Coral Blasting

[Andalusi]

Dear Coral Listers

As u all know probably that there are lots of coral blasting in Indonesia
and as I am now based in Timor Islands and working for an environment
agency It is very sad to know that we haven't been able to tackle the
problem yet.  The blasting event done by most of the fisherman is a chain
of irresponsible action from some people.

I agree that ppl who do the coral blasting is the poorest ppl. But it
seems that they see this is a very easy way to collect fish compare using
the line fishing method and also they cannot afford to have a (floating)
bagan. But I have to admit probably there are some other force besides
what has been thought as in the above, behind what they do.

The detonator is not available freely, only certain organization can have
the detonator Therefore to cut such action is a bit difficult. Since the
distribution must come from internal source that are difficult to sought.
Someone told me that sometimes an irrespponsible person from the
responsible organization which should be guarding marine area is behind
the distribution of the detonator.

I can't do anything about coral blasting for a moment. The only thing I
can do is coordinate patroling in the area. But it is not easy since there
are many agencies should be involved.  We are trying to coordinate the
patroling with the navy, with the local government on policy problem so
this can be tackled. Yet, we have a long way to go, in the meanwhile
hopefully the coral is still there

One more thing besides blasting is the cyanide fishing. Which can also be
found in NTT. A recent survey by LIPI (indonesian Scientific Authority)
has temporarily found out that the number of species of fish and any other
marine life is very scarce in Kupang Bay.  I don't know what phenomenon
occured in here since we have very little expertise and manpower to
conduct a good coral reef protection activities.

Therefore, if u have any other report or suggestion, I hope that u can
share it with us here in NTT please.  I will pass the existing mail from
this list to the responsible government agencies and navy hopefully we can
do something about it.