a practice that’s prohibited in Indonesia, Oktavainto noted.
The ban was initially imposed in 2015 by Susi Pudjiastuti, the fisheries minister at the time, who blamed the net for depleting fish populations at unsustainable rates and destroying coral reefs when it snagged on them. But the ban faced a massive pushback from fishing communities on the north coast of Java, a region known as Pantura on Indonesia’s most populous island. These fishers have traditionally used cantrang in the Java Sea, and they historically represent a sizable voting bloc, making the cantrang ban a loaded political issue. In response, the fisheries ministry exempted the Pantura fishers from the ban and gave them a three-year grace period to give up their cantrang nets.
However, the ban was officially lifted in November 2020 by Edhy Prabowo, who replaced Susi as the fisheries minister, citing efforts to boost catches and in turn attract greater investment in Indonesia’s marine capture fishery. (Edhy was arrested a week later on unrelated corruption charges and was later sentenced to nine years in jail.)