Reforming the tuna fisheries of Indonesia
GETTING OFF
THE HOOK:

Background of the Study
This study on the tuna resources of Indonesia is the first serious effort in 25 years,
since the work of Marceille (1984), to understand the tuna fishing sector of a country
which produces more tuna (from its waters) than any country in the world. Also, this
study is the first serious attempt to analyze the tuna fisheries per fishery management
area since its legal establishment as the country’s management unit in 1999 (Minister
Agriculture Declaration 995 of 1999). The identification of these management units
(referred to in this document as FMAs) is a necessary prerequisite to reform tuna
management using the ecosystem-based management approach (EBM) which is
the main goal of this assessment. Because tagging studies have shown a large
amount of interaction between the tuna fisheries in Indonesia and that of the larger
Western and Central Pacific Ocean, any improvements made on tuna management
in Indonesia would contribute to the overall management of tunas within the region.
The current understanding of information about tunas of Indonesia may be likened
to a doughnut, where the tuna fisheries of the countries to the north, south, east,
and west of Indonesia are relatively well-studied, while a gaping “black hole” remains
in the waters of Indonesia, hindering the flow of knowledge required for effective
management. Such lack of accurate understanding of the stocks, fishing capacity
and fleet characteristics result to a high degree of uncertainty of stock status in both
the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Acquiring those information would be a major
contribution to both understanding the pelagic ecosystem, and implementing specific
EBM strategies not just for the Indonesian tuna fisheries but for the whole Indian
and Pacific Oceans.
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Figure 1.1 Map of Indonesia showing the geographical location
of the nine fishery management areas.

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GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Economically, the conservation of tuna and other pelagic resources in Indonesia is
critically important, supporting the livelihood of the tens of thousands of fishers and
workers, including significant number of women in the processing sector that are
dependent on the tuna industry of the country. This study highlights the major
management issues as a step in initiating interventions, including those appropriate
for EBM.
Objectives
This study has two major components:
1. The first would be a detailed overview on a per fishery management
area (FMA) description and characterization of the tuna fisheries that
covered the broad topics of fishing areas, fishing gears and crafts,
landings and production by gear and species, infrastructure support as
well as identification of issues and problems.
2. The second component deals with the ecosystem-based management
topics that include the bait fisheries, subsidies, post harvest handling,
tuna trade as well as impacts of the fuel price hike to the tuna sector
and link these to the identification of major management issues.
Description of the study area
Indonesia, with its 17000 islands, 81,000 km of coastline and water area including
its exclusive economic zone of about 5.8 million square kilometers is the biggest
archipelago in the world. Its fisheries output in 2005 exceeded 4 million tons and is
the 6
th
largest global fish producer. It is also the number one tuna producer in the
world based on the latest published production output of over three quarters of a
million tons (790,000 MT)(DKP 2006).
The waters of Indonesia provide the ideal environment for the tunas. This is brought
about by its strategic location between two large continents (Asia and Australia) and
major oceans (Pacific, Indian and South China Sea) influencing its climate and marine
environment. In addition, the enormous number and highly varied ecosystems brought
about by the archipelagic pelagic nature of Indonesia bringsabout an ideal environment
for high biodiversity and productivity (Tomascik et al, 1997).
The climate regime of Indonesia is governed by ocean-atmosphere interaction in
the form of strong seasonal variations at the upper oceanic circulation that is
influenced by monsoonal winds. Heating of the Asian and the Australian continent
drives these monsoon winds which changes directions depending from which
continent the wind blows (Webster et al. 1998). The southeast (SE) monsoon blows
from June to September brought about by high pressure over Australia and low
pressure over Asia. In the southern hemisphere of the country, this wind blow on a
SE direction which becomes a Southwest wind in the northern hemisphere. The
northwest (NW) monsoon occurs from December to March brought by higher
atmospheric pressure in Asia and lower pressure in Australia. In the northern
hemisphere this blows from the northeast and turns to northwest in the southern
hemisphere.
The difference between the two monsoon weather is in the amount of rainfall where
the NW monsoon is considered the rainy season brought about by moist air as a
result of high evaporation rates in the Pacific Ocean. The amount of rainfall generally
decreases towards the inter-monsoon period (April-May) leading to the dry season
during the SE monsoon.
Tidal fluctuations vary with area where diurnal (once daily) tides occur in Java Sea,
semi-diurnal (twice daily) in west Sumatra and mixed tides in eastern Indonesia
(Tomascik et al. 1997).

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
3Page
There are three notable oceanic and coastal processes that contribute to the
productivity and influence the dynamics of the marine ecosystem. These are
upwellings, the Indonesian throughflow (ITF), coastal discharge (Hendiarti, 2003)
and the naturally occurring large scale phenomena of ENSO and Pacific Decadal
oscillations (PDO). These latter two factors contribute to the global climate.
Upwelling areas are high productivity zones linked with very high fish production.
These are reported in waters off Makassar Strait, West Sumatra, South Java, South
Bali, Banda Sea and Arafura Sea, Sunda Strait (Wyrtki, 1961, Bray et al., 1996
Susanto et al, 2001, Gordon and Susanto, 2001). The El Nino southern oscillation
(ENSO) contributes to development of upwelling events that extend past the normal
season in Java and Sumatran southern coasts that triggers high fish yields (Susanto
et al., 2001, Gaol et al., 2002). The downside impacts of ENSO however manifest in
the low agricultural output due to prolonged dry season (Caviedes, 2001).
High rates of freshwater influx containing nutrients from Kalimantan and Javan
tributaries influence both the productivity as well as circulation of Java Sea brought
about by mixing of lower with higher saline waters (Tomascik et al., 1997). The
Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) that pass through the Indonesian archipelago from
the Pacific and exits into the Indian Ocean brings warm, less saline waters and
formed part of the global thermohaline circulation. This phenomenon contributes
also to the general climatic pattern of the region that result in the difference of sea
levels between these oceans (Murray and Arief, 1988; Meyer, 1996; Gordon et al.,
1999; Hautala et al., 2001). The melting of the ice caps due to global warming could
change the character of the global thermohaline circulation whose impacts to climate
and general ecology for Indonesia has yet to be studied.
The waters of Indonesia are divided into 9 fishery management areas or FMAs
(Figure 1.1), each unit refer to a particular body of water or fishing ground. This
approach is ideal because it takes into consideration resource management based
on ecological boundaries or fishing ground scale as opposed to use of political
boundaries as management unit. However , as with new landmark laws,
implementation and operationalization of large areas entails huge challenge because:
1. fisheries management responsibilities fall on multiple provinces/
regencies, thus necessitating the need for an integrated management
approach and guidance for each government unit to shift from using
political to ecological boundaries;
2. the recent enactment of the autonomous law that provides direct
management control to individual local government units has created
management confusion as a result in shift from individual resource
management to management of shared resources. The lack of
integrative framework between the three levels of governance resulted
in a highly fragmented rather than unified management approach to
shared resources.
The roles of each units at the sub-district, district, provincial and national levels
needs to be clearly defined, its management leadership established and a clear
fisheries plan for each FMA developed and implemented.
Places Visited
A total of 45 localities belonging to 17 provinces were visited (Figure 1.2) to conduct
interviews and to collect fisheries information and observe the local tuna fisheries.
These included visits to 11 major ports (oceanic ports (PPS) =7, Archipelagic ports
(PPN) = 2, PPP-2) and coastal fishing ports/ minor landing areas (PPP/ TPI / PPI) to
observe trading, and collect information. Likewise, interviews were made in General
Santos City, Philippines wherein about 1600 tuna handline boats that fish in
Indonesian waters and neighboring areas. The surveyed areas sufficiently cover

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GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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the 9 fishing zones with respect to the tuna fishery. The choices of sites surveyed
were based on the following criteria:
1. volume of tunas landed as published in the fisheries statistics;
2. representation of both the small scale and large scale fishers;
3. representation of tuna fishing gears;
4. accessibility of the area
5. cost of travel to the area.
The only provinces not visited include South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan ,West
Kalimantan, the newly formed Sulawesi Barat, Sulawesi Tengah and Nangaroe Aceh
Darussalam (NAD).
Methods
The sources of data compiled during the study came from three major sources:
1 From existing literature both from published sources (internet-based
sources), references and reports of government agencies, from annual
statistical data compiled but not published by districts, province and
regencies of local government units. A large part of references used
were articles published from the two Fisheries Journals.
2 From gray literature, mostly coming from thesis of students of fisheries
graduates of Sekolah Tinggi Perikanan (STP), a state-run fisheries
school based in Jakarta. Over two hundred reports made by students
over four month period as part of their on-the-job training provided
valuable data sets on fishing, fishing technology and processing that
remained untapped and unutilized but were used here to compare and
provide basis for comparison with data provided by the respondents.
We also have used post graduate thesis on two occasions.
3 Results of interviews conducted on 78 fishers/ boat owners of various
tuna fishing gears, 12 fish buyers (middlemen), 15 large tuna processors
and exporters, all the local fisheries agencies of Dinas Kelautan dan
Perikanan (DKP), fishing port officials. Also visited and interviewed were
representatives from the different directorate general offices of Marine
Resources, Aquaculture, Processing Technology, Capture Fisheries
(including statistics) at the national level. We also interviewed head of
Laboratory Testing facility in Makassar.
Figure 1.2. Survey sites of this study.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
5Page
Treatment of Data
A newly published statistical yearbook by management area became available in
2006 where summaries of production by species from 2000-2004 were provided.
This publication represents a first good attempt to better analyze fisheries into
management units. Unfortunately, it is far from complete and important data such
as production of each species by gear types, number of fishing vessels of each type
were not available. To fill this gap, we have used the provincial fisheries statistics
data and separated the data into management units. This proved a very difficult task
as the presentation of data between provinces differs. To provide time series analysis,
we selected only specific year to represent each decade. We have chosen, due to
availability of data sets, the following years: 1976, 1986, 1990, 1995, and years
2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 to provide the recent trend over the last 5 years.
Since such data sets are not available for all provinces, we selected one or two
provinces with sufficient data to represent a particular FMA.
We also have included in our analysis, the artisanal or small scale fisheries of
Indonesia as well as expanded the coverage of our analysis to include the small
tunas belonging to Auxis thazzard, Auxis rochei, Euthynus affinis. This is to provide
a holistic assessment of the tuna fisheries of the country, setting this study apart
from previous studies. There are very few published information on the extent of the
small-scale tuna fisheries and how large the small tuna landings relative to the export
species.
We did not include swordfish, marlins and sailfishes in the presentation because
these species are taken also by a wide variety of fishing gears with a lot of local
names and separating them by fishing gear type proved to be very difficult. Detailed
methods pertaining to each fishing ground is discussed separately under each
chapter.
Presentation of Data
The report is divided into two main parts: Part I consists of 8 sections (Chapters 2-
9) that includes the description of the tuna fisheries for the nine fishery management
units (FMA) of Indonesia. We did not include Arafura Sea (FMA 8) as the fishery is
overwhelmingly demersal trawl fisheries. Each FMA section describes tuna fisheries,
its fleet, catches, status of the resources based on historical data, infrastructure
support, issues and challenges as well as notes on the economics of fishing.
Part II includes four chapters that deals with various aspects related to ecosystem
based fisheries management (EBM) for tunas. These include chapters on the bait
fisheries, by-catch issues that include juvenile tuna by-catch, turtles and sharks,
the poor quality of tunas, international trade of tunas, subsidies and other issues
such as impacts of fuel price increases. The last chapter summarizes the issues
and provides a comprehensive list of recommendations for each issue. A roadmap
to tuna sustainability is described at the end of the section.
Each section on the different FMA is written as stand alone to allow a more detailed,
disucssion of locally-based issues and recommendations
Limitations of the Study
A total of 140 thesis works of students from STP were used as reference material.
These data sets covering years from 1995-2000 proved very valuable and were
used in many instances in this report. However as the thesis were written in Bahasa
Indonesia, accurate interpretation of their results proved challenging and we have
sourced local help to translate many of the results. Misinterpretation of results could
occur. There are also few instances (e.g. Beliko, 1999) when data were reanalyzed
to provide the correct interpretation of results.

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Considering the expanse of Indonesian maritime territory, the time allotted for the
study was short and the survey alone took us over three months of actual travel
time. National events such as the Ramadan (whole month of October in 2006) and
Christmas (last half month) added to the challenges of doing surveys.
To complement existing published works on tuna, we have depended many of our
assessments on the results of the interviews conducted. To give credence to results
of these interviews, we have chosen respondents, whenever possible, with many
years of fishing experience. This is reflected on the average age of fisher respondents
to be 41.6 years and average fishing experience of > 15 years.
We followed a non-structured interview format to allow a more relaxed interview
atmosphere. Interviews were conducted on site but actual interviews are done on a
one on one basis, avoiding as much as possible for other fishers to join in the
discussions. The types of information asked of the respondent s include
characterization of the fisheries of each gear, capital investments, markets of tuna
and tuna products, product disposals, product flow and management issues. A sample
of the questions asked is attached in Appendix 1.
Overall, the quality of information for most answers ranged from good to very good
and usually are in very good agreement with responses from other respondents
from the same area using same gear type. Key information from these interviews
were used as proxy for the operational information (catch, catch rates for each
season, species composition) to estimate tuna production for each gear type for
each fishing ground.
To get an accurate approximation of tuna production, we have separated catch rates
between peak and lean seasons and by species if possible. We also collected
information on the number of times per month with zero catch, correcting the usual
overestimation of catch per effort based on landings where zero catches are never
reported or incorporated into the estimates.
One of the challenges encountered during interviews is the way seasonality is
understood. To some respondents, understanding of time scale is not based on
Julian calendar but on lunar cycle and do not use January as start of the year. What
complicates is that the start of the year varies each year by 15 days. We overcame
this problem by combining their understanding of lunar periodicity with monsoonal
(wind) season in getting the seasons into the Julian calendar.
Instances arise when information provided by the respondents have limited or were
not used at all. These were instances when company owners (or supervisors in
companies) or when fishery officers were present during the interview, providing the
answers instead of our respondents. We have weighed the use of information in
such instances with caution as it is in most instances, the supervisors or the fishery
officials influence the respondents’ answers.
Often, information regarding the capital investments could not be provided by boat
captains or fishers working under a company but similar information were freely
given by boat captains of owned vessels.
Sourcing and interpreting existing statistical data proved challenging. One of the
major challenges in putting together this report is the large discrepancies of the
values of statistical tables between agencies. Instances arise when production values
were either too similar (two consecutive years repeated with very minor differences)
or with extremely large differences between consecutive years. Without any
accompanying explanatory notes, these values would be difficult to interpret.
Availability of complete set of statistical tables in the provinces or the regencies is
another challenge, as making back up either in hard or soft copies (electronic copies)
is not part of their standard operating procedures.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
7Page
To circumvent these two challenges and to be able to present data over a time
series for each FMA, we opted to present trends in decadic intervals, each decade
represented by a year where data are available for the areas (provinces/ regencies)
representing a particular FMA. We are aware on the use of data sets that fall on
ENSO years where catch and landings are unusually high.
Data available differ in their presentation and format and in some provinces, data
could not be separated from where it was landed or fished. We opted to limit use of
such data when we no other data is available. In such circumstances, we provided
explanatory notes on its use.
The use of the local terminologies which differ highly between areas, as basis for
entries of values for statistical tables added a high degree of uncertainty in the data.
The local term “tongkol” is a universal local term to mean small tunas which by
definition, and depending on the area and probably the ethnic background of the
fishery enumerator, could mean the bullet tunas (Auxis rochei), frigate tunas (Auxis
thazzard), bonitos (Euthynnus affinis, E. yaito), juvenile and immature individuals of
yellow fin (T. albacares) and big eye tunas (T. obsesus). Because names changes
with fishing ground, we have used the local name tongkol how this term was used in
the area being described.
We believed that changes in the dominance between these species could have
possibly occurred through time but was simply not captured in the statistical
yearbooks because of this lumping practice. In the early literature, “tongkol” meant
the oceaninc bonitos which were then the most dominant species in the 1980’s.
During our survey, most of the small tunas we found in the market are bullet and
frigate tunas but these unfortunately were continuously classified as E. affinis/ E.
yaito. This explains why recent statistical tables have very low record production of
bullet and frigate tunas despite their abundance at the markets and landing areas.
This issue is discussed in pertinent chapters.
We also have included, whenever data is available, cost of fishing for each tuna
gear type. We simply applied a very simple cost benefit analysis, utilizing a 10%
depreciation cost on capital and used actual expenses (2006) based on figures
given by the respondents.

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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CHAPTER 2
FMA I: MALACCA STRAIT
9Page
Provinces
Kabupaten/
Kodya/ Kota
Pidie
Aceh Utara
Aceh Timur
Langkat
Deli Serdang
Kota Medan
Asahan
Kota Tanjung Balai
Labuhan Batu
Serdang Bedagai
Bengkalis
Rokan Hilir
Dumai
Siak
Nanggroe
Aceh
Darussalam
North
Sumatra
Riau
Table 2.1 Political units that
belong to fishery management
area one (FMA I)
Geographic Scope
Malacca Strait is a narrow waterway connecting the Andaman Sea (in the west) and
South China Sea (in the east) with an area of about 65,000 km
2
, length of about 800
km and width of about 65 to 249 km (Britannica Encyclopedia, 2007). The depth of
the Strait is shallow (27-37 meters) near South China Sea and gradually deepens
towards the Andaman Sea (200 meters). The approximate area of Malacca Strait
that belongs to Indonesia is 55,000km
2
(Bailey, 1987). It runs through the entire
length of the Sumatra Island of Indonesia (south border), Peninsular Malaysia
(northwest border) and Thailand (northeast border). The Strait got its name from
the famous trading port “Melaka” in Peninsular Malaysia during the 16
th
and 17
th
centuries. Today the Strait has become one of the world’s busiest marine
transportation lanes because it is the shortest route between the Indian Ocean and
the Pacific Ocean (Anugerah, 2004).
In general, the water circulation of Malacca Strait flows a continual southeast stream
originating from the Sunda Shelf passing through the Strait into the Indian Ocean
(Roy, 1996). During the northeast monsoon, this current carries with it high salinity
waters from the South China Sea while during the southeast monsoon, the waters
are relatively low saline due to significant mixing with the river runoffs from the
Sumatran Island. This current flow and strong tidal fluctuations in the Strait induces
constant vertical mixing of the waters that result to the high primary productivity of
the area (Roy, 1996 and Nurdjaman, 2006).
Indonesia recently passed a law differentiating its waters into nine fisheries
management areas. These fisheries management areas are developed for the
purposes of better approach to manage the country’s natural resources. For the
fisheries sector, Indonesia allocated its jurisdiction on Malacca Strait as Fisheries
Management Area One (Figure 1). It covers the Provinces of Nangroe Aceh
Darussalam, Sumatera Utara, and four Kabupaten (District) of Riau (Table 2.1).
FMA-I: Malacca Strait
Figure 2.1 Geographic location of Fishery Management I: Mal-
acca Strait.

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Sources of Data
The data considered for primary analysis are from the results of interviews of fishers,
fisheries-related enterprises, government personnel (working on the fisheries
departments) and other stakeholders involved in the tuna fisheries. The interview
was conducted, primarily for this study, on February 2007. However, during the data
collection, among the three provinces covered by FMA-I only the province of
Sumatera Utara was visited. This province was selected as site of interview because
it occupies a large portion of the Strait and accounts for the largest share of fish
landings.
The collected primary data during this study was supported by the statistics published
by the National Dinas Perikanan dan Kelautan (DKP) and Provincial DKP statistics,
report of students from the Sekolah Tinggi Perikanan and other papers (published
and unpublished) on Malacca Strait fisheries, all of which are listed in the cited
references. Because the FMA is a recent development and therefore incomplete,
most of the information on trends used in this report made use of the statistics
published by the DKP of the provinces of North Sumatra.
Limitations and Assumptions
This study has allocated a short-time for actual survey in FMA-I because of the
relatively small volume of tuna landings from Malacca Strait – Indonesia; as was
indicated by the landings report. We visited Belawan Fishing Port, a primary fishing
port (PPS category) in north Sumatra and interviewed purse seines targeting small
pelagics using fish aggregation devices (FADs). This study intentionally did not cover
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) as we could disturb fisheries rehabilitation efforts
currently being undertaken by the global community. While we never had interviews
conducted, the analysis of trends in tuna fishery covering up to 2004 includes data
sets from NAD.
Following the newly established Fisheries Management Zoning, the Directorate
General of Capture Fisheries published the fisheries production statistics by Fisheries
Management Areas (Wilayah Pengeleloan Perikanan or WPP) in 2006. This
yearbook‘s first issue in 2006 covered years from 2000 to 2004. Henceforth there
are two sets of statistical report for those years, that by FMA which we refer to as
DKP-WPP 2006, and by Provinces and Coastal Areas which we simple refer to as
DKP. Comparing these two reports however showed some irreconcilable differences
in the production figures presented. In such instances, mention of the inconsistency
is made and the probable reasons given.
Prior to 2004, the tuna species were reported into three main categories, the “tuna”
which clumped the large tuna species (e.g. YFT, BET, etc.), the “tongkol” which
comprises the small tuna species (e.g. Bullet Tuna, Frigate Tuna, Eastern Little
Tuna, juveniles of large tunas) and “cakalang” (pronouced “tsa-ka-lang”) which
consists mainly skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) an a few oceanic bonitos. Based
on the annual fisheries yearbook, the most abundant and dominant species of
“tongkol” in FMA-I is the Eastern Little Tuna or Tongkol Komo in Bahasa Indonesia.
During the actual surveys, however, this species are rarely observed in the markets
and landing areas. In fact the most commonly observed species of small tuna are
the Bullet Tunas (Auxis rochei) which is known locally as Lisong. The eastern Little
Tunas represent only a tiny fraction of the tunas sold in the markets and landed in
the ports.
Analyzing the reports and published fisheries papers done for Malacca Strait, the
Eastern Little Tuna appeared to be the most abundant species. This is not surprising
considering that the main source of data and identification stem from the fisheries
statistical yearbook, published by the Directorate General of Fisheries or DGF. It
appears therefore that either the eastern little tuna used to be abundant in the area
before but has disappeared over the years but was not noticed. Or that the

CHAPTER 2
FMA I: MALACCA STRAIT
11Page
misidentification occurred early on but the error has been perpetuated over the years.
Both instances could be attributed to the failure at the sampling level to verify the
veracity of this species.
Similar to the rest of the country, it proved difficult to get a complete set of fisheries
yearbooks. To address this issue, we presented trends for general capture fisheries
and tuna production trends at 10-year intervals rather on an annual basis. For this
fishing area, we have used 1976 to represent 1970, 1983 yearbook for the 1980’s,
1993 yearbook for the 1990’s and years 2001, 2004, 2005 to represent year 2000
(DKP 1976, 1983, 1993, DGF 2001, 2002, 2004, 2004, 2005).
Trends of total fish and tuna landings
As an overview it would be helpful to know that Malacca Strait is one of the pioneer
fishing grounds of Indonesia. Published papers have described the fisheries’
existence since the 1860s (Butcher, 1996). Records show that commercial fishing
activities have been export-oriented from the very start. It is not so surprising that
the area has apparently been described as already overfished as early as 1904
(Butcher, 1996; Yamamoto, 1973). Fisheries studies done in the seventies showed
that during this period, the small pelagic fisheries resources of Malacca Strait are
already fully exploited (Bailey, 1987; Sudjastani, 1975). At present, despite being in
an overfished state for a long time, Malacca Strait still remains a very important
fishing ground for the Indonesians particularly for small pelagic fishes.
Over the last three decades (1970s-2000s), the total fish landings of FMA-I contribute
an average of 7.30% to the total fish landings of Indonesia but its importance has
waned over the last 40 years (Figure 2.2). In the 1970’s, the Strait contributes about
17% to the total national fish landings. However, due to overexploitation of the
resources, its contribution significantly decreased to just 12%-13% in the eighties
and nineties, and slipped further to just 6% to 7% in more recent times. At present,
the major fish species landed in Malacca Strait are small pelagics that include the
scads (layang), Indian mackerels (kembung and banyar) and sardines (tembang).
Surprisingly, while the general fisheries production is on the decline, nominal tuna
landings in FMA-I showed five-fold increase from 1970 to 2001 where it attained it
highest catch level of 52,470 tons (Figure 2.3). Since 2001, tuna production has
declined in the last four years by 50% to its 2005 level of only 25,719 tons.
Tunas represent about 9.80% of FMA-I’s total production from capture fisheries.
This figure represents a 45% increase in the share of tunas relative to the total
fisheries production in the 1970’s. The average contribution of tuna to the total fish
landings of FMA-I over three decades (1970s-2000s) is about 7.95 percent.
Figure 2.2. Total fishery production and share of tunas for fish-
ery management area One (FMA-I). Source: DKP Statistics
(1977, 1984,1994, 2002, 2005,2006).
Fish Landings in FMA-I
0
100
200
300
400
1970's 1980's1990's 2000's
Decade
Landings (10
3
tons)
0
4
8
12
16
20
% Share
Total Fish Landings
% Share of FMA-I

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Share of Landings by Province
Three Indonesian provinces share the fisheries resources of Malacca Strait. These
are Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Sumatra and Riau.
About three fourths (75.4%) of tuna production in FMA-I are landed in North Sumatra,
28.5% in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and the remaining 0.99% in Riau Province.
Because of its huge contribution, the trend of tuna landing for the FMA-I follows the
trend exhibited by tuna landings in North Sumatra (Figure 2.4). Tuna landings in
FMA I increased 10-fold over the period from 1970’s to reach 36,000 MT in 2003
and then declined by 29% in 2005.
Trends of Fishing Capacity
There are about 12 types of fishing gears catching tuna in FMA-I (Table 2.2a). These
include two types of seines (pelagic Danish seine or boat seine called “payang” and
purse seine called pukat cincin), four gillnets (drift gillnet, encircling gillnet, set gillnet
and trammel net) and six hook and line types (tuna handline, simple handline, drift
longline, set longline, tuna longline and troll line). Note that all gears listed save for
the tuna longline and the tuna handline, target mainly small pelagic fishes.
In 2005, there are about 18,818 units of fishing gears landing tuna in FMA-I. This
number of fishing gears represents just 46% of the total recorded in 2001 (Table
2.2a). While such huge decline in gear number may partly be attributed to the tsunami
Figure 2.4. Trends of tuna landings in fishery management area One
(FMA-I) and in North Sumatra province. Source: DKP Statistics (1977,
1984,1994, 2002, 2005,2006); Sudjastani (1975); Herry, et.al. (1985).
Historical Tuna Landings
-
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
1965-
1969
1970-
1974
1975-
1979
1980-
1984
1985-
1989
1990-
1994
1995-
1999
2000-
2004
2005
Landings (mt)
FMA I
North Sumatra
Figure 2.3. Tuna production in FMA-I and share to total fish out-
put. Source: DKP Statistics (1977, 1984,1994, 2002, 2005,2006).
Tuna Landings in FMA-I
0
10
20
30
40
1970©s 1980©s 1990©s 2000©s
Decade
Landings (000 tons)
0
5
10
15
% Share of Tuna
Tuna Landings
Tuna share to FMA-I landings (%)

CHAPTER 2
FMA I: MALACCA STRAIT
13Page
that resulted in gear losses at NAD, records from North Sumatra likewise showed
similar trend.
The fishing capacity of FMA-I as can be gleaned from North Sumatra fisheries show
that the number of fishers continue to increase, the number of boats, gears and
tuna gears appear to have fluctuated within a range, probably brought about more
by inconsistent reporting (Table 2.b). Beginning 2000 however, a declining trend in
number of fishing gears, in particular the number of tuna fishing gears for the period
between 2003-2005 is evident. The most probable reason is decline profit in the
face of increasing operating costs.
Table 2.2a. Trends in the number of types of fishing gears catching tuna
in fishery management area (FMA-I). Source: DKP Statistics (1977,
1984,1994, 2002, 2005,2006).
Table 2.2b. Trends in the number of fishers, boats and fishing gears
catching tuna in north Sumatra province. Source: DKP Province Sta-
tistics of North Sumatra (1977, 1984,1994, 2002, 2005,2006).
Table 2.3.Total fish and tuna landings in Malacca Strait jurisdic-
tion of North Sumatra (FMA-I). Source: North Sumatra Pro-
vincial Statistics (2006).
Year# of fisher# of boat# of gears
# of gear for
tuna
1980©s 75,173 18,253 22,552 8,207
1990©s 84,910 20,447 24,828 9,844
2000 89,688 19,581 25,251 9,961
2001
2002 90,478 19,828 26,575 9,861
2003 93,048 20,214 24,837 10,372
2004 95,981 19,047 18,683 8,639
2005 98,687 19,097 19,237 8,912
Gear Type 1976 1983 1993 2001 2004 2005
Danish Seine 794 205 1997 1092 963 855
Drift Gillnet 5754 8479 887910072 7797 6797
Drift Longline 1278 597 894 1431 2131 2085
Encircling Gillnets 136 297 628 809 836 800
Hand Line - - - - 229 236
Hook and Line 8009 8629 966310281 3522 1549
Purse Seine 180 540 1310 2198 2262 1519
Set Gillnet 217 1247 3529 5491 2203 2050
Set Longline 110 460 2351 5873 1172 721
Trammel Net 255 3592 2243 1731 1497
Troll Line 766 1190 1471 1418 418 686
Tuna Longline 0 15 127 54 86 23
Total 172442191434441409622335018818
Gear Type
Total Fish
(mt)
Total
Tuna (mt)
% Tuna
% Tuna
per gear
type
Purse Seine 36,162 3,648 28.9 10.1
Drift Gill Net 39,306 6,770 53.7 17.2
Encircling Gillnets 12,456 1,855 14.7 14.9
Drift Hook & Line 6,022 162 1.28 2.69
Troll Line 536 119 0.94 22.2
Hand Line 1,068 23 0.18 2.13
Other Hook & Line 3,724 36 0.29 0.97
Total 99,272 12,612 100

14
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
Landings by fishing gear
In 2005, the 97% of total tuna landings in FMA-I is caught by only three (3) fishing
gears, namely the drift gillnet which contributes more than half (53.7%), followed by
purse seine (28.9%) and encircling gillnet which contributes 14.7% of the total landed
tunas (Table 2.3). Interestingly, these fishing gears target small pelagic species in
general and catch tunas during certain seasons. Tunas therefore account between
1-22% of the total fish production of these gears with the troll line showing the
biggest share of tunas in its catch with 22% while purse seine, encircling and drift
gillnets account for 17.2%, 15% and 10%, respectively (Table 2.3). Purse seines
and encircling gillnets target the small tunas while troll line and drift gillnet catch
skipjack and also the juvenile individuals of the big tuna species.
Landings by species
Small tunas account for 97% of total tuna catch for FMA-I. Eastern little tunas (tongkol
komo) dominate the tuna catch with 81.6%, frigate tunas with 15.2% (tongkol krai)
(Figure 2.5). Large tunas are represented by the longtail tuna (tongkol abu-abu) and
account for a mere 3.17% of total tuna production with just 400 tons in 2004 (DKP
2005).
Table 2.4. Tuna landings (mt) by species by gear type in North Sumatra province, Ma-
lacca Strait in 2005. Source: DKP North Sumatra Province Statistics 2006.
Figure 2.5. Share to tuna production by
species for 2004 from FMA I. Source:
DKP-WPP 2006.
The contribution of each tuna species to the total production of each gear type is
shown in Table 2.4. Eastern little tuna are caught by four gear types (drift gillnet,
encircling gillnet and purse seine) while longtail tunas are taken by three gear types.
The rest of the tuna gears catch insignificant amount of tunas.
Prior to 2004, reporting of tuna catch was classified into three groups, namely
“tongkol” (mixture of small tuna species and juveniles of large tuna species),
“cakalang” (skipjacks), and “tuna” (large tuna species i.e. yellow fin, big eye, etc.).
Share by Species
12%
86%
2%
Tongkol krai (Auxis rochei)
Tongkol komo (Euthynnus affinis)
Tongkol abu-abu (Thunnus tonggol)
Gear Type
Tongkol krai
(Frigate tuna)
Tongkol
komo
(Eastern little
Tuna?)
Tongkol abu-
abu (Longtail
tuna)
Total Tuna
Landings
Contribution
to Total
Landings (%)
Purse Seine 1,699 1,764 185 3,648 28.9
Drift Gill Net 16 6,574 179 6,770 53.7
Encircling Gill Nets - 1,855 - 1,855 14.7
Drift Hook and Line 162 - - 162 1.28
Troll Line 19 100 - 119 0.94
Hand Line 23 - - 23 0.18
Other Hook and Line - - 36 36 0.29
Total 1,918 10,294 400 12,612 100.0

CHAPTER 2
FMA I: MALACCA STRAIT
15Page
Supply of FAD materials for sale
in a sidestreet near Belawan
Fishing port. Above, cement
anchors, below aredried
coconut fronds.
Landing of large tunas in Malacca Strait is very small compared to other fishing
grounds. Small tunas and skipjack form the bulk of the tuna landings. In the late
sixties to seventies, these two groups are the only tunas landed. It was only in the
1980s that the large export species of tuna are landed in the Malacca Strait (Table
2.5), probably as a result of the construction of a first the PPS Belawan fishing port
that allowed bigger boats to land with sufficient support faciities. These large tunas
landed then are presumably caught from outside the Strait.
Recent initiative to improve quality of fisheries statistics were made that included
identification of important fish groups (including tunas) to species level. The tongkol
in FMA-I is identified and reported by the statistics department as Tongkol komo
(Euthynnus affinis), Tongkol krai (Auxis thazard), Tongkol abu-abu (Thunnus tonggol).
Among these species of small tunas, the Tongkol komo (Eastern Little Tuna ~ E.
affinis) are the most abundant (Table 2.5).
Verification visits to the local markets and landing places showed that the Tongkol
komo (Eastern Little Tuna ~ E. affinis) are rarely found. The lisong (bullet tuna)
which is not at all reported in the statistics are the abundant and the common species
in the markets. This led us to question the identity of fishes in the statistics. It is
highly probable that misidentification of the species occurred as these species are
difficult to sort from one another, particularly the very small ones to an untrained
enumerator.
It is therefore presumed that Tongkol krai would mean a group of small-sized tunas
composed of mostly bullet tuna (Auxis rochei) mixed with juveniles of skipjacks,
frigate tuna, eastern little tuna, and of the large tunas, instead of just the eastern
little tuna species. The statistics from DGF according to Fisheries Management
Area (WPP) reported that in 2004, 85.2% are bullet tunas and others (A. rochei and
other baby tunas), 12.5% are frigate tuna (A.thazard) and 2.39% are longtail tunas
(T. tonggol) (Figure 2.5).
The two different published statistics are reporting two conflicting figures, in the
original statistical publication (Fisheries Statistics by Provinces and Coastal Areas)
large tuna species and skipjacks are landed in Malacca Strait but in the newly
published statistical report (Fisheries Statistics according to Fisheries Management
Areas) only the small tuna species are landed in FMA-I (Malacca Strait) but the
large species of tuna and skipjacks are not (Table 2.4 and Figure 2.4).
Estimate of Tuna Catch
This study provides an independent estimate of the tuna catch of each management
area. For FMA-1, we have utilized only two set of fishing gears, the purse seine and
the drift gillnet primarily because these two are the major gears that catch tunas and
because of availability of operational data from results of interview and from existing
publications.
The estimated total tuna production of these two major fishing gears operating in
Malacca Strait is about 12,969 tons. Drift gillnet account for three quarters (78%),
purse seine, categorized into small (<50 GT) contributed the remaining 21% while
Table 2.5 Tuna landings by species by fishing gear in 2005, Malacca Strait (FMA-I).
Sources: DKP Statistik (1977, 1984,1994, 2002, 2005,2006), Tatang (1975).
Decade
Large
tuna
Skipjack
tuna
Small
tuna
ELT (?)
Frigate
tuna
BET
Longtail
tuna
Bullet
tuna
ALB YFT
1960©s 294 1,676
1970©s 1,594 9,096
1980©s 267 983 7,067
1990©s1,922 2,028 23,707
20011,500 7,286 43,684
2004 2,862 14,236 2,083 825 400
2005 3,303 12,479 3,419 833 3,874 6 2 1,803

16
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REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
the large purse seine boats numbering about 100 units account for less than 1%
(0.7%) of the total tuna catch. The details of data used in the estimate of tuna
production are presented in Table 6.
The estimate of tuna production is incomplete because of lack of sufficient operational
data to allow tuna output of the remaining 10000 other gears reported to be catching
tuna as by catch. Troll fishing experiments conducted in the seventies (1972-1976)
showed catch rates of 100 kg per day with half of the catch are skipjack (Venema,
1996).
It is likely that the mean catch rates are far higher that the ones used in Table 2. 6.
This is due to the use of FADs and lights which are very effective in herding the fish
and translate to higher fish yields. The recent oil price hike has trigger the use of
FADs in order to save on fuel that would otherwise go to searching of schools. As a
consequence, businesses around Belawan PPS port are established that provide
the materials used in FADs (Figure 2.6)
Table 2.6. Estimate of tuna catch in FMA I. See Box 1 for explanation
Box 1: Explanatory Notes on Table 2.6
The tuna production estimate for FMA I is based on just two gear types, the
purse seine and the drift gillnet. The gear number for purse seine used (n=1519)
was taken from the 2005 estimate of DGF in the number of purse seines operating
in Malacca Strait. Of these, about 100 units belong to the 50-100 GT class and
the remaining units (~1,419) are vessels <50 GT and are considered mini-purse
seines (Table 1). For drift gillnet, the total fleet number used is the one isted in
the statistics and is less than the estimate provided by our respondents.
The operational data used in the computation were based from results of interview
as follows:
Purse seine (>50 GT) : number of vessels - 100; 90 annual fishing days; mean
catch of 122.2 kg per day; the catch composed of sardines (50%), mackerels
(20%), small tunas (20%), and other fishes (10%). We have used 10% instead of
20% for the share of small tunas in the purse seine catch.
Purse seine (<50 GT) : number of vessels - 1419, 75 annual fishing days, mean
catch of 61 kg per day; same catch composition as above.
Drift Gillnet: number of vessels - 6797, 150 annual fishing days, mean catch of
20 kg per day; share of tunas in catch is 60%.
We did not get to interview mini purse seine but used as catch rates half of the
catch of the bigger vessels. This assumption is valid given the fact that both
purse seines operate in the same fishing ground, use the same technique (using
FADs and lights) and fish at the same time of the year. The bigger ones are just
better and catching more because of their faster mobility and bigger nets thereby
higher fishing efficiency. Note that in the mid 1980’s, the catch rates of mini
purse seines is 559 kg per day or 310 kg per set (PRPL 1984)
We used the 2005 figures given by the provincial statistics for drift gillnet as this
has been confirmed by our respondent. For the catch rates, we have used data
of PRPT (2006) that gave a range of catch between 2-5 tons per year. Given that
average annual fishing days is about 150, the catch rate amounts to 20 kg per
fishing day which is very conservative.
Gear Type
Ref.
Year
No. of
gear
Total
fishing
days
CPUE
(kg/boat
day)
Total fish
production
(ton)
%
share
of tuna
Total tuna
Production
(ton)
Drift Gillnet
1992-
2002
6797 150 20 20,391 1 12,235
Purse Seine
(50-100 GT)
2006 100 90 122.2 1,100 0 110
Purse Seine (5-
50 GT)
1984;
2006
1,419 75 61 6,449 0 645
Total 27,940 12,989

CHAPTER 2
FMA I: MALACCA STRAIT
17Page
Description of Fishing Techniques
Purse Seine
Purse Seines were first introduced to Indonesia in Malacca Strait, particularly in
Bagan Siapi-api, in the early 1960’s along with trawl fisheries but were not as popular
as the trawl fisheries. But with the trawl ban in the early 1980’s, many trawl units
were converted to purse seine that resulted in the three-fold increase of purse seine
units between 1976 and 1983 (Table 2.2) (Yamamoto, 1987; Morgan and Staples,
2006).
Purse Seines mostly target surface shoaling fishes. The net is designed like a wall
of curtain buoyed at the surface and weighted at the bottom. The longitudinal view
of the net is akin to the letter V of the English Alphabet with the float line longer than
the lead line. The lead lines are also outfitted with ringed-line which serves as the
closing mechanism of the net. The net operates by surrounding a school of fish.
Once the school of fish is surrounded, the ringed-line is pulled up so that the bottom
of the net closes first and then the net is pulled up. When the fish are concentrated
and near the surface, these are taken through dip-nets or are pumped out of the
net.
There are two classes of purse seine operating in Malacca Strait, those onboard the
fishing vessels of 50-100 Gross Tonnages (GT) which are also using larger nets
and those onboard the fishing vessels of <50 GT which are also using smaller nets.
The surface length of the large purse seine’s net is about 1 km while the depth is
about 60 m. The mesh size is 20 cm and the selvage is 40 cm. There are about 100
units of this size category of purse seines operating in FMA-I, based in Belawan.
For a detailed description of the Purse Seine please go the chapter discussing
Fisheries Management Area Seven (FMA-VII ).
In the large purse seines there are about 35 crews manning the operation. Traveling
time to the fishing ground usually take nine hours. Fishing is usually in FADs at day-
time but sometimes fished at night when the weather condition is good. When fishing
at night, they used 26 mercury lights of about 1000 watts each to aide in concentrating
the fish. They usually stay at the fishing ground for 5 days before going back to the
port to unload their catch and renew their food provisions. Conservative estimate of
the total number of days fishing in One year is about 90 days with a mean catch of
122.2 kg per day which amounts to about 11 tons per year. There are about 100
fishing gears of this size operating in the area. It was assumed that the catch rate of
the mini-purse seines is half that of the big purse seines. In comparison with the
purse seines in 1984, there was a significant decrease of about 450% in catch rate
but with a significant increase in the gross tonnages of fishing vessels (Table 2.5)
Infrastructure Support
Despite the relatively small contribution of FMA-I to the tuna industry Indonesia,
there is a first level fishing port here, the Pelabuhan Perikanan Samudera (PPS) –
Belawan. This may be because of the rich and productive fisheries history of Malacca
Strait. However, the facilities in the port are not at par with the other PPS in the
country. The landing facilities are built of bamboo material, and there are very few
storage warehouses and ice-making facilities.
Post harvest handling of fish needs a lot of improvement too. Though the fish are
put in baskets for the whole duration of the unloading and sorting operation until the
auction is done, the quality of the fish is very poor. About 45% of the landed fishes,
despite being fresh, are smash due to overstuffing of the fishhold or fish containers
while in the fishing boats; this stage together with the stale and decaying fishes are
usually classified under Class C. The relatively good quality (Class B), which is
characterized by fishes with fresh and intact body and are moderately fresh but are
candidates of putrefaction, is about 45 percent. Only 10% are said to be really fresh
A typical large purse seine
docked at PPS Belawan,
Medan. Note F AD
materials on board ready
for deployment.

18
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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and of very good quality (Class A). The Class C fishes mostly go to fishmeal
factories, the Class B fishes are marketed locally and the Class A fishes are mostly
exported to Singapore and Malaysia. The exported fishes are mostly fresh or
frozen scads and mackerels
Most of the fishing vessels landing in the port are Pukat Ikan (modified Trawl ~
39%), Lampara Dasar (demersal Danish Seine ~ 11.5%), Pukat Cincin (Purse
Seine ~ 46.8%), Jaring Insang (Gillnets ~ 2.5%) and Pancing (Hook and Line ~
0.3%) (PPS-Belawan, 2005).
The road leading to the port exhibits several depots of materials for payao which
may indicate that the use of FADs is very rampant in the area.

Geographic Scope
South China Sea is the southernmost arm of the China Sea and is also connected to
the Pacific Ocean. It is bounded by Sumatra (south), Borneo (southeast), Philippines
(east), islands of Taiwan (northeast), and the Southeast Asian and Malay Peninsula
(north through west). The Sea’s total area is about 3.7 million km
2
, extending for about
2,900 km from south to north and 950 km from east to west (Britannica, 2007). The
area of Indonesian jurisdiction within South China Sea is about 595,000 km
2
(PRPT,
2006).
The South China Sea, along with other seas such as Java, Flores and Banda which are
aligned on the main axis of wind flux exhibit strong surface current circulation (Roy,
1996). This particular characteristic together with the relatively shallow depth of the
water column (within the Indonesian jurisdiction) enhances vertical mixing of waters
thereby enhancing primary productivity.
The Indonesian jurisdiction of South China Sea is in the southernmost edge of the Sea
and was designated as Fisheries Management Area Two (FMA-II), the designation is
for statistical and management purposes. Also included as part of FMA-II are Karimata
Strait and Natuna Sea (Figure 3.1). There are six Provinces covered within FMA-II
namely: Riau, Jambi, Sumatera Selatan, Kepulauan Bangka Belitung, Lampung, and
Kalimantan Barat (Table 3.1).
Sources of Data for Analysis
Data processed and analyzed are primarily from the results of interviews and actual
scoping of the landing places in FMA-II. This is supplemented by the statistics published
by the Departemen Kelautan Perikanan (DKP ~ formerly Department General of
Fisheries) and the Provinces’ Dinas Perikanan, term papers of the students of Sekolah
Tinggi Perikanan, and other research papers and reports done in the area (published or
unpublished). The internet was also thoroughly searched for data and publications
published through the web.
FMA-II: South China Sea
Figure 3.1. Geographic location of the South China Sea fishery
management area two (FMA-II).
Drift gillnet boats docked at
the coastal fish port of
Pangkal Pinang, Bangka
Belitung

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REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Most of the data used for trend analysis of tuna landings in FMA-II was from the statistical
data published by the Province of south Sumatra (Sumatera Selatan) and the DKP
Annual Statistic Reports.
Limitations and Assumptions
It was assumed at the start of the study that FMA-II was one of those areas which tuna
landings were not quiet significantly high to the country’s total tuna landings. This
assumption was further confirmed by the national fisheries statistics reports published
by DKP. This assumption and the limited time and logistics, the time spent for the actual
survey in the area is lesser compare to other areas where tuna landings were significant.
For the determination of trends, the national statistics of the tuna fisheries in FMA-II, is
complemented by the statistics of the Provinces of Sumatera Selatan and Kepulauan
Bangka Belitung.
Similar to the other FMAs, tongkol komo (eastern little tuna ~ Euthynnus affinis) is
reported in the available statistics to be the main small tuna species caught but actual
surveys of markets and landing places show that another species, the bullet tuna (Auxis
thazard) or lisong in Bahasa Indonesia, is the most common and abundant. In order to
settle this confusion, we have decided to use the local generic term small tunas or
tongkol as a collective term that includes bullet tuna, frigate tuna and juveniles of
skipjacks, and the large tunas.
Trends of Total Fish and Tuna Landings
The total capture fisheries output of FMA-II in 2004 is 433.6 thousand metric tons. This
represents about 11.3% of the total fish landings of Indonesia (Table 3.2). The share of
FMA-II relative to the total Indonesian fish production for the period 2000-2004 show
15% decline. The fishery of FMA-II consists of the demersal, reef and pelagic fisheries,
the major pelagic fisheries are mainly small pelagic fishes such as small tunas, sardines,
scads and anchovies. The most current assessment of the fisheries in 2005 showed
that exploitation rate of pelagic fishery resources within FMA-II is already very high
though not yet classified as fully exploited (PRPT, 2006).
Trends of tuna landings, based on two available statistical records; from DKP statistics
presented on per provinces and coastal areas and the other presented on per FMA,
show an upward trend since the 1970’s where production from 10,000 MT has quadrupled
at the start of the millennium (Figure 3.2). It is apparent that tuna landings has peaked
in 2003-2004 wherein it amounted to over 50,000 MT and then showed a 50% drop
landings in 2005 with only 23.6 thousand MT (Figure 3.3). The reason for such significant
decline can not be ascertained although fishers interviewed reported scarcity of fish
even during the season.
Province
Kabupaten/
Kodya/Kota
Province
Kabupaten/
Kodya/Kota
Pelalawan, Ketapang
Indragiri Hilir Pontianak
Karimun Sambas
Batam Bengkayang
Kep. Riau Kota Singkawang
Natuna Kota Pontianak
Tanjung Pinang Lampung Utara
Tanjung Jabung Barat Lampung Tengah
Tanjung Jabung Timur Lampung Selatan
Bangka Kota Teluk Bitung
Kota Pangkal Pinang Tanjung Karang
Belitung Musi Banyuasin
Ogan Komering Ilir
Sumatera Selatan
Kep. Bangka
Belitung
Lampung
Kalimantan BaratRiau
Jambi
Table 3.1. Political units within the South China Sea (FMA-II). Source: DKP
2006.

CHAPTER 3
FMA II: SOUTH CHINA SEA
21Page
While the general trend of tuna landings between the two statistical yearbooks show
similar trend, there are significant differences between the landing figures given; the
statistics presented on the per provinces and coastal areas consistently report higher
landings as compared to the landings presented by the statistics according to fisheries
management areas (Figure 3.3). This is partly because the province of Sumatera Selatan
contained landings from the Indian Ocean that falls under FMA-IX and partly from the
inconsistencies in data reporting system inherent within the system used in the country.
We analyzed the fisheries statistics of Sumatera Selatan and Bangka Belitung provinces
to represent tuna from the South China Sea portion of the country. Tuna landings from
these two provinces account for a fifth (20.5%) of the total tuna production from FMA-II
(Table 3.3). The remaining 79.5% was assumed to be landed from the other five provinces
of Riau, Jambi, Lampung and Kalimantan Barat. The share of tuna landings in these
two provinces relative to the total tuna landings of FMA-II is increasing from 14% in
2000 to 25% in 2005 (Table 3.3).
The contribution of Sumatera Selatan to the total tuna landings of FMA-II represents
only 1.25%. Tuna landings for the Province range between 300-1,000 metric tons since
Year
Total fish landings
Indonesia (103 MT)
Total fish landings
of FMA-II (103 MT)
% share of
FMA-II
2000 3350.475 444.04 13.3
2001 3446.389 476.73 13.8
2002 3507.86 452.59 12.9
2003 3785.356 463.49 12.2
2004 3832.733 433.60 11.3
Table 3.2. Share of FMA-II fish landings to the total Indonesian landings.
Source: DKP-SPP 2006.
Tuna Landings: FMA-II
-
10
20
30
40
50
1970s 1980s 1990s early
2000's
Decade
Landings (10
3
tons)
0
20000
40000
60000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Year
Landings (tons)
by FMAs
by PCAs
Figure 3.2. Historical trend of tuna landings in FMA-II to include
South China Sea, Karimata Strait and Natuna Sea. Sources: DKP
National Statistics, various years.
Figure 3.3. Comparison of tuna landings in FMA-II from two official
statistical yearbooks. Sources: DKP-PCA and DKP-WPP.

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1970. It probably reached its highest level of landings in the mid-1990’s with recorded
landings of 2,858 MT. The lack of time series data for tuna from this province precludes
any worthwhile trend analysis.
Tuna landings from the province of Bangka Belitung is more significant in terms of
volume with 19% share. It is worthy to note that despite just being a newly established
province, the fisheries statistics over the last five years are complete and readily
available for public use. Tuna landings in Bangka Belitung Province between 2000
and 2002 leveled off at around 5,000 tons, and more than doubled in 2004 and 2005
with over 13,000 tons (Figure 3.4).
Year
South
Sumatra
Bangka
Belitung
Total of FMA-
II
% Share
South
Sumatra
% share
Bangka
Belitung
2000 396 5212 36305 1.09 14.4
2001 431 5563 41010 1.05 13.6
2002 514 5831 31115 1.65 18.7
2003 504 8031 33034 1.52 24.3
2004 517 13673 54344 0.95 25.2
2005 266 13673 -
Table 3.3.Share of tuna landings in the Provinces of Sumatera Selatan and Bangka
Belitung to the total tuna landings in FMA-II. Sources: DKP-WPP 2006.
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
200020012002200320042005
Year
Landings (MT)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30

% Tuna Share
Bangka
Belitung
FMAII
% share
Figure 3.4. Trend of tuna landings in the newly created Province of Bangka
Belitung and its share to the tuna landings in South China Sea (FMA-II).
Source: DKP Propinsi Bangka Belitung 2000-2005.
Trends of Tuna Landings by Species
Species identification and reporting of the tuna species prior to 2004 has been grouped
into three major categories namely, “tuna” (large tuna species), “cakalang” (skipjacks)
and “tongkol” (small tuna species). The statistics gleaned from the annual reports
according to provinces and coastal areas (PCA) showed that in the 1970’s the “tongkol”
group (96% ~ 9,694 tons) dominated the landings of tuna in FMA-II, followed by the
large tuna species “tuna” (3.3%) and “cakalang” with only 0.66% (Figure 3.5). In the
1980’s, the entire tuna fishery is practically “tongkol” (99.2%), the large “tunas” still
coming next but the contribution has decreased to only 0.67% (94 tons) while cakalang
comprises 0.10% (14 tons) only. In the decade of the nineties, the “tongkol” still dominates
with about 93.4% (19,587 tons), but lost 7% of its share to the the “large tuna” comprised
about 4.3% (900 tons) and cakalang which share increased significantly into 490 tons
(2.3%).

CHAPTER 3
FMA II: SOUTH CHINA SEA
23Page
Starting in the 2000s, there have been major changes in the landings of tuna. For instance,
share of “tongkol” fell to just 82.5%, while landings of both the “tuna” and cakalang
markedly increased their share to 5% and 12%, respectively. In 2004, the landings of
cakalang were back to its pre 2000 levels at just 85 tons. In 2005, the share of the “tuna”
account to almost half at 49.5%, and is at the same level as that of the “tongkol” with
49.5%) while the skipjack (cakalang) account for the remaining 1.1%.
Clearly, large fluctuations (as shown by recent data on skipjack) may probably be due to
shortcomings in data recording rather than on the status of the resources. However, the
apparent changes in share of small tunas being replaced by large tuna species may be
partly a result of probable shift in fishing techniques, from drift gillnets to handline and
the growing use of FADs in the fishing operations. The shift could have been triggered
by declining availability of small tunas.
In the last three years, improvements in the data collection system are visible. The
publication of the statistics presented on a per management area and the identification
of tunas to species level are two key improvements in recent years. The first release of
statistics according to fisheries management areas (FMAs) showed frigate tunas Auxis
thazzard, as the dominant species under the category of “tongkol”, a category in previous
statistical yearbooks identified as eastern little tuna, Euthynnus affinis and E. yaito.
Whether there was a shift of species composition from eastern little tuna to the frigate
tunas could not be ascertained.
In 2005, longtail tuna (T. tongkol) and eastern little tunas (E. affinis) account for 97.6%
of total tuna production and the remaining 2.55% are shared by big eye, frigate and
skipjack tunas (Figure 3.5).
Figure 3.5. Tuna landings (tons) by species in FMA-II in 2005.
Source: DKP-PCA 2006
0 4000 8000 12000
Longtail tuna
Eastern Little tuna
Big eye tuna
Frigate tuna
Skipjack tuna
Species
Landings (t)
Trends of Tuna Landings by Fishing Gear
Because there is no clear data on the national fisheries statistics on tuna landings by
fishing gear in different fisheries management areas, the fisheries statistics of the
province of Sumatera Selatan was used here to represent FMA-II. Since Sumatera
Selatan Province covers two fishery management areas, the statistics are first sorted to
get landings belonging to South China Sea (Table 3.2).
There are five types of fishing gears catching tuna in the FMA-II jurisdiction of the
province of Sumatera Selatan. Unfortunately one of the categories, “pancing lainnya”
(other hook & line) lumped all the different types of the hook and line fishing gears
(Figure 3.6). In 1995, jaring insang hanyut (drift gillnet) and pancing lainnya (other hook
and line) were the only fishing gears catching tuna. Starting 2000, trammel net started
to catch tuna. In 2003, jaring insang tetap (set gillnet) and bagan tancap (stationary
liftnet) recorded tuna catch as well (Figure 3.6).
In 1995, drift gillnet contributes 7.35% to the total tuna landings in FMA-II while the
group of hook and line contributes 2.66% (Figure 3.7). Starting 2000 however, the

24
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
contribution of drift gillnet significantly decreased while other fishing gears are starting
to catch a share in the tuna resources. The group of unidentified type of hook and line
maintain the same share but has become the major contributor to the tuna landings.
It is apparent that because of the usual practice of lumping fishing gears according to
major type, loss a lot of information very necessary in the analysis of the condition of a
certain resources.
Trends of Fishing Capacity
Fishing Gears
Because of the universal practice of lumping data, there is not much we can make use
of the effort data reported by in the fisheries statistics, including data set of the provinces.
However just to have an idea of what is happening to the whole fisheries, a short
description is presented below to show what is happening to the tuna fisheries by making
use of the data from the fisheries provincial statistics of Sumatera Selatan and Bangka
Belitung Provinces (Table 3.4 and Table 3.5).
There is an anomaly observed for the records of Sumatera Selatan Province which
indicates an all-time high on the number of fishing gears which was discounted in the
analysis (Table 3.4).
In Sumatera Selatan, the group of hook and line is the most widely used among the
tuna gears. Its numbers have fluctuated from a level of over 2,000 units in the mid
1970’s to 1980’s, reached its peak in 1995 with 3,800 units and has since declined to
just over 1,000 units since the turn of the millennium (Table 3.4). The number of troll
lines, attaining its highest number in 1979 (n=744 units) has been used in the 1970-
1980’s but has not been absent from statistical records since 1995. The reason for its
absence is not known.
Drift gillnets is likewise popular and its numbers have fluctuated significantly over the
years with the general trend of decreasing numbers. The number of units of drift gillnet
was below 1,000 units from 1976-1980, reached its highest number in 1995 with 2,400
units and has since declined by as much as 75% wherein only 389 units remained in
2005. Its demersal counterpart, the set gillnet showed an increasing trend whose numbers
have increased from less than 100 units in the mid 1970’s to over 800 units in 2003-
2004. Similarly, trammel net, which was first introduced the mid 90’s has remained
popular whose numbers fluctuated from 600-850 units. Liftnets, which catch tunas only
a seasonal basis remained one of the popular gears mainly because it supplies
anchovies, a favorite fish of the locals (Table 3.4).
Small tuna Production: South Sumatra Province
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1995200020012002200320042005
Year
Landings (mt)
Drift gillnet
Hook & Line
Trammel net
Set gillnet
Stationary Liftnet
Figure 3.6. Tuna landings by gear types operating in FMA-II and based in Sumatera
Selatan Province. Source: DKP Propinsi Sumatera Selatan, various years.

CHAPTER 3
FMA II: SOUTH CHINA SEA
25Page
In Bangka Belitung Province, available record in 2005 show hook and line with (13,846
units) followed by a demersal gear, the set gillnet with about 10,298 registered units.
The trammel net (6,735), drift gillnet (5,944), troll line (3,435) and Danish seine (1,160)
are also significantly used in the area (Table 3.5). The number of lift net is almost as
abundant as that in Sumatera Selatan within the FMA-II which was 586 units. The
registered purse seines number about 40 units. The popularity of hook and line is
expected due to its low capital requirement and high return on investment. This group
also exhibit the most number of varieties.
Fishing crafts
Again the fisheries provincial statistics of Sumatera Selatan Province was used to
represent trend in fishing crafts. Only the number of motorized fishing boats is presented
here as non-motorized fishing boats are not used in tuna fishing. There seems to be an
unexplained very high number in 1995 that it was deemed appropriate not to include
them in the analysis (Figure 3.7). The graphical presentation of all the motorized boats
registered within the coverage of FMA-II in Sumatera Selatan Province (and assumed
to be fishing within the FMA-II) showed generally increasing trend since 1970 until 2005,
which is the latest statistical publication as of this study period.
Gear Type197619771978197919801995200020012002200320042005
Danish Seine 558476500146542861 98102179179205
Drift Gillnet 9278628507278862414502513549408422389
Set Gillnet 47 64152167187492210196202825854681
Trammel Net 600615696712856870707
Lift Net 5886989738643891440781570580648717630
Other Hook &
Line
239420841919203823453872724777751104210641126
Troll Line 864152653744658
Total 537843365047468650079679283228502896395841063738
Table 3.4. Number of fishing gears for the province of Sumatera Selatan. Source: DKP
Propinsi Sumatera Selatan various years.
Tuna Gear Type
No of Gears
(2005)
Other Hook and Line 13846
Set Gillnet 10298
Trammel Net 6735
Drift Gillnet 5944
Troll Line 3435
Danish Seine 1160
Lift Net 586
Purse Seine 40
Table 3.5. Number of fishing gears for the Province of Bangka
Belitung for 2005. Source: DKP Propinsi Bangka Belitung.
A closer look in Table 3.6 show marked increases in the number of fishing vessels,
particularly for small ones with in-board engines; while a marked decline in the large
boats of 20-30 gross tons. This may indicate more small scale fishers are joining the
fishing sector, a truly disturbing development that will have severe consequences in the
years to come.
Estimate of tuna catches
Tuna catches from South China Sea based on Table 3.8 is almost 50 thousand tons
(49,745 MT). This estimate is very near the recorded values of 54,344 metric tons for

26
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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2004. However, our estimate is based on very conservative figures and we believe that
the actual production of tunas from South China Sea is much higher for the following
reasons:
1. The number of gears used to estimate total production is on the low
side as we have used only 60% of actual number of fishing gears listed
in the official statistical records of each province.
2. For Drift gillnet and the pelagic Danish seine, we have used the
lower limits of the figures fisher our respondents gave.
3. Similarly for the catch rates, we have used operational data for drift
gillnet and pelagic Danish seines pertaining to early 2007, the time
when we conducted our interview.
4. There is so much shift in use of fishing vessels, particularly in Bangka
Belitung where some boats were converted into service boats for the
nickel mining industry.
5. We did not include the possibility of fleets from other areas near the
South China Sea but were not officially included in the list of provinces
and districts covered by FMA-II which may be fishing in Sea during
certain seasons.
6. For lack of sufficient data, the tuna landings in the provinces of
Kalimantan Barat, Riau, Jambi and Lampung were not included in the
computation.
7. An e-research on the website of SPC on tuna fishing revealed that
there are tuna long liners operating in South China Sea – Indonesia
territory from time to time. The fishing ground coverage is within 0
o
to
5
o
North Latitude and 120
o
to 125
o
East Longitude. The data show that
Total motorized fishing fleet
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
196519701975198019851990199520002005
Year
Number of units
Year
Outboard
(25-40 hp)
Inboard
<5 GT
Inboard
5-10 GT
Inboard
10-20 GT
Inboard
20-30 GT
Inboard
30-50 GT
2000 nd 1587 224 27 nd nd
2001 100 2439 410 46 132 nd
2002 86 2412 417 52 135 nd
2003 221 2662 410 232 68 12
2004 225 2885 441 248 60 12
2005 231 2955 452 254 62 13
Figure 3.7. Trend in the increase of motorized fishing fleet of Sumatra Selatan
Province. Note the high entry for 1995. Source: DKP Propinsi Sumatera
Selatan (various years).
Table 3.6.Trends of fishing capacity (number of boats) in Sumatra Selatan
for different vessel types. Source:DKP Propinsi Sumatera Selatan (vari-
ous years).

CHAPTER 3
FMA II: SOUTH CHINA SEA
27Page
the catch composition of long lines in South China Sea is about 50%
tuna species and 50% other fishes which are considered by-catch. Catch
of tunas, though fluctuating between years from the lowest of 246.71
tons in 2000 and the highest of 352.82 tons in 2001, the average catch
is about 282.81 tons for the years 2000 to 2003 (Figure 3.8).
With the foregoing limitations, our estimate of 50 thousand tons coming from just two
provinces (Sumatera Selatan and Kepulauan Bangka Belitung), but with tuna catches
approximating official records for the whole South China Sea portion of Indonesia,
suggest that the total tuna catches will be in the vicinity of three times of the current
estimates.
Description of Fishing Technique
In this section, only those fishing gears sampled will be described and only the intricacies
and modifications pertaining to these fishing gears and this fishing ground are described.
Drift Gillnet
The drift gillnet is a curtain of netting hanging horizontally at sea. Buoyed at the surface
by a series of floats attached to float-line at the upper end of the nets and weighted at
the lower end with leads attached to the lead-line. The netting material is made of multi-
filament polyethylene twine of 50 mm mesh size. The total length of the net is about
1,500 to 3,000 meters and the depth is about 10 meters.
The other end of the net is attached to the boat while the other end is left at sea with a
float. The engine of the boat is generally idle and just drifting at sea with the net for at
most 3 hours. Fishing is usually at night. The boats commonly stay at the fishing ground
for 3 to 4 days per trip to save on fuel and time during the East Monsoon but during the
West Monsoon, the fishers usually go home everyday. This is because sea condition
during the west monsoon is a bit harsh and staying longer at sea is risky.
In Sumatera Selatan Province, drift gillnets are using boats powered with outboard motors
(kapal motor temple) and inboard motor boats (kapal motor) of <5 to 30 gross tonnages
(Table 3.6). In Bangka Belitung, the drift gillnets are using boats of about 3 and more
gross tons. The minimum number of fisher onboard is three and more depending on the
scale of the fishing operation.
Table 3.8. Estimate of tuna landings in the provinces of Sumatera Selatan and Bangka
Belitung Provinces including some distant water fleets from Java Island. See text for
details. Note: footnotes refer to numbers stated on rows and columns.
Gear Type
No of
fishing
gears
2
No of
fishing
gears
used
1,3
Annual
fishing days
3
or trips/yr
4
Est.
annual
prod.
/unit (t)
total fleet
prod. (t)
% share
of tunas
Est. Tuna
Production
(t)
Drift Gillnet
1
2080715000 210 8.22 123300 0.286 35,264
Pelagic Danish Seine
1
3180 2500 150 55.5 138750 0.100 13,875
Hooks and Lines
2
1590 1590 240 2.4 3816 0.03 114
Trammel Net
2
210 126 150 3.0 378 0.05 19
Set Gillnet
2
4623 2774 150 3.0 8321 0.01 83
Stationary Liftnet
2
1216 730 200 10.0 7296 0.005 36
Purse Seine (>30GT)
2,4,5
30 24 168.0 5040 0.07 353
Purse Seine (<30GT)
3
180 90 200 16.0 1440 0.07 101
Troll line
2
4623 2774 200 10.0 27738 0.05 1,387
TOTAL 49,745
1
/ based on operational data from interview results
2
/ based on aggregate number of gears from provinces within South China Sea
3
/ annual fishing days (sum of peak and lean months)
4
/ number of fishing trips per year
5
/ purse seine fleet from Java fishing in South China Sea (PRPT 2006)

28
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Danish Seine
Danish Seine is a type of seine which originated in Denmark. The gear is with a net that
looks like the trawl but with a larger bunt and longer wings connected to long towing
ropes. Danish Seines operating in South China Sea, Indonesia has a net opening of
about 7 meters and each of the towing ropes is 45 meters long.
The pelagic Danish seines in FMA-II mostly operate in FADs. One of the towing ropes is
tied to the boat while the other is anchored bouy. The anchored bouy is set first and the
vessel moves in a wide circle (effectively surrounding a school of fish), returning to the
bouy. The ropes act to keep the net open and concentrate the fish towards the bag. The
ropes are hauled together until all the net is onboard.
There are about five to six fishers onboard but could be more depending on the size of
the gear and boat. The Danish Seine boats leaves port at night and settings of net is
usually at daytime. The stay at the fishing ground for 3-4 days during the East Monsoon
and during the West Monsoon, the boats go back to port everyday.
Infrastructure Support
The highest level of fish landings infrastructures in FMA-II is the Pelabuhan Perikanan
Nusantara (PPN) Tanjungpandan which is located in the Island Province of Bangka
Belitung. A PPN or archipelagic fishing port is categorized as Type or Class B fishing
port in Indonesia wherein the port facilities caters for 15 to 60 gross tonner fishing boats
with a maximum limit of 75 units or 3,000 gross tons (Proctor, 2003). The fish landing
capacity of PPNs ranges from 40 to 50 tons of fish per day and it caters mostly for the
local market and secondarily for the export industries.
The second highest level of fishing port in FMA-II is the Pelabuhan Perikanan Pantai
(PPP) which is Class C on the classification of ports in Indonesia. A Type C Fishing Port
(PPP) is a coastal fishing port which caters to about 5-15 GT boats fishing just within
the archipelagic waters and with landings of about 15-20 tons of fish per day (Proctor,
2003). The port facilities are definitely small-scale that it only caters to local and domestic
markets. There are two PPPs (Type C fishing ports) in FMA-II namely, PPP Sungailiat in
the Island Province (Kepulauan) of Bangka Belitung and PPP Lempasing in Lampung.
There are also locally managed fish landing centers or Tempat Pelelangan Ikan (TPI’s)
distributed in almost all the coastal communities in the area. Almost half of these places
however are ill-maintained especially those in the cities. What is quiet amazing is that
those maintained by the communities are better kept as compared by those under a
government institution – a situation that is observed all throughout the country.
South China Sea: Longline
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Catch (t)
Total
Tuna
Non-tuna
Figure 3.8. Records of tuna longline catch by Indonesian fleet operating
in South China Sea for years 2000-2003.Source: Secretariat of the
Pacific Commission (SPC) database.
Early morning scene at the
fish market. Note the less
than ideal hygenic
conditions.

CHAPTER 3
FMA II: SOUTH CHINA SEA
29Page
Notes on the Economics of Fishing
As discussed above during this study we were able to gather first hand data only for two
fishing gears operating in FMA-II, these are the pelagic Danish Seine and the drift
gillnet. The fishing business sector is a function of investments and revenues. Investment
comes in terms of the costs of the fishing vessel and its motor or engine, and operational
expenses which mostly include fuel, ice, food and other government fees. The revenue
is highly dependent on local prices as dictated by the owner of the fishing boat which in
most cases are fish traders in the area.
For the pelagic Danish seine fisheries in FMA-II, the initial investment for a 3 gross tons
fishing vessel powered with an inboard motor of 26 HP invests about 40 million Rupiah
which when converted into US$ using the exchange rate of 9,750.00 Rupiah per US$
(IMA Asia, 2006) which amounts to about US$4,102.56 in 2005. A complete set of the
Danish seine fishing gear costs about 3 million Rupiah (US$307.69). The annual
depreciation costs is determined by the number of years the fishing boat, engine and
gear are expected to last which becomes the divisor of the total investment, the quotient
would be a part of the yearly fixed costs. In most cases the owners assign ten years of
lifetime to the vessel and engine while three years for the fishing gear. Thus the annual
depreciation cost (fixed cost) of the fishing vessel and the engine is about US$410.36
(4 million Rupiah) while for the fishing gear it is about US$102.56 (Rp1 million).
A unit of FAD (used by the Danish Seines) costs, for the year 2006, about 300,000
Rupiah which amount to US$28.85, this is making use of the 2006 average exchange
rate of Rp10,400.00 per US$1.00 (IMA Asia, 2006). In most cases the costs of FADs is
not part of the costings of the fishing operation but rather, the FAD gets a certain share
from the gross sales or even from the gross catch in the form of fish if the FAD owner
has a means of selling it for a better price; a better business technique more
advantageous to the owner of the FAD which in most cases are also the owner of the
fishing vessel.
The operational expenses which is accounted for every fishing trip is about 2.18 million
Rupiah (US$209.76). If a boat operates about 48 trips a year the total estimated annual
expenses reaches about Rp104.71 billion (US$10,086.46). Knowing how the fisheries
business industry works in most developing countries, there are other costs incurred
such as license fees, bribes and docking fees that are seldom reported by the fishers,
which is estimated in this report as 10% of the total operational expenses which amounts
to about Rp10.47 million (US$1,006.85).
The estimated revenue per year based on the results of the interview is about Rp322.509
billion. From this simplified calculations, the pelagic Danish seine is earning a gross
profit of about 202.33 billion Rupiah. This is where the shares of all the active workers
including the FAD would be based from.
The Danish seine though different from the other fishing gears, most of the situations
presented are true to the other fishing gears.
Issues and Recommendation
The general fisheries condition particularly for the tuna industry is not so much known
as very few studies were made. Even governments efforts, if such exist, are not well-
coordinated within the area. Maybe because the attention of the government is focused
in the fishing grounds of eastern Indonesia and Indian Ocean. However its location is
strategic and its resources is promising not just for capture fisheries but also as seeding
area for the famous Malacca Strait fisheries.
It is therefore suggested here that:
1. Comprehensive study on the capture fisheries of the entire FMA-II
giving focus on the pelagic resources and other parameters that may
affect the said resources.
Typical scenes at a market
place in Pangkal pinang,
Bangka Belitung.

30
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2. The location of FMA-II is also ideal because it is very near the two
main islands of Indonesia and its neighboring countries. A good port
facility here could encourage fisheries development and other fisheries-
related business ventures.
3. Visits to the markets indicate relatively good condition of the fisheries
resources. Moreover, very good small entrepreneurial industries are all
over the place, making use of the fish resources as raw materials.
Time will come that these enterprises upon learning the value of their
products would definitely expand and consequently put a strain to the
resources – it is a must now that a comprehensive plan integrating the
business sector and the fish resources would be put into place. An
appropriate resource management would definitely sustainably support
the probable expansion of the business enterprises in the area.
4. Infrastructure development of the fishing ports and landing areas
would definitely increase the value of the marine resources landed and
sold in those places. As of now most of the landing places are in sorry
state and is way down below the health standard provided by the
international community.

FMA-III: Java Sea
Geographic Scope
The Fisheries Management Area Three (FMA-III) covers the entire Java Sea. It is
bordered by Java Island in the south and by the island of Borneo in the north. It connects
with Makassar Strait and Flores Sea to the east and with South China Sea through
Karimata Strait in the south (Figure 4.1). The sea is about 420 km long on the north-
south border and 1,450 km east-west with an approximate area of 1,790,000 km
2
(Britannica, 2007). It is a shallow sea with a mean depth of 46 meters and a relatively
flat bottom.
The Java Sea is less saline compared to the adjacent bodies of water because of the
large inflow of freshwater from big rivers in the islands adjoining it, in particular those
coming from south Kalimantan. During the northwest monsoon, water surface current
flows west from Flores Sea and Makassar Strait with a velocity of 25-38 cm/sec, bringing
with it cold waters which helps in the productivity enrichment of the Sea particularly at
the eastern part. During the southeast monsoon, surface currents from South China
Sea and Sunda Strait flow east at a velocity of 12-25 cm/sec (Ilahude 1979, Bailey
1987, Sharp 1996 and Pasaribu 2004). This process of homogenous mixing the high
nutrient load waters contributes to the high productivity of Java Sea.
The provinces covered by FMA-III are DKI Jakarta, northern coastal parts of Jawa Barat,
Banten, northern coasts of Jawa Tengah, northern coasts of Jawa Timur, Kalimantan
Tengah and Kalimantan Selatan (Table 4.1).
Sources of Data for Analysis
To estimate the tuna catches, the actual data collected in this study are used primarily.
These are the interviews conducted from August 2006 to May 2007 of direct stakeholders
(fishers, traders and processors, scientists, and government personnel) of the tuna
Figure 4.1. Geographic location of Java Sea.

32
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
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fisheries industry. The data collected during this study are supported and supplemented
by other studies and the published statistics of the central DKP and the provincial DKP
Offices, literatures (published and unpublished) and the term papers of some of the
students from Sekolah Tinggi Perikanan (STP) in Jakarta.
Limitations and Assumptions
Just like that of FMA-I and FMA-II, the statistical reports in FMA-III also considered
tongkol komo (eastern little tuna) as the most abundant species within the once “tongkol”
(small tunas) species grouping prior to the year 2004.
Among the provinces covered within FMA-III, only Jawa Timur and Jawa Tengah have
good compilation of fisheries statistics. These two provinces also covered about more
than half of the coastal areas of FMA-III; therefore it was assumed that the data provided
by these provinces are good representation of this fisheries management area.
Also the resident fleets in the coastal waters of Java Sea do not always operate just
within the area but would sometimes go out to South China Sea and even Flores Sea
and Makassar Strait, making the segregation of statistics a bit difficult. This is true with
the mini purse seines and purse seines fleets landing in PPN-Pekalongan and PPP-
Juwana and Tegal (Jaya & Ghofar 2006).
Total Landings and Trends
The shallow and flat terrain characteristics that made Java Sea ideal for demersal trawl
fishing, a gear famous for its contribution to the collapse of demersal fisheries in the
1980’s. The collapse of large number of fish populations forced the government in 1982
to close Java Sea for trawl fisheries. This closure led to the birth of pelagic fisheries.
Provinces Kabupaten/Kota/KodyaProvinces Kabupaten/Kota/Kodya
Kota Jakarta Utara Tuban
Kep. Seribu Lamongan
Bekasi Gresik
Karawang Kota Surabaya
Subang Bangkalan
Indramayu Sampang
Cirebon Pamekasan
Kota Cirebon sebagian Sumenep
Serang Sidoarjo
Tangerang Pasuruan
Kota Cilegon Kota Pasuruan
Brebes Probolinggo
Tegal Kota Probolinggo
Kota Tegal Situbondo
Pemalang Kapuas
Pekalongan Kota Katingan
Kota Pekalongan Kotawaringin Timur
Batang Seruyan
Kendal Kotawaringin Barat
Kota Semarang Pulang Pisau
Demak Sukamara
Jepara Tanah Laut
Pati Kota Banjarmasin
Rembang Banjar
Barito Kuala
Kalimantan
Selatan
Kalimantan
Tengah
Jawa TimurDKI Jakarta
Jawa Barat
Banten
Jawa Tengah
Table 4.1. Political units falling under fishery management of Java Sea (FMA-III).
Source: DKP 2006.

CHAPTER 4
FMA III: JAVA SEA
33Page
Over the last four decades starting in the seventies, the volume of total fish landings in
Java Sea has increased three fold but its share relative to the Indonesian total fish
output has declined (Figure 4.2). Java Sea (FMA-III) contributes significantly to the total
fish landings of the country, maintaining its overall contribution of over 20%. In fact, in
the seventies about 27% were coming from Java Sea, steadily decreasing over the
decades and in the early 2000s the average annual fish landings in FMA-III is about
21.82% of the total fish landings of the country. The rise in the volume of landings in the
1980’s to the present could be attributed to the increased landings of small pelagics
following the introduction of purse seine and drift gillnet, as replacement of the trawl
gear.
Tuna landings in Java Sea (FMA-III) based from the DKP Statistics according to provinces
and coastal areas is on a steady rise, with annual average landings of 10,506 tons in
the 1970s, rose to 33,516 tons in the 1980s, and to 54,512 tons in the 1990s. By the
turn of the millennium, tuna landings reached 91,660 tons about tenfold increased from
1970 levels (Figure 4.3). The trends also show that the contribution of FMA-III to the
total tuna landings of Indonesia have levelled off at about 12% despite the seemingly
increasing trend in the volume of tuna landings (Figure 4.3).
Figure 4.2. Trends in fish landings of FMA-III (Java Sea) and its share rela-
tive to the total landings of Indonesia based on the DKP statistics by prov-
ince and coastal area annual yearbooks of 1976, 1983, 1993, 2001, 2004
and 2005.
0
250,000
500,000
750,000
1,000,000
1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Landings (mt)
10
20
30
% share
FMA-III total fish
% share to country's total
-
10
20
30
1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Percent Contribution (%)
0
25000
50000
75000
100000
Tuna Landings (ton)
% tuna share total fish in FMA-III
% tuna share of FMA-III to total tuna Indonesia
Tuna Landings (FMA-III)
Figure 4.3. Trends of tuna landings from Java Sea and its share relative to
the total landings (fish and tuna) of Indonesia based on the DKP statistics
by province and coastal area annual yearbooks of 1976, 1983, 1993, 2001,
2004 and 2005.

34
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Looking closely at the recent tuna landings using the newly published DKP Statistics
according to fisheries management areas, show an increasing trend where landing
have almost doubled from 2000 with 29,260 tons 50,255 tons in 2004 (Figure 4.4).
The percent contribution of tuna landings in FMA-III to that of the entire tuna landings
of Indonesia increased from 4.50% in 2000 to 6.97% in 2004 but attained its highest
share with 8.48% in 2002.
-
5
10
15
20
20002001200220032004
Year
% tuna share
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
Tuna landings (t)
% tuna landings in FMA-III from total tuna landings of Indonesia
% tuna landings in FMA-III from total fish landings in FMA-III
FMA-III total tuna landings
Figure 4.4. Trends of tuna landings from Java Sea and its share relative to
the total landings (fish and tuna) of Indonesia based on DKP statistics
by management area. Source: DKP statistics by FMAs, 2006.
Table 4.2. Comparison of tuna record of
landings for FMA-III between the sta-
tistics based on provinces & coastal
areas (DKP 2006) and by management
areas (DKP-WPP 2006)
Year
Tuna landings
(t) from FMA
Tuna
landings (t)
by province
2000 29,260
2001 33,936 62,543
2002 52,451
2003 49,790
2004 50,255 102,865
2005 85,233
Comparing the data sets from the two statistical reports reveal great discrepancy in
the landing figures. The figures reported in the DGF Statistics according to provinces
and coastal areas are almost as twice higher than the figures reported by in the
DGF Statistics according to fisheries management areas (Table 4.2). The source
and reason for such large discrepancy is not known.
A glimpse to the total tuna landings of some of the provinces within FMA-III particularly
Jawa Timur (East Java) and Jawa Tengah (Central Java) also show generally increasing
trends since the seventies (Figure 4.5). For both Provinces, the tuna landings were on
a hasty climb until the mid-nineties but hence to the present it has relatively reached a
sort of stability and though increases have been recorded these were not really significant.
What has been alarming is that, despite the rising trends on the number of boats landings
is not increasing. This might indicate that the resources have reached a certain level
wherein increasing the effort would not significantly increase the landings - this will lead
to further degradation of the resources that the increase of effort would rather decrease
output.
Trend of Landings by Species
Prior to the year 2004, reporting of species is just by major groups namely “tuna” for the
large tuna species (YFT, BET, Albacore, SBFT, etc.), “tongkol” for the small tuna species
(eastern little tuna, frigate tuna, bullet tuna, etc.) and “cakalang” for the skipjacks.

CHAPTER 4
FMA III: JAVA SEA
35Page
Tuna landings from east and central Java
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Landings (ton)
East Java
Central Java
Figure 4.5. Trends of tuna landings from Java Sea and landed in
the provinces of East and Central Java. Source: Provincial
DKP statistics of East and Central Java (various years).
Landings as reported in the DKP statistics by provinces and coastal areas (PCA),
indicates that prior to 2004, “tongkol” dominated the tunas from Java Sea with share
ranges from 76%-99%, the rest are skipjacks (Figure 4.6). Large tunas first appeared in
the records in 1983 with just 3 tons but have since increased in proportion to become
the most dominant tuna group landed, reached its peak of 88,588 tons in 2004 and fell
in 2005 with 61,635 tons (Fig. 4.6). The landings of skipjacks was somehow stayed
around 5,000 tons.
Tuna Landings (DKP stat by PCA)
-
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
197619831993200120042005
Year
Landings (ton)
large tunas
skipjack
small tunas
Figure 4.6. Landings by species groups of tuna in FMA-III (1976 - 2001)
from the Fisheries Statistic according to Provinces and Coastal Areas
(PCA). Source: DKP Statistics by PCA (various years)
As part of the improvement of statistical reporting, the DKP began reporting catch data
disaggregated into tuna species in 2004.
In 2004, the large tunas identified in the DKP Statistic by fisheries management areas
(FMA) are tongkol abu-abu (longtail tuna ~ 48,976 tons), madidihang (yellowfin tuna ~
28,053 tons), tuna mata besar (bigeye tuna ~ 9,592 tons) and albakora (albacore ~
1,967 tons) (Figure 4.7). In 2005, there was a general decreased in landings for all the
species but the ranking was maintained; longtail tuna (28,267 tons) has decreased by
about a half, yellowfin tuna (24,375 tons) also decreased by about 13%, bigeye (8,134
tons) fell by 15%, and albacore declined by more than a half, to that of the 2004 level
(Fig. 4.7).

36
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
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FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2004 2005
Year
Percent (%)
Longtail tuna
Bigeye tuna
Yellowfin tuna
Albacore
Eastern little tuna
Frigate tuna
Figure 4.7. Landings (%) by species of tuna in Java Sea. Source:
Fisheries Statistic according to Provinces and Coastal Areas
(DKP 2005, 2006).
By comparison, statistical records presented by fisheries management areas (FMA)
published in 2006 differ on the following aspects:
1. Small tunas or “tongkol” dominate the landings;
2. Large tunas or the group “tuna” consist only of the longtail tunas (tongkol abu-
abu);
3. Skipjacks, yellowfin, bigeye and albacore are absent.
In 1976, the Province of Jawa Timur recorded monthly landings of the “tongkol,” of
which proved to be good indicator of seasonality of small tunas. Peak months of landings
starts in the month of November until May with the highest on February and lean months
are during June to October (Figure 4.8). Unfortunately more recent data is not available
to see if seasonality has changed in recent years.
Monthly landings of "tongkol" in East Java
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSeptOctNovDec
Month
landings (ton)
Figure 4.8. Volume of small tunas (tons) taken from Java Sea and landed in
East Java. Source: Dinas Perikanan dan Kelautan Propinsi Jawa Timur, 1976.
Landings by Fishing Gear and Trends
Since there is no available information from the national statistics on how much tuna is
being landed by each type of the fishing gear operating in Java Sea, the statistics of the
provinces of Jawa Tengah (Jawa Tengah Fisheries Statistics 2004) and East Java (Jawa
Timur Fisheries Statistics 2005) are used here.
From the records of Jawa Tengah Province, the troll line (pancing tonda) fishing gear is
catching almost exclusively tunas while the landings of the drift gillnets (jaring insang
hanyut) comprises almost 50% tunas (Table 4.3). The others such as the category of

CHAPTER 4
FMA III: JAVA SEA
37Page
hook and line fishing gears landings of tuna is about 21.5% of its total catch, the rest of
the fishing gears landings comprise less than 5% tuna species.
In Jawa Tengah, there are only three types of fishing gear catching tuna in significant
proportion to the total catch (Table 4.3) while in Jawa Timur there are about six types
(Table 4.4). Comparing the troll line landings in the two Provinces, the catch composition
of troll line in Jawa Tengah are mostly tunas while in Jawa Timur only 48.67% are tunas.
The same degree of differences is observed in the other fishing gears. This result suggest
that fishing gears based in Jawa Timur fished a wider spectrum of fish species than
those based in Jawa Tengah.
Table 4.3. Landings by gear type and percent share of tuna landed in Jawa
Tengah, 2004. Source: Dinas Kelautan dan Perikanan Jawa Tengah 2004.
Gear Type
Total Fish
Landings
(ton)
Total Tuna
Landings
(ton)
Proportion of
Tuna to the Fish
Landings (%)
Troll Line 11.2 11.2 100.00
Drift Gillnet 10,888.8 5,154.4 47.34
Other Hook and Line 102.5 22.1 21.56
Set Gillnet 2,914.7 160.3 5.50
Trammel Net 222.9 8.0 3.59
Purse Seine 154,448.7 5,536.5 3.58
Set Longline 9,859.0 276.4 2.80
Pelagic Danish Seine 12,729.2 119.3 0.94
Demersal Danish Seine 27,109.3 155.2 0.57
Table 4.4. Landings by gear type and percent share of tuna landed in Jawa
Timur, 2005. Source: Dinas Kelautan dan Perikanan Jawa Timur 2005.
Gear Type
Total Fish
Landings
(mt)
Total Tuna
Landings
(mt)
% Share of tuna
to total fish
landings
Troll Line 16,052 7,812 48.67
Drift Gillnet 21,947 4,047 18.44
Other Hook and Line 11,826 2,117 17.90
Longline other than Tuna
Longline
279 44 15.86
Purse Seine 107,277 11,058 10.31
Other Fishing Gears 9,905 941 9.50
Pelagic Danish Seine 66,497 5,968 8.97
Set Longline 2,473 146 5.90
Trammel Net 9,858 420 4.26
Set Gillnet 14,541 470 3.23
Shrimp Entangling Gillnet 11,431 116 1.01
Beach Seine 760 7 0.91
Demersal Danish Seine 9,493 64 0.67
Fishing Capacity and Trends
Still basing from the information provided by the fisheries statistics of the provinces of
Jawa Tengah and Jawa Timur on the fishing gears catching tuna, the number of units of
these fishing gears in 2005 is detailed in Table 4.5. However, since these number of
units of fishing gears is based on the area of registration rather on the fishing ground,
there is no way to ascertain how many are actually exerting efforts on the tuna resources
of Java Sea. However, it is safe to assume that most of the small-scale fishing gears
are fishing in the Java Sea, such as the Danish seines, drift gillnets, the group of “other
hook and line, to name a few.

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Table 4.5. Number of fishing gears based in FMA-III, 2005. Source: DKP Statis-
tics by provinces and coastal areas for 2005 and DKP Statistics Report of Jawa
Tengah and Jawa Timur Provinces for 2005.
Gear Type TotalBanten
DKI
Jakarta
Jawa
Barat
Jawa
Tengah
Jawa
Timur
Trammel Net 17392 495 2602 5671 8624
Pelagic Danish Seine 16855 588 424 3930 3195 8718
Drift Gillnet 14583 781 396 6415 1303 5688
Other Hook and Line 13996 1071 1152 444 114 11215
Demersal Danish Seine 10204 119 457 817 5179 3632
Set Gillnet 8777 2 1229 5186 2360
Shrimp Entangling Gillnet 7606 607 1393 27 5579
Purse Seine 5290 1 269 196 3167 1657
Troll Line 5187 126 94 4967
Beach Seine 4847 2625 2134 88
Encircling Gillnet 2997 16 2382 599
Set Longline 877 185 567 125
Tuna Longline 294 294
Drift Longline other than
Tuna Longline
217 208 9
The fisheries statistics of the provinces of East and Central Java were used to show the
trends of fishing activities in Java Sea (Table 4.6 and Table 4.7). In 1984 and 1994, 92%
and 87% respectively, of the total number of fishing gear are just from five types (Table
4.6). By 2004, there was an increased on the number of dominant fishing gears to
seven types accounting for 90% of the total number of gears. Comparing the list of
fishing in 2004 to that of 1984, there are four new gear types added to the list.
The types of fishing gears dominating in the area suggests that the landings are mostly
small pelagic fishes. The trends presented in Table 4.6 and Table 4.7 illustrate the
dynamics of fishing in FMA-III. The resurgence of demersal gears (e.g. Danish seines,
trammel nets, set gillnets) tend to indicate a possible recovery of demersal biomass in
Java Sea following its collapse in the 1970s and 1980’s.
A closer look at the two tables (Table 4.6 and 4.7) likewise indicate that Jawa Timur
appear to be the more progressive in terms of fishing gear development and thereafter
spreads to other areas. This would explain the lag time for gears to become popular in
Jawa Tengah.
Table 4.6. Trends in the number of fishing gears registered in Jawa Tengah.
Source: Dinas Kelautan dan Perikanan Jawa Tengah 1984, 1994, 2004.
rank12345
Fishing Gears Type 1984 1994 2004
other hook and line 6723 1701 1434
Trammel Net 5552 8509 6933
Drift Gillnet 4311 3303 2633
Set Gillnet 3728 2570 7224
Purse Seine 701 808 1388
Danish Seine 573 914 2241
Set Longline 531 545 567
Beach Seine 308 96 2515
Stationary Liftnet 216 450 519
Encircling gillnet 161 30 0
Tuna Longline 1 5 112
Drift Longline 37 9
Mobile Liftnet 152 268
Troll Line 510 646
Vertical Handline 152

CHAPTER 4
FMA III: JAVA SEA
39Page
rank12345
Table 4.7. Ttrends in the number of fishing gears in Jawa Timur. Source: Dinas Kelautan
dan Perikanan Jawa Timur 1976, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005.
Fishing Gears 1976 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Drift Gillnet 8176 9060 11271 10281 5714 4703 5688
other hook and line 8062 7802 8836 6544 5805 9753 11215
Danish Seine 4521 4979 4505 4512 7670 8864 8718
Troll Line 2941 1229 2940 4992 3371 8751 4967
Set Gillnet 2863 2311 1599 1075 2864 3140 2360
Stationary Liftnet 1658 2680 2007 828 308 907
Beach Seine 277 78 223 9 0 0 88
Drift Longline 64 250 191 174 155 0
Purse Seine 57 620 1183 1084 1500 1838 1657
Mobile Liftnet 35 1908 14 53 347 259
Encircling Gillnet 3 40 548 81 599
Tuna Longline 162 125
Trammel Net 1155 1705 2203 10364
Vertical Handline 466 0
Estimate of Tuna Catches in FMA -III
Similar to Malacca Strait and South China Sea, Java Sea is not a major tuna fishing
ground even though the country’s primary tuna fishing port of Muara Baru is within its
coastal area coverage. The quantity of tuna taken from Java Sea amounts to 50,255
tons (DKP 2006). The volume excludes landings in Java Island that were taken
elsewhere.
The estimated total tuna catches using very conservative number of fishing gear, fishing
days and mean catch is 87,000 tons (Table 4.8), an estimate that is 73% more than the
recorded figures in the 2005 statistics. This figure is still on the lower limit considering
that other gears such as set longline, drift longline, beach seine and lift nets that catch
tuna as by-catch are not included in the computation, mainly due to lack of reliable
fisheries parameters.
Despite the seemingly high production, all reports and interviews made with fishers and
government officials points to the declining trends of catch rates when compared to the
past ten years. Interviews conducted with the mini purse seine fishers point to about
90% decrease of catch, same condition with the gillnet fisheries. There had also been a
dramatic increase in the number fishing vessels and the types of fishing gears as shown
in Table 4.6 and Table 4.7.
Table 4.8. Estimate of tuna catches from Java Sea using various sources.
Fishing Gears
no gears
2005
no of
gears
used
1
% share
of tuna
2
total
fishing
days/yr
annual
catch/unit
(mt)
Est. total fish
catches (mt)
Est. tuna
catch (mt)
Drift Gillnet
3
14583 8750 0.329 105 13.00 113,747 37,410.41
Trammel Net
3
17392 10435 0.039 180 22.50 234,792 9,219.82
Set Gillnet 8777 5266 0.044 105 12.20 64,248 2,805.26
Purse Seine 5290 3174 0.069 84 29.80 94,585 6,570.15
Pelagic Danish Seine 16855 10113 0.050 180 40.50 409,577 20,298.31
Troll Line 5187 3112 0.743 90 2.70 8,403 6,246.14
Other Hook and Line
13996 8398 0.197
180 2.70 22,674 4,474.12
Set Longline 877 526 0.044 120 3.00 1,579 68.70
TOTALS
949,604 87,092.91
3/ values of mean fishing days, mean catch taken from results of interviews
1/ number of gears represent 60% of reported figures for 2005
2/ Share of tuna by gear taken from 2006 DKP statistics

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Description of Fishing Technique
Drift Gillnet
The drift gillnets in FMA-III have mesh sizes of 4 inches and a spread of 3.5 kilometers
long and 20 meters depth. These fishing gears are left drifting at night at about 10-15
meters below the water surface. The net is set at about four o’clock in the afternoon and
hauling starts at one o’clock midnight. Hauling may last up to nine hours depending on
sea condition and abundance of catch. These are operated using mostly wooden hulled
boats of about 30 gross tonnages powered by engines of about 180 Horse Power (HP).
The boat has 12 crew members.
The main catch of drift gillnets in FMA-III are small pelagic fishes which includes the
small tunas. The small tunas were observed to be abundant during the months of August
to October. Various interviews with fishers operating drift gillnets in FMA-III, 85% of the
catch, during the peak months, is composed of small species of tunas.
Mini Purse Seine
In 1971, the commercial-size purse seine fleets were first introduced in Java Sea after
the banning of trawls but was proven to be not suitable trawl boats and thus the
development and proliferation of the mini-purse seine.
The mini-purse seines are just like the commercial-size purse seines only smaller in
size. The lay-out of the fishing gear is V-shape when cut longitudinally. The circumference
of the fishing gear’ mouth (wider end) is about three thousand seven hundred fifty (3,750)
meters tapering to about 900 meters at the lower end (the bunt). Mesh sizes is about
0.75 inch at the bunt 1-inch and the rest of the gear is about 1-inch.
This fishing gear is usually operated in Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). It also uses
lamps of about 250-400 watts of not lesser than 10 units per fishing boat. Despite the
use of FADs, fishing operation stops during full moon. One trip may last for just one day
(small-scale purse seiners) and for about four to five days (large-scale purse seiners).
Infrastructure Supports
Servicing the fisheries of FMA-III are Pelabuhan Perikanan Samudera (PPS) - Nizam
Zachman in Jakarta, Pelabuhan Perikanan Nusantara - Pekalongan and Pelabuhan
Perikanan Pantai Karimunjawa in Central Java, PPN Kejawanan in West Java, PPN
Brondong, PPP Karangantu in Banten and PPP Bawean in East Java and the other
Tempat Pelelangan Ikan managed by the local government units. This is the only fisheries
management area (FMA) that hosts quiet a number of national government managed
fishing ports.
PPS Nizam Zachman is the only first level fishing port with in FMA-III but it also service
fishing fleets operating in Indian Ocean and other seas. It is strategically located in
Muara Baru District. The fishing port however is beset with a lot of problems such as
flooding during the highest high tide, inadequate sanitation, and very poor post harvest
handling of fishes in the port during downloading of fish from the fishing boat and/or
carrier boats, despite the rehabilitation program heavily funded by ADB.
The tuna longline sector of the country is on a downward spiral brought about by the
declining catch rates, ageing wooden longline fleets and diminishing rents. The survey
last year revealed more boats tied to the port awaiting improvements in catch rates and
more subsidies from the government to pull them out of misery. A phase IV for the
Nizam Zachman Fish Port Project in Jakarta has been in the pipeline to improve the
landing facility and installation of water treatment (Haraguchi 2004) and the tuna sector
was central to the improvement plans. With the longline currently facing severe problems
and tuna production has shifted to eastern Indonesia, the question on the appropriateness
of funds being poured into the Nizam Zachman Fish Port may have to be re-evaluated.
(Insert picture of
downloading amidst
the garbages).

CHAPTER 4
FMA III: JAVA SEA
41Page
Of the second level fishing ports in FMA-III, PPN – Pekalongan was visited during this
study. Most of the landed fishes are small pelagic fishes landed by mini-purse seines,
drift gillnet and other medium scale fishing fleets. The sanitary condition here is better
than in other fishing ports, here they uses baskets as fish containers during the
downloading of fish from the boats to the auction process until taken by buyers. The
auction hall is also cleaned after the auction time. Auction time is usually in the morning.
Notes on Economics of Fishing in Java Sea
This section will simply focus on the costs and revenue balances of the fisheries. Most
of the data were results of the key informant interview we had with the fishers in the
area. Costs include fixed investment (boat, engine and fishing gear), running expenses
(which includes fuel, ice, food, taxes, marketing, etc.), and other expenses such as
FADs if any. The revenue is just the proceeds from the catch. Here we would not dwell
much on the complex issues involve in the economics of the capture fisheries but would
simply present the direct cost and revenue picture of the fisheries in FMA-III.
Drift Gillnet
There was no primary data taken on the initial investments for the drift gillnets operating
in Java Sea.
Operational cost per trip of 25 days per month is about Rp20 million, assuming they are
making an average of 5 trips per year as tuna fishing is only during the high season
(August to October) and medium season (March and April). The total running expenses
for one year is about Rp100.00 million which is equivalent to US$9,615.38 (using the
Rp10,400.00 for US$1.00 average annual exchange rate for 2006 – IMA Asia, 2006).
Mini-Purse Seine
The initial investments for a fishing vessel of 10 gross tons in 2001 was about Rp50.00
million, its inboard motor of 135 horse power was about Rp25.00 million, its generator
set was about Rp15.00 million, and the fishing gear costs about Rp30.00 million, which
totals to about Rp120.00 million. The annual depreciation cost for the fishing vessel is
about Rp5.0 million, engine is Rp2.5 million and the generator set is Rp1.5 million, and
Rp5 million for the fishing gear for a total fixed cost of Rp16.5 million; that is with the
assumption that the economic lifespan of the vessel and engines is about 10 years
while the fishing gear is 3 years. Operational expenses for a daily fishing trip is about
Rp4.57 million which amounts to Rp731.20 million in one year with 160-fishing days.
For the large fishing vessels of 26 gross tons, acquired in 2001, the initial investment is
Rp85.00 million, its inboard motor of 100 horse power and generator set (powering 10
fishing lights of 250 – 400 watts) was about Rp60.00 million. The initial cost for the
whole set of the fishing gear is not available. The initial investments divided by the
economic lifespan of the materials is the annual fixed cost which is about Rp8.5 million
for the fishing vessel and Rp6.0 million for the generator set and the inboard motor. The
operational expenses per trip, of 4 to 5 days asea and which includes the fuel, food, ice
and other provisions, is about Rp4.5 million. The estimated number of fishing trips in a
year is 28 which amounts to Rp126.00 million (US$12,115.38 using the 2006 annual
average exchange rate) estimated annual cost of operations.
Initially there seems to be inconsistencies on the reported operational expenses, with
the smaller vessel (definitely operating nearshore) spends more than the larger vessel
operating offshore. This is because the smaller vessels are day boats which travelling
means back and forth to the fishing ground while the larger vessels usually stays asea
for about 4 to 5 days, thus saving on fuel from constant travel. This also explains the
need for the smaller vessels to have engines of higher horse power which consumes
more as was the case above.
The small-scale purse seiners (10-GT), on the average, are earning about Rp2.77 billion
a year. Summing up all the possible expenses of including a 20% of the total annual

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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operation for the other unaccounted expenses reaches about Rp894.44 million a year.
The estimated gross income would be Rp1.88 billion; this amount would be shared
upon by the owner, the fishers and the FAD (if using one) according to their respective
shares.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
1. Fisheries Management Area Three (FMA-III) may not be major tuna fishing
ground for large tunas but current production estimates point to very high small
tuna production. Necessary attention should be given to the small tunas,
particularly in setting up the necessary physical and capacity building support
required to the reform and improvment of data collection systems. Note that a
large percentage of catch of small pelagics are salted at sea and these are
landed and distributed without necessarily passing through normal landing places
and therefore unrecorded.
2. FMA-III is the major source for baitfishes (roundscads, sardines) that support
the long line fisheries. The scientific evidence that roundscad resources are on
the brink of collapse (see also chapter on bait fisheries) where the remaining
biomass levels is just 15% of 1975 (Nugroho, 2006). Managing tunas meant
paying attention to the management of the baitfishes as well.
3. Java Sea is also a major source of about 60% of the animal protein requirement
of people in Java and Sumatra Islands, the most populous islands of Indonesia
(Vuichard, 1997). This management area holds very important role in the fisheries
sector of Indonesia.
4. There are indications that demersal resources are on the road to recovery but
are not given due attention.
5. The apparent differences in the reported landings in Java Sea by the two fisheries
statistic publications of DGF might be just a result of the newly implemented
statistical scheme of reporting following the fisheries management areas from
the usual practice of reporting according to coastal areas and provinces.
Whatever is the cause of these conflicting information, data has to be recheck
and corrected.
One of the challenges here though was not discussed in this section (see section on
bait fisheries for the full discussion of bait fisheries in Java Sea) is the management
towards conservation of the fisheries resources.

Geographic Scope
The Fisheries Management Area Four (FMA-IV) includes Makassar Strait and Flores
Sea and the other small seas and bays within the two mentioned bodies of water
(Figure 5.1). Geographically, FMA-IV covers eight provinces and 60 districts and
cities (Table 5.1).
Makassar Strait is a narrow deep passageway between the islands of Borneo (on
the west) and Sulawesi, formerly Celebes, (east side) with an average width of
about 15 km (370 km width on its widest breadth). It connects with Pacific Ocean
on the north through the Sulawesi Sea. It is also link with Java Sea on the southwest
and Flores Sea on the Southeast. Further, Makassar Strait is part of the famous
Wallace’s Line (a line defining the division of biodiversity between Australia and
Asia and named after its discoverer Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1860s). Unlike the
other inland seas of Indonesia, the water circulation of Makassar Strait is not affected
by monsoons but is more influenced by the Pacific Ocean – the current does not
change from its southward movement towards Java Sea the whole year round
(Soesanto, 1961).
Flores Sea is bounded on the north by the island of Sulawesi and on the south by
the islands of Lesser Sunda, Flores and Sumbawa and opens on the west to Java
Sea, Makassar Strait on its northwestern most end, and east to Banda Sea; with
about 240,000 km
2
of surface area. The Sea’s basin is a broad plateau with a
general depth of 500 m on the west with rising submarine mounts on its banks
which are often capped with atolls. Southeast to the Flores Basin, where the sea
plunges to its greatest depth of 5,140 meters, are two deep channels crossing. On
the north of the trough are two ridges, one of which rises as the Selayar Island,
flanking a shallower trough that extends up to the Sulawesi Island.
FMA-IV: Makassar Strait & Flores Sea
Figure 5.1. Geogrpahic location of Makassar Strait and Flores Sea.

44
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
Table 5.1 Provinces and respective districts and municipalities belonging
to fishery management area four ( FMA-IV).
Provinces District / Municipalities
Jawa Timur portion of Banyuwawai, portion of Sumenep
Bali Buleleng
Nusa Tenggara
Timor
Kota Bima, portions of Lombok Barat, Lombok Timur,
Sumbawa, Dompu, Bima, Sumbawa Barat, Kota Mataram,
Ende,Sikka, Flores Timur, Ngada and Alor
Nusa Tenggara
Barat
Portion of Manggarai
Kalimantan TimurSamarinda, Kota Samarinda, Kota Balikpapan, Pasir, Jutai
Kertanegara,Jutai Timur, Kutai Barat, Bontang, Penajam
Sulawesi TengahToli-toli, Buol, Palu, portion of Donggala
Sulawesi SelatanLuwu, Wajo, Bone, Sinjai, Bulukumba, Selayar, Bantaeng,
Jeneponto, Takalar, Kota Makassar, Maros, Barru, Kota Pare-
pare, Pinrang, Poliwali/Mamasa, Majene, Mamuju, Luwu
Timur, Mamuju Utara, Pangkajene Kepuluan
Both bodies of water, though narrow, are deep and therefore very ideal for pelagic
fisheries. The water circulation of both seas also contributes to the richness of the
fishing grounds. Makassar Strait serves as the exchange channels of waters from
the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean while Flores Sea always receives circulation
from Java Sea during the latter part of the year and at the early part of the year it
receives from Banda Sea.
Sources of Data
Total production, trends, species composition and fishing gear contribution to tuna
landings are mostly from the statistics of DKP and from the DKP Provinces. DKP
Statistics are solely reported according to provinces and coastal areas (perairan
pantai). Recently in 2005, however a new publication of statistic was published and
is reported according to established fisheries management areas (wilayah
pengelolaan perikanan); this new statistical publication covered the year 2000 to
2004. Despite this new statistical publication format, the old format, which is the
statistical reporting according to provinces and coastal areas continued. Starting
2006, therefore two sets of statistical publication have been on circulation; however
since the new statistical publication format (Statistics by FMAs) covered the annals
starting 2000 to 2004, there had been two sets of production estimates for five
years (2000-2004).
The statistics collected from the national government and provinces are
complemented by the papers (published and unpublished) by the various scientists
(from Indonesia and other countries) and from the report of the students of Sekolah
Tinggi Perikanan (STP) in Jakarta.
Estimation of tuna production, the present status of the tuna fisheries and issues
would be mostly from the collected data of this study.
Limitations and Assumption
Statistical reporting of tunas is grouped into three categories: “tuna” for the large
species such as bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, albacore, longtail, and southern bluefin
tuna; “tongkol” for the small tunas which includes eastern little tuna, bullet tuna,
frigate tuna and oceanic bonitos; and “cakalang” which represents the skipjacks. It
is only in 2004 that the groupings were disaggregated into their actual species
level.
Pole & line and purse
seine docked in fishing
port in Pelabuhan Bajo.

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
45Page
Ubiquitous within Indonesia is the Eastern Little tuna or Euthynnus affinis (Tongkol
komo) and it is the most abundant as reported on the statistics. Yet market surveys
conducted during this study reveal very few observations and it is the bullet tuna of
the species Auxis rochei that is abundant. This led us to believe that misidentification
of the bullet tuna may have occurred.
Because of the limited time for this study, not all provinces were visited and focus
on analysis of records were made only on the provinces that are deemed important
to tuna fisheries. These include the provinces of Nusa Tenggara Barat and Sulawesi
Selatan who provincial statistical data were used to complement the information
from the National DKP Statistics.
As mentioned earlier, there are two sets of statistical publication, the old one which
reports according to provinces and coastal areas and the new format which is
according to fisheries management areas. Though this latter publication adds to
the strengthening of tuna fisheries documentation system, a lot of inconsistencies
on the data reported needs to be improved. Use of these data sets are clearly
identified in this report.
Landings and Trends
Because there is no way to segregate the statistics from the DKP Statistics classified
by provinces and coastal areas into fisheries management areas, just as we did
with FMA-I, FMA-II and FMA-III, we refrained from using this statistical yearbook.
Instead, we have utilized the DKP Statistics presented by fisheries management
areas (Wilayah Pengelolaan Perikanan) publication which is cited as DLP-WPP
2006. Note however that as experienced from the previous FMAs, there are
significant differences in the figures reported by the two abovementioned statistical
reports.
The annual production of finfishes in 2004 was 680,520 metric tons representing
17.76% of the total finfishes output of Indonesia (DKP-WPP 2006). Of this
production, tunas account for 123.8 thousand metric tons which is 18.2% of fishing
ground’s total fin fish landings. Trendwise, the share of tunas to the country’s total
finfish landings fluctuates from 15.8% to 17.8% (Figure 5.2).
Three provinces belonging to FMA-IV were visited during this survey, namely
Sulawesi Selatan, Nusa Tenggara Barat and Nusa Tenggara Timur. Of the three
provinces, Sulawesi Selatan has the highest landings of tuna which showed a
generally increasing trend from available statistics since 1980. A 22% decrease in
landings in 2005 from 2004 figures was observed (Figure 5.3). For the province of
-
250
500
750
1,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Landings (10
3
tons)
14
16
18
20
Share of Tunas (%)
Tunas
Finfish
Share of tuna to finfish (%)
Figure 5.2 Volume (tons) and share (%)of tuna to finfish production in FMA
IV from 2000-2004. Source: DKP-WPP 2006.

46
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB), landings grew from 7,854.1 tons in 2000 to 10,085
tons in 2005. In the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur landings of tuna in 1999 was
about 4,538 tons and reached its highest level in 2005 to about 8,577 tons (Fig.5.3).
Combined, the tuna landings of the provinces of NTB, NTT and south Sulawesi
comprise between 50% to 74% of the total tuna landings but the proportion landed
shows decreasing trend over the period of 2000-2004 (Figure 5.4).
0
20
40
60
80
19751980198519901995200020052010
Year
Landings (10
3
ton)
Nusa Tenggara Barat
Nusa Tenggara Timur
Sulawesi Selatan
Figure 5.3 Production records of the major tuna producing provinces of fishery
management area four (FMA-IV). Source: DKP-WPP 2006.
Percentage of tuna landings relative to the total fin fish landings for three major
tuna provinces in FMA-IV are presented in Table 5.2. in Sulawesi Selatan from
1985 to 2005 fluctuate from 15-21%. In Nusa Tenggara Timur, from 1999 to 2005,
tuna landings varied from 17-23 percent to the total fin fishes landed. In Nusa
Tenggara Barat, percentage share of tuna to the total fin fishes landings steadily
decreased from 2000 (13%) to the lowest (3%) in 2002 but hence have recovered
and continuously increased until 2005 to 17.48%.
Landings by Tuna Species and Trends
Prior to 2004, the statistical yearbooks classify tunas by species groups as tunas,
to describe the large species of tuna, tongkol for the small tunas and cakalang for
skipjacks. In the period from 2000-2003, small tunas or “tongkol” dominate the
landings whose production over the period increased by 30%. Skipjack more or
less remained at the same production level while the large tunas’ production decline
by 44% over the same period (Figure 5.5).
-
20
40
60
80
100
120
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Landings (10
3
tons)
50
60
70
80
90
100
Proportion (%)
NTB+NTT+SS FMA-IV Proportion (%)
Figure 5.4. Share of tuna catch of major tuna producing provinces to total tuna
production of fishery management area four (FMA-IV). Source: DKP-WPP 2006.

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
47Page
In 2004, when the tuna entries were separated into species, skipjack dominated
the landings followed by tongkol komo (eastern little tuna) while lisong (bullet tuna)
showed to be least (Figure 5.6). The aggregate landings of large tuna species in
2004 amounted to 43 thousand tons, dominated by longtail and yellowfin tunas
(Fig. 5.6). Eastern little tuna appears to be the second most abundant landed species
but as previously described, is a case of misidentification. This is because eastern
little tuna is rarely present while lisong (bullet tuna) which are reported as very
minimal, is actually the most common among the small tuna species found in the
markets.
Year
Total Fish
Landings
(000 tons)
Tuna
Landings
(000 tons)
% Tuna
Share
Sulawesi Selatan
1975 192 12.0 6.25
1980 149 23.8 15.96
1985 193 34.0 17.63
1990 217 44.9 20.75
1995 236 47.5 20.13
2000 262 54.7 20.87
2001 267 49.5 18.52
2002 278 58.8 21.13
2003 279 58.8 21.11
2004 295 61.9 21.00
2005 259 48.6 18.75
Nusa Tenggara Barat
2000 60.4 7.85 13.0
2001 60.7 6.81 11.2
2002 49.8 1.60 3.20
2003 61.3 5.95 9.70
2004 57.9 8.17 14.1
2005 57.7 10.1 17.5
2000 23.0 5.03 21.9
2001 19.4 3.32 17.1
2002 20.0 4.58 22.9
2003 25.3 4.59 18.1
2004
2005 44.2 8.58 19.4
Nusa Tenggara Timur
Table 5.2. Historical records of the volume of fish and tuna landings taken from juris-
dictions of the provinces of south Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa
Tenggara portion of fishery management vour (FMA-IV).
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
2000
2001
2002
2003
Year
Percent Share
tongkol cakalang tuna
Figure 5.5. Percentage share of the landings of the three tuna categories
caught from fishery management area four (FMA-IV). Legend: tongkol-
small tunas; cakalang- skipjack; tuna- large tuna species.

48
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
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FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Viewed on landings at south Sulawesi province shows skipjack landings doubled
to 21 thousand tons from 1980 levels. Large tunas however show decline of more
than 50% to just 6.7 thousand tons from a high of 16.4 thousand tons in 2000 while
small tunas landings increased by 300% to 21 thousand tons from a level of 6.81
thousand tons in 1980 (Table 5.3).
The province of Nusa Tenggara Barat has not disaggregated the major grouping of
tuna into species. Since 2000 to 2005, the most abundant among the tuna groups
is “tongkol” followed by cakalang and then then the “tuna” group, except in 2002
when only the “tuna” group was reported (Figure 5.7). This however does not indicate
that there was never cakalang and “tongkol” landed in the province; there might be
some missing information in the reporting.
Just like Nusa Tenggara Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur province has not complied
with the reporting of tuna landings by species. Skipjack tunas dominated the landings
from 1999 to 2003. In 2005, there was an apparent shift of species dominance to
the small tunas (Figure 5.7b). Landings of large tunas seemed to have leveled off
at about 750 tons from 2000 to 2005 (Fig. 5.7b).
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Skipjack
Eastern Little tuna
Longtail tuna
Yellowfin tuna
Bigeye tuna
Frigate tuna
Albacore
Bullet tuna
Landings (10
3
ton)
Tuna Species
Figure 5.6 Landings of tuna in Makassar Strait and Flores Sea by species spe-
cies for 2004. Source: DKP-WPP 2006.
Year SkipjackLarge TunasSmall tunas
1975 5.96 6.04 nd
1980 9.77 7.25 6.81
1985 17.2 6.86 9.96
1990 20.6 10.8 13.5
1995 21.5 12.1 13.9
2000 22.8 16.4 15.5
2001 20.7 11.9 16.9
2002 21.2 12.8 24.8
2003 23.2 13.2 22.4
2004 25.3 11.3 25.3
2005 20.9 6.71 21.0
Table 5.3. Tuna production (in thousand metric tons) by category
type landed in South Sulawesi Province. Source: DKP Sulawesi
Selatan Province (various years).
Landings by Fishing Gears and Trends
The provincial fisheries statistics report of south Sulawesi Selatan in 2005, here
used to represent FMA-IV show 17 different types fishing gears that catch tunas
(Table 5.4). Of these, only four gears which include the tuna longline, pole and line,
troll line, simple tuna handline and the vertical longline target the large export
species. The rest of the gears such as the other hook and line, drift gillnet, purse
seines, pelagic Danish seine, encircling gillnet target the small tunas and skipjack

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
49Page
Figure 5.7 Tuna output (in thousand metric tons) by category type landed in A. Nusa
Tenggara Barat and B. Nusa Tenggara Timur Provinces. Source: DKP NTB Propinsi
(2000-2004). Note the absence of landings for skipjack and small tunas for 2002 in
NTB and no 2004 data for NTT.
2,242
1,373
1,467
1,777
2,900
774
525
1,597
303
494
1,765
4,838
4,916
4,178
5,904
5,422
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
2000
2001
2002*
2003
2004
2005
Year
Landings (percent)
A. Nusa Tenggara Barat
only during certain seasons while the rest of the gears take tunas as by-catch. The
proportion of tunas to the total catch of each fishing gear type is presented in Table
5.4.
Interestingly, gears that catch substantial percentage of tunas are artisanal gears
such as hook and line, simple tuna handline, troll line, vertical handline and small
scale gillnets. For the hook and line and troll line, both large and small tunas are
caught by these fishing gear types.
While gears with directed tuna catch have expectedly high proportion of tunas in
their total fish catch, non-directed tuna catch by other gears (drift gillnet, other
hook & line) show higher proportion that those that target the tunas. This happens
because of high catch of small tunas and skipjack during certain seasons. Tunas
only account for a fifth of the purse seine catch because the fleet operating in FMA
IV targets the small pelagics (scads, sardines) and not necessarily tunas.
Trends of tuna landings expressed in percent share by fishing gears arecompared.
Over the last 25 years three gears alternately dominate the tuna landings in South
Sulawesi province. These are the troll line, hook & line and the pole and line. Major
changes occurred in the ranking in 2005 where purse seine became the top tuna
producer, followed by pole & line and hook & line. (Figure 5.8).
1,028
427
452
313
772
749
758
2,028
1,825
3,007
1,980
2,164
2,554
2,388 1,724
1,674
6,791
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2005
Year
skipjacklarge tunassmall tunas
B. Nusa Tenggara Timur

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GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
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FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Three gear types, the tuna longline, troll line and the hook and line dominated the
landings of the arge export species of tunas in south Sulawesi province (Table
5.5). Over the span of 23 years beginning 1980, changes in the contribution of
each gear were observed. For one, tuna longline used to be the biggest producer
of large tunas in the 1980’s but was replaced by troll line and hook & line. These
two gears both are operated as small scale fishing gears operated by artisanal
fishers.
For skipjack tunas, troll line and pelagic Danish seines are the major producer in
the 1980’s. In the 1990’s pole & line, hook and line and troll line became the major
skipjack tuna gears and beginning in year 2000, troll line and hook and line still
dominate but drift gillnet and purse seine are added biggest contributor to the
landings (Table 5.6). The production of skipjack based on landings from south
Sulawesi has grown by 2.12 times from production of just 9.8 thousand tons in
1980 to 21 thousand tons in 2003 (DKP Sulawesi Selatan Propinsi, 2005).
For the small tunas (tongkol), there is an apparent shift on the types of fishing
gears over the year. From pole and line in the 1980’s to troll line in 1985 to pelagic
Danish seine in 1990 and 1995 to drift gillnet in 2000 and purse seine in 2005, the
major gears that catch the small tunas in quantity have shifted from small scale to
large scale operations (Table 5.7). Furthermore, the number of gears taking small
Fishing Gear Type
Total Fish
Landings (000
tons)
Tuna
Landings
(000 tons)
Proportion
of tuna
catch (%)
Tuna Long Line 3.7 3.6 97.82
Pole and Line 13.4 10.3 76.51
Troll Line 16.7 6.4 38.55
Other Hook and Line 24.9 6.8 27.26
Drift Gillnet 17.6 4.5 25.59
Drift Long Lines 0.8 0.2 24.97
Purse Seine 65.2 13.6 20.80
Hand Line 3.4 0.6 18.42
Vertical Hand Line 1.1 0.2 17.70
Encircling Gillnet 10.2 1.6 15.77
Set Long Line 6.2 0.7 11.38
Pelagic Danish Seine 10.4 0.8 8.12
Shrimp Gill Net 1.8 0.1 4.38
Set Gillnet 32.3 0.1 0.29
Stationary Liftnet 5.1 0.0 0.25
Boat/Raft Lift Net 29.3 0.1 0.17
Trammel Net 0.3 0.0 0.03
Table 5.4. Total fish and tuna catch of each fishing gear types based in South
Sulawesi Province for 2005. Source: DKP Sulawesi Selatan Province 2005.
``
Gear Types 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003
Tuna Long Line 3705 23 149
Other Hook and Line 2789 4437 7491 3710 2066 498 1025 4371
Troll Line 623 1132 1084 641013082 927810857 4534
Pole and Line 74 1783 517 73 57 58
Drift Long Line 781 5 13 21 33 58 1041
Set Long Line 6 45 39 35 63 35
Drift Gillnet 113 63 59 575 443 512 186 512
Encircling Gillnet 20 74 80 208 171 70 89 70
Set Gillnet 50 142 74 38 44 38
Trammel Net 41 16 2
Pelagic Danish Seine 153 61 24 16 351 65 351
Purse Seine 139 180 375 196 189 150 189
Mobile Liftnet 13 32 6 336
Stationary Liftnet 37 9 1609
Other Liftnets 3 11 6 6
Trap 14
Other Traps 678 1
Other Fishing Gears 184 117 4
Table 5.5. Share of production of large tunas by fishing gear types and landed in south
Sulawesi province. Legend: red-most abundant; blue-2nd rank. Source: DKP Sulawesi
selatan propinsi (various years).

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
51Page
1980
01020304050
Troll
Tuna LL
HL
PDS
DGN
PS
P&L
Others
% share of tuna catch
Gear
2005
01020304050
PS
P&L
H&L
Troll
DGN
TLL
EGN
Others
% share of tuna catch
Gear
2000
01020304050
Troll
DGN
H&L
PS
P&L
PDS
EGN
Others
% share of tuna catch
Gear
1995
01020304050
Troll
H&L
P&L
DGN
PDS
PS
EGN
Others
% share of tuna catch
Gear
1990
01020304050
H&L
P&L
Troll
DGN
PDS
PS
EGN
Others
% share of tuna catch
Gear
1985
01020304050
H&L
Troll
PDS
DGN
PS
P&L
DLL
Others
% share of tuna catch
Gear
Figure 5.8 Share of tuna (%) to the total production of each gear type landed in south
Sulawesi province over the last 25 years. Legend: TLL-tuna longline, H&L- hook &
line, PDS-pelagic Danish seine, DGN-drift gillnet, PS-purse seine, P&L-pole and
line, EGN-encircling gillnet. Source: DKP Sulawesi Selatan Propinsi, various years.
``
tunas as by catch has likewise increase in number to include beach seine, liftnets,
traps and longlines. With the introduction of improvements in recording system,
gears such as the tuna handline and vertical handline are added to the list of tuna
gears.
Fishing Capacities and Trends
Compiled records of the three provinces of south Sulawesi, NTT and NTB show a
total of 51.9 thousand fishing gears belonging to at least 12 types. Of this gear
varieties, five are specific for catching tunas and the remaining take tuna as by
Table 5.6. Trends in production of skipjack tuna by gear type and landed in south Sulawesi
province. Source: DKP Sulawesi Selatan Province (various years).
Gear Type 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Troll Line 3286 3013 3019 7963 7358 3240
Pelagic Danish Seine 2062 2560 753 909 844 841
Pole and Line 696 1107 8019 5397 1986 10286
Drift Gillnet 510 2471 2351 3034 6938 2692
Purse Seine 29 1813 1075 1179 1511 760
Other Hook and Line 1003 4538 4584 2043 2960 1752
Tuna Long Line 2039 250
Encircling Gillnet 82 201 425 428 461 483
Mobile Liftnet 50 67 134 77 104 50
Trap 41 9 10
Set Gillnet 13 659 214 249 393 93
Other Liftnets 2 3 8 7
Stationary Liftnet 5 3 13
Drift Long Line 698 47 121 165 73
Set Long Line 38 26 319
TOTAL 9814 17135 20640 21451 22753 20853

52
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FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Table 5.7. Trends in production of small tunas (tongkol) by gear type and landed in
south Sulawesi province. Source: DKP Sulawesi Selatan Province (various years).
catch or directed catch during certain seaons (Table 5.8). The figures given below
do not include gears from other provinces.
From the period 2000 to 2005, the number of tuna fishing gears increased but the
numbers of many of the tuna gears have probably reached their maximum number in
2003 as their numbers in the following years declined (Table 5.9). Such is generally the
case with purse seine, troll lines and drift gillnets for the provinces of South Sulawesi
and NTB. For NTT however, a huge rise in the number of tuna gears have been observed
in 2005 where all gears save for the pelagic Danish seine showed increases (Table
5.9). The reason is that many of the fishing gears elswhere have shifted operation to
NTT area where fishing still remains highly profitable.
The number of fishing vessels as exemplified by the records of the provincial
statistics of South Sulawesi (DKP Sulawesi Selatan Propinsi, 2005) show the number
of vessels with outboard motor double from 4716 units in 1980 to 8709 units in
2005 and an exponential rise in the total tonnage of vessels with inboard engines
(Figure 5.9). The same development could be said for the rest of provinces that
catch fish in FMA-IV.
For the provinces of NTT and NTB, the spread of vessel size is limited to the smaller
size classes, hence there are no large vessels over 30 GT registered in these
areas. This does not mean that there are no large vessels operating within their
jurisdiction.
Gear Type 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Pole and Line 7779 810 2205 1238 1966
Troll Line 2579 2874 1646 1945 1489 463
Pelagic Danish Seine 1421 1846 3132 3712 2895
Other Hook and Line 956 1310 1307 1528 1928 2689
Drift Gillnet 863 1970 2795 2867 3052 166
Purse Seine 810 562 1012 1105 2389 5371
Encircling Gillnet 75 75 305 423 300 358
Trap 42 12 38 38
Stationary Liftnet 27 53 39 46 58
Mobile Liftnet 20 450 318 384 525
Tuna Long Line 19 32 487
Set Gillnet 1 222 319 148
Other Liftnets 3 5 6
Drift Long Line 39 242 658 48
Set Long Line 425 23 90 389
Beach Seine 17
Tuna Handline 506
Vertical handline 187
Gear Type Number
Targetted (T)
By-catch (BC)
Tuna Longline 920 T
Pole and Line 479 T
Troll line 8492 T
Drift Longline 3965 BC
Set Longline 3549 BC
Other Hook & Line 15945 T /BC
Vertical Handline 577 T
Tuna Handline 4916 T
Drift Gillnet 3905 BC
Encircling gillnet 396 BC
Purse Seine 2674 BC
Pelagic Danish seine 2099 BC
Other Fishing Gear 3982 BC
TOTAL 51899
Table 5.8 Number of fishing gears regis-
tered for the provinces of south
Sulawesi, NTT and NTB for 2005. Leg-
end: T-tuna as targetted by gear; BC-
tunas taken as by-catch or only during
certain seasons in an opportunistic way.

CHAPTER 5:
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53Page
Estimate of Tuna Catches
A total of 297.4 thousand tons was estimated for FMA-IV for the three major
provinces that form the backbone of the tuna fishery. This estimate is 2.4 times the
official tuna catches for the whole fishery management area four (FMA-IV). Despite
this very large difference in tuna output, this estimate is on the lower range
considering the following assumptions we used in our estimate:
1. The number of fishing gears utilized represent 60% of official records
for 2005 for only three provinces (South Sulawesi, NTT and NTB).
Only the data for vertical handline, tuna handline were totally used as
interview results suggest that these are still grossly underestimated.
2. Actual operational data for catch rates, fishing days were used for the
following gears: handline, vertical handline, troll, purse seine mini, purse
seine medium and pole and line. Mean annual catch rates were based
on taking the averages of tuna catch for peak and lean seasons and
including zero catch in the computation; the same averaging procedure
was used to estimate total number of fishing days. Similarly for the
South Sulawesi 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Tuna Long Line 21 868 920
Pole and Line 101 135 389 413 252 183
Troll Line 3958 4980 4284 6126 6192 4155
Drift Long Line 714 771 781 779 731 187
Set Long Line 2740 2530 2631 2712 2339 2742
Other Hook and Line 7697 8724 8534 10429 10085 8391
Vertical Hand Line 653 507
Hand Line 3124 1383
Drift Gillnet 5987 5372 5433 4263 4288 3017
Encircling Gill Net 642 623 592 623 547 396
Purse Seine 1655 1862 1754 2494 2700 2299
Pelagic Danish Seine 3563 3258 3246 3423 3728 1750
Other Fishing Gears 1283 717 754 583 434 344
Tuna Long Line 47 51
Pole and Line 68 68 68 68 296
Troll Line 1458 2015 1361 1304 3041
Set Long Line 22 22 1
Other Hook and Line 5949 5528 6346 6076 6618
Drift Gillnet 2491 2240 2133 1797 3651
Encircling Gill Net 603
Purse Seine 116 117 122 149 213
Pelagic Danish Seine 67 54 48 300 46
Other Fishing Gears 1399 1191 2117 2720 3116
Tuna Long Line 3
Troll Line 832 1243 1342 1416 1615 1296
Drift Long Line 787 429 187 184 232 127
Set Long Line 180 184 295 281 359 807
Other Hook and Line 4595 4778 4456 4505 1792 936
Vertical Hand Line 70
Hand Line 2259 3533
Drift Gillnet 1849 1534 981 1125 878 888
Encircling Gill Net 19 20 21 29 29
Purse Seine 125 127 171 194 168 162
Pelagic Danish Seine 512 518 458 438 397 303
Other Fishing Gears 1690 1115 701 313 355 522
Nusa Tenggara Timur
Nusa Tenggara Barat
Table 5.9 Number of registered tuna fishing gears for the provinces of South Sulawesi,
Nusa Tenggara Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat belonging to fishery management area
number four (FMA-IV). Sources: DKP Sulawesi Selatan Propinsi, DKP NTT propinsi,
DKP NTB Propinsi.

54
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
data on proportion of tunas of each gear, we have used actual
percentage share based on results of species composition provided
to us during interviews for handline, purse seine, pole & line and troll.
3. For the rest of the fishing gears, we have used estimates based on
other FMAs where we have data.
The use of 60% of reported figures on number of fishing gears is justified in order
to allow for errors arising from double registration, double reporting at fishing ports
particularly for the vessel larger than 10 GT. We also did not include in the
computation the tuna longline gear where 920 units as well as other minor gears
whose tuna share is below 1% in the 2005 fisheries statistics yearbook of the three
provinces.
Of the 297.4 thousand tons estimated production of tunas in FMA-IV, about 44%
are large tunas, 24% small tunas and 32% skipjack tunas. The main contributor to
the large tuna production in FMA-IV are the handlines and the troll lines, mostly
made up of yellowfin and very few big eye tunas. If data from East Kalimantan are
Figure 5.9 Trend in the number of fishing crafts with outboard motor and the sum of
vessel tonnage for crafts with inboard engines in the province of South Sulawesi.
Source: DKP South Sulawesi Statistics (various years).
1
/ used only 60% of recorded units
2
/ actual fishing days
3
/ used only 20% to account for seasonality of small tunas & skipjack
4
/ used all gears as this an underestimate
5
/ based on actual operational data from interviews
6
/ estimated from other fishing areas
7
/ based on DKP Sulawesi Selatan Statistics 2005
Table 5.10. Data used to estimate tuna catches in FMA-IV (for three provinces only).
Sources of data: DKP provincial fisheries statistics 2005, results of this survey. Note:
The footnote number on row and column defines the corresponding figure.
Fishing Gear Type
No. gears
2005
no of gears
used
1,3,4
total fishing
days/yr
2,5,6
annual
catch/unit
(mt)
5,6
Est. total fish
catches (mt)
% share
of tuna
5,7
Est. tuna
catches (mt)
Pole and Line
2,5
479 287 258 200 57,480 0.97 55756
Troll Line
5
8492 5095 224 14 71,333 0.98 69906
Other Hook and Line
3,6,7
15945 3189 240 5 15,307 0.27 4172
Hand Line
4,5
4916 4916 140 22 108,152 1.00 108152
Vertical Hand Line
4,5
577 577 140 22 12,694 0.20 2539
Set Long Line
1,6,7
3549 2129 180 9 19,165 0.11 2180
Drift Long Lines
1,6,7
3965 2379 180 9 21,411 0.25 5347
Purse Seine (>30GT)
1,6,7
18 11 224 130 1,404 0.21 292
Purse Seine (<30GT)
1,5,7
2656 1594 143 105 167,328 0.21 34798
Pelagic Danish Seine
1,6,7
2099 1259 180 27 34,004 0.08 2762
Drift Gillnet
1,6,7
3905 2343 180.000 18 42,174 0.26 10791
Encircling Gillnet
1,6,7
396 238 180 18 4,277 0.16 674
TOTAL 297369
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
198019851990199520002005
Year
No Boat with Outboard
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
Gross Tonnage (Inboard)
Outboard
Inboard
?

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
55Page
to be included, then the proportion of large tunas will significantly increase as the
number of handlines reported by respondents operating in Makassar Strait is
estimated to number around 10,000 boats!
The Tuna Fisheries
The major fisheries of tuna discussed in this section include the hand line, troll line,
pole and line, purse seine and the tuna long line. This section would give a bird’s
eye view of these fisheries.
Pole and Line
The pole and line fisheries in FMA-IV are using two types of fishing vessels, the
wooden hulled and the fiber glass hulled, most however are using the wooden
hulled boats. The boats are usually 25 to 40 gross tonnages powered by 56 – 160
HP marine engines. Each fishing vessel is manned by about 15-25 people depending
on the gross tonnage of the boat. During the peak months, the maximum number
of days fishing is about 26 days while during the lean months maximum days at
sea is only 20 however the days usually varies depending on the availability of
baits (see also Chapter 13). The peak months in Bone Bay for the pole and line
fishing is from October to November and from May to November in southeast
Sulawesi. The lean months of pole and line fishing starts from January to May of
each year.
The pole and line units used to catch the fish is composed of a 2.5 meter long thin
bamboo pole. Attached at the finer tip of the bamboo is a 2.5 meter multi-filament
corallon twine of 22-mm diameter where the unbarbed hook is attached at the other
end of the line. The length of the line is measured such that when a hooked fish is
hanging on the line, it is at the level where the fish will fit between the upper arm of
the fisher and the side of his body.
This fishing gear uses false made of synthetic colored thread of various pastel
colors. The fishing techniques utilizes chumming, where livebaits are thrown out
into the school of skipjack, sea water is sprayed to simulate frenzy feeding and
fishing commences. Livebaits used consist of anchovies, juveniles of sardines,
fusiliers and other fishes which are kept in holding tanks on the boat. This will
explain why pole and line boats are large so that it could accomodate several holding
tanks for live baits. A boat of the size described above would normally need about
50 liters of baits per fishing operation. Baits are usually caught by stationary or
mobile liftnets in Bone Bay or South East Sulawesi coasts.
Table 5.11 Estimated volume of tunas by categories using production figure
in Table 5.10. The proportionality index used for pole and liine, troll line,
handline, vertical handline and purse seine are based on actual interviews.
Fishing Gear Type
Large
tunas
Small
tunas
Skipjack
Pole and Line 5576 50180
Troll Line 35652 9088 25166
Hand Line 102744 1082 4326
Vertical Hand Line 1777 762
Purse Seine (>30GT) 242 50
Purse Seine (<30GT) 28883 5916
Other Hook and Line 4277 1069
Set Long Line 29.20 262.78
Drift Long Lines 20879 13919
Pelagic Danish Seine 2209 552
Drift Gillnet 674
Encircling Gillnet 674
Total 138397 75390 102203
Percent share 44.00 24.00 32.00

56
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
Pole and line fishing operates both on Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) or by
searching for schools through use of associated indicators such as sea birds and
dolphins. However, beginning 2004, when fuel prices increased by 200% and
subsidies removed, pole and line fleet became dependent on fishing in FADs to
minimize fuel for searching fish schools. The problems of the pole and line fishery
is discussed fully in Chapters 13 about the livebait problem and Chapter 14 on the
impacts of fuel price increase.
Catch and Catch Rates
Based on the database available at South Pacific Commission (SPC) for pole and
line fleets in FMA-IV, the total tuna catch rose steadily from 1976 (136.81 tons) to
its peak in 1999 (45,772.45 tons) and have gradually decreased until 2004 by about
19% of the 1999 catch (Figure 5.10).
Catch rates of pole and line operating in Flores Sea have shown declining trend
where annual catch rates of over 1 ton/fishing day in 1982 has gone down by 65%
to only 373 kg/fishing day in 1989. The main reason for the decline of catch is the
acute shortage of livebaits for chumming. The level of decline have been confirmed
by fisher respondents who estimated current catch and catch rates as just 30% of
1980 levels!
A plot on the catch rates and available number of pole and line vessel points to a
classic trend of low catch rates and high fishing pressure indicative that local
overfishing of skipjack is probably happening (Figure 5.12).
The availability of livebaits is key to a successful pole and line fishing operation.
But the availability of livebait situation has gone from bad to worse forcing operators
to cut down on fishing frequency by as much as 40%. The problem with sourcing
baits, particularly for live anchovies is a question of resource availability. Declining
catch rates of baitfishes is one of the reasons for lack of baitfish supply (Figure
5.`13). The study of Widodo showed that baitfish catch rates declined by 64% over
a period of five years from 1985-1989. Over the same period, the number of liftnet
units increased by 56%. Again, another classic case of unregulated fisheries.
The dependency of the tuna pole and line fishery to another fishery (liftnets) show
the importance of applying the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management.
The policies and regulations on the tunas should take into consideration other
aspects of the fishery, in this case the source of livebaits to ensure that a particular
fishery does not impact another fishery.
The pole and line fishery targets the skipjack tuna but schools of skipjack are
contaminated by juvenile yellowfin. The volume of yellowfin contamination in the
catch of pole and line averages about 6.16% (range: 4.0% to 9.0%) (Figure 5.14).
However, records exist of higher percentage of yellowfin are present, where yellowfin
Pole and Line Catch in FMA-IV
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Total catch (ton)
Figure 5.10. Tuna catch by pole and line fleet operating in FMA-IV. Source: South
Pacific Commission Database: http:// www. spc.org

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
57Page
Figure 5.11. Monthly catch rates (kg/trip) of wooden pole and line vessels operating in
Flores Sea from 1982-1989. Inset: same data set presented as annual mean catch
fitted with a trend line. Source: drawn from data in Widodo (1990).
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
J 82 J 83 J 84 J 85 J 86 J 87 J 88 J 89 J 90
Month
Catch Rate (kg/ day trip)
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1980 1985 1990
Year
Annual Catch Rate
(kg/trip)
represent 37% of the total catch. The high incidence may be seasonal, the catches
made during the recruitment run from April-May.
The sizes of yellowfin tuna catch of pole and line could be discerned from the
prices which is dictated by the size of the fish. Assuming that the quality is
acceptable, yellowfin class A fish are those that fall in the size range of 2.3 kg - 22
kg while class B are those falling between 1.2kg - 2.2 kg sizes (Figure 5.15).
Hand Line
The hand line fishery for tuna is the biggest in FMA-IV in terms of the number of
gears and production of large tunas. There are different types of handline for tuna
used in FMA-IV; the single and large hook targeting the large individuals and the
multiple and small hooks targeting the small tuna species. Most of the handlines
using single-large-hook are also using large-diameter nylon twines and a
combination of artificial and live-fish baits. The multiple-small-hooks and line (also
called vertical handlines in DKP statistics) have a wide range of variety from just 2
hooks to 150 hooks but the hooks-size is smaller (#17-#19) and the baits used are
usually artificial baits. Artificial baits are commonly of colorful silk fibers, or chicken
feathers.
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
1980 1986 1991 1996 2001
Year
Catch (kg/trip)
0
100
200
300
400
500
Number of P&L boats
Catch (kg/trip)
# of Pole & Line
Figure 5.12. Plot of catch rates of pole and line with fleet size operating in
Flores Sea. Data from Widodo (1990) and Saepul (2002).

58
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
The handliners for big tunas are of two types, the independent fishers and those
connected to companies. The independent fishers own their boats and control where
and how they market their catch. While at times these fishers seek financial
assistance from traders but are generally not tied up with them formally except an
unwritten contract of loyalty to sell their catch to the trader where they owe.
In contrast, those under companies get full finances from the company either in the
form of operational logistics, fishing boat units or all fishing provisions. In return for
being under the system, these fishers are under the terms of the company, of which
may include, pricing of catc`h, area of fishing ground or the time of fishing. The
system, locally called “plasma” is that the company has mother boat which act as
the transport vessel carrying the small fishers and their boats in and out of the
fishing grounds as well as the food and other provisions necessary for fishing.
The independent handliners are usually with boats not greater 10 GT mostly powered
by 5 to 10 HP inboard or 1 25 HP outboard engines. The average number of fisher
onboard one boat is one or two men. Fishing is usually at daytime; the fisher leaves
port at dawn and goes back before dusk. For those with the companies, the carrier
boats are usually 30 and 70 GT class which carry 5-15 small boats (<1GT) and
their fishers. Upon reaching the fishing ground, the fishers will use the small boats
for fishing. The fishing boats are usually powered with 5 to 9 HP engines but some
are also non-motorized (sampan). The fishers will go back to the mother boat at
night to rest.
Catch Rates of Baitfish for Liftnets
0
40
80
120
160
200
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Year
Catch (kg/trip)
30
40
50
60
70
# of units
kg/trip total boat
Figure 5.13. Catch rates of mobile liftnets operating in Flores Sea from 1985 to
1989. Data drawn from Widodo 1990.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
19701975198019851990199520002005
Year
catch proportion (%)
SKJ_C YFT_C
Figure 5.14. Proportion of skipjack and yellow fin tunas from pole and line catches
from FMA-IV. Source: Data from SPC database (www.spc.org)
Liftnet on rafts, could be
moved by towing. Taken in
the Bajoe Village, Kota
Kendari.

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
59Page
The handliners identify the months of January to March as peak season for the
small tuna in FMA-IV and February to April for the large tunas, the rest of the months
are devoted to fishing other than the tunas.
There are about 5 major species caught by handline for big tunas, the most abundant
is the yellow-fin which comprise 93% of the total catch (Figure 2.15). About 23.4%
of these yellowfin tunas were mature while most are from 2 to four years of age
(Merta, 1984).
Troll Line
The troll line fishery is widespread in FMA-IV. The fishery is small-scale in operation,
using boats of less than 20 GT and powered with one or two 40-HP outboard engines.
In most cases t2 outboard engines power the boat. Fishing operation is done around
FADs or at open sea when schools of fish are indicated by the abundance of dolphins
and sea birds. Sometimes schools of fish are even visibly observed from the water
surface. When these situations arise, the fisher sets the fishing gear and crisscross
the school of fish until there are no more fishes to catch. Fishing around FAD is
simply towing the gear at a safe distance from the structure. Troll lines usually
operate at daytime.
A unit of the fishing gear is composed of a mainline usually made from PE of 100-
mm diameter. Attached to the mainline are branch lines set at 10 meters interval
and connects the hooks to the mainline. The branch lines are of 50-mm diameter.
The number of hooks in one unit of troll line varies from just one to 25 hooks. The
hooks used vary from #5 to #7 commercial sizes.
Troll lines target various tuna species such as skipjacks, yellowfin tuna, eastern
little tuna and frigate tuna to name some. During this study, the most dominant troll
line catch is mixture of skipjacks and other species of small tunas (50%), followed
by the juveniles of yellow-fin tuna (49%) and the remaining 1% is a mixture of other
fishes. Here, the issue of significant catch of juvenile tunas is documented where
even more contamination of juveniles than the pole and line are observed.
When compared to 10 years ago, fishers claimed than volume of catch decreased
by about 50% and there had been a shift of species from a skipjack dominated
catch to the apparent increased of other fishes like the juveniles of yellowfin tuna.
Purse Seine (Gae)
Purse seines in FMA-IV are also divided into 2 size categories, the small purse
seines (<30 GT), locally called Gae or “purse seine-mini” and the big purse seines
(>30 GT) [refer to chapter 8 for a complete discussion on the fishing operations
and techniques of purse seine.
SpeciesClass
Size of
Fish (kg)
Total Catch
(kg)
Percent
(%)
Species
share
SkipjackClass A > 2.70 1722.0 24.9
Class AB 2.3 - 2.7 1327.6 19.2
Class B 1.2 - 2.2 836.3 12.1
Class C < 1.20 479 6.9
Class D reject 0 0.0
YellowfinClass A 2.3 - 22.0 1702.0 24.6
Class B 1.2 - 2.2 849.6 12.3
Class C reject 0 0.0
63.1
36.9
Table 5.12 Actual catch categorized according to sizes of skipjack and yellowfin tunas
caught by a pole and line vessel boat (KM Mitra Jaya) operating in FMA-IV from
April 7 to May 5, 2002. Note the 37% take of juvenile yellowfin tunas.

60
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
The specification of Gae nets operating in Bone Bay and Flores is 280 meters long
by 20 meters wide and has a 2.5-cm mesh size. The netting material is made of
multifilament twines. The vessel is manned by 15 crew members. Fishing operation
is at daytime only and mainly in FADs (rumpon). There are 77 units of Gae based in
Bone Bay.
The Gae operating in Makassar Strait are bigger nets with lengths of about 270-
meters and width of about 70-meters and with mesh sizes of 4-5 centimeters. Fishing
operations of most Gaes in Makassar Strait are around rumpons (FADs) at daytime
and mostly making just one set per day. The catcher vessel is powered by 200 HP
engine. There are about 6 such fishing boats of this category using Pinrang as its
home port.
The catch composition of purse seine operating in Bone Bay and Flores Sea in
2006 are mostly small tuna (56%) followed by skipjacks (22%) and mixture of other
pelagic fishes (22%) [Figure 16a]. In Makassar Strait, purse seines takes more
skipjack tunas (59%), small tunas (17%) and mixture of other pelagic fishes (24%)
[Figure 5.16b]. There seems to be a difference in the ranking of catch composition
from Bone Bay and Flores Sea (east of FMA-IV) and Makassar Strait (west); in the
east the most abundant are the small tunas while in the west skipjacks dominate
the catch.
Aside from the mini-purse seines which are legally allowed to operate within
archipelagic waters, there are also large purse seines (>30GT) that operate illegally
because of vessel size in FMA-IV. Its catch composition is shown in Table 5.13.
Trends of catch rates of purse seine based on catch per day-fishing of the big
purse seine fisheries showed a decline in catch rates from around 6 tons per trip (2
-3 days) to just below 2 tons per trip. Although data used were from on-board training
of students covering just two months, the data were collected at the same months
of each year sampled.
Support Infrastructures
Within FMA-IV, there is one first level fishing port in Kendari, Sulawesi Tenggara
(Pelabuhan Perikanan Samudera - Kendari). A visit in PPS – Kendari showed not
so much activities expected for a first level fishing port. Interview with the
administrators revealed that the port is not regularly used by fishing vessels
especially that there are very few large fishing vessels landing in Kendari. In fact
most of the activities are on the traditional landing sites.
There are also several third level ports or Pelabuhan Perikanan Pantai (PPP) namely
PPP Labuhan Lombok in Nusa Tenggara Barat, PPP Kupang in Nusa Tenggara
Timur, and PPP Tarakan in Kalimantan Timur.
There is an apparent lack of relatively large scale fisheries support infrastructure
within the province of Sulawesi Tengah and Sulawesi Selatan. Yet interviews with
Figure 5.15. Species composition of
simple handline fishing in a fish
aggregation device (FAD) in
Makassar Strait in 1983. Data
drawn from Nasution et. al 1986.
3%
2%
1%
1%
93%
Yellowfin tuna
Bigeye tuna
White marlin
Black marlin
Striped marlin

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
61Page
tuna fishers in some communities and traders within the said provinces showed a
relatively good potential of tuna. It was also observed that better quality fishes are
sold in the markets compared to other areas of the country even for the big and
well-supported fishing ports. The absence of good support infrastructure for fishers
to sell their fish further aggravates the problem of traders and middlepersons taking
full control of the markets.
The landing sites actively used by fishers in the area are the traditional fishing
ports which are called Tempat Pelelangan Ikan (TPI). Hygeinic standards of these
ports however is a problem; few of the traders are using tables, the fishes are just
on the pavements barely covered by sacks or plastic sheets. Ice are rarely seen
and seldom used. Damaged and stale fishes are a common site.
A
22%
56%
22%
B
17%
24%
59%
skipjack
small tuna
other fishes
Figure 5.16. Comparison of catch composition of purse seines (Gae) op-
erating in Bone Bay and Flores Sea (A) and in Makassar Strait (B) in
2006. Source: This study (2008).
In a far flung village in Pare-pare, fishers engage in catching tuna using simple
handline in Makassar Strait. The catch rates are still very high but there are no
buyers for their tunas. The number of fish to be caught and landed are fixed as the
fish trader could only buy a fixed number due to lack of capital and transportation.
Thus, fishers take turn to catch fish.
Notes on the Economics of Fishing
An overview on the economics of tuna fishing in FMA-IV, a simplistic approach on
the costs and revenues is discussed here. Cost of fishing comprises two major
categories, the fixed and variable costs. The fixed cost mostly involves the
depreciation cost and maintenance of the fishing vessel, engine and the fishing
gears and maintenance while the variable cost comprises the expenses on fuel,
food, ice, rent/share of the FADs, labor, taxes, fees and others.
Handline
Initial investment for the handline fisheries targeting tuna is almost centered on the
fishing vessel and engine because the investment on the fishing gear is minimal
and the lifespan of the gear is very short that sometimes the cost is included in the
Species Group 96-GT 131-GT
Roundscads 96.2 85.0
Indian Mackerels 0.0 0.13
Small tunas 47.1 14.3
Other Fishes 88.4 4.46
Total 231.6 103.8
Table 5.13. Comparison of catch composition of large purse seines oper-
ating in FMA-IV in 2006. Source: This study (2008).

62
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
-
2
4
6
8
10
Jun-
97
Jan-
98
Jul-
98
Feb-
99
Aug-
99
Mar-
00
Oct-
00
Apr-
01
Nov-
01
May-
02
Dec-
02
Fishing Dates
Catch (tons/trip)
Figure 5.17. Trends in catch rates of purse seines operating in Flores Sea be-
tween 1997 to 2002. Sources of data: Irwan (1998), Riyad (1998), Irwan
(2000), Rasyid (2002), Pramono (2000).
operational costs. For a fishing vessel of about 6-GT and powered with a 30-HP
inboard motor the initial investment was about Rp100.00 million while for the 24-
GT with inboard motor of unspecified horse power was Rp155.00 million. The above
investments are translated into annual fixed cost by the yearly depreciation rate
which is about Rp10.00 million for the 6-GT with 30-HP inboard motor and Rp15.50
million for the 24-GT fishing vessel. The above annual depreciation rates were
calculated from assigning 10 years lifespan for both the vessel and engine. Per set
of handline fishing gear costs about Rp100.00 thousand.
In a system where a company provides the mother boat, the investment of the
fishers comes in two forms: their personal non-motorized boats (sampan) and the
tuna handline gear. The non-motorized boat costs about Rp500.00 thousand each.
The cost of the mother boat is not available but very often, these are retrofitted
pole and line boats.
There had also been reports of respondents that both the engine and the fishing
boat are given as grants/ loan from the government. The set-up or terms of payment
was not clear but the fishers said they are paying it back through giving 20-50 kilos
per trip, a repayment scheme which is anomalous. However we have reasons to
belive that there is actually no payback term and the goods were given as
endowment.
The setting up and initial investment for a Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) ranges
from Rp5.00 million to Rp20.00 million, depending on the materials, depth and
distance of setting.
The variable costs of the handline fisheries for tuna in FMA-IV includes licenses
and other fees which reaches about Rp400.00 million annually. Another item in the
variable costs is the annual operational or running expenses which range from
Rp13.5 million (24GT), Rp19.20 million (<3GT) to Rp127.38 million (6GT). The list
of expenditures on the annual operational expenses we have analysed is difficult
to understand but the amount is highly dependent on the distance of the fishing
ground to the home port and the bringing of ice. Those vessels highest that bring
ice during fishing operations incur the highest operating expenditures as the cost
of ice is twice the amount spent on other items such as fuel and food. This is
because there are no ice plants accessible in the area and the fishers are dependent
from outside sources or from household-produced ice.
Estimated annual income is only available for the 6 GT fishing vessel which is
about Rp483.42 million. The total annual expense of the 6-GT handling fishing is
about Rp168.86 million. Thus about Rp314.56 million is the gross annual income
with which the fishers and all involved including the FADs would take their shares.

CHAPTER 5:
FMA IV: MAKASSAR
STRAIT AND FLORES SEA
63Page
Pole and Line
The most significant part of the preliminary outlay in the pole and line tuna fishing
venture is the boat and its engine which in 2001 is about Rp150.00 million. This is
for a fishing boat in FMA-IV of about 27 GT and with inboard engine of 56 horse
power. This is translated into Rp15.00 million annual depreciation costs which is
an item of the financial book under the yearly fixed costs. Akin with the handline
fisheries, the pole and line fishing gear durability is almost as good for just one
fishing day or trip that it will be a part of the running expenses instead. Since the
pole and liners in FMA-IV are mainly based on FADs, its establishment is also one
if the preliminary expense outlay.
Annual operation expenses which includes the fishing gears, fuel, ice, food and
other provisions necessary for a fishing operation is about Rp113.36 million. With
annual gross sales of Rp 980.03 million, the gross income to be shared by all the
stakeholders including the FADs share is about Rp 866.67 million. A quick look at
the net income indicates that troll fishing in FMA-IV is profitable.
Troll Line
Initial investment in the troll line fishing vessels of <3GT was about Rp4.50 million
and the outboard motor was Rp2.0 million. For a lifetime of 10 years the annual
depreciation cost would be Rp650.00 thousand for both the boat and the motor.
Initial investment for a fishing gear set was about Rp100.00 thousand; however
because of the method of fishing and materials of the fishing gear (just like with
other hook and line fishing gears) replacement is very often. A daily operational
expense is about Rp87.50 thousands which is about Rp21.00 million in a year of
about 240 days fishing.
Summing up all the costs (depreciation, operational, etc.), annually this type of
fishing would have a total outlay of Rp31.85 million. Basing from their answers
during the interview, the estimated annual gross sales is about Rp23.50 million. A
quick glance of this fishery shows that troll fishing is a losing economic activity.
Mini-Purse Seine (Gae)
The purse seine fisheries operating in FMA-IV are mainly catching small pelagic
fishes and are not really targeting the tunas, however because a large percentage
of its catch are tunas, it was deemed important to include it here.
Initial outlay on fishing boat in 1991 was Rp4.00 million and the inboard engine of
300 HP was Rp3.00 million. The initial cost of the mini-purse seine fishing gear
was about Rp3.00 million. Each FAD initially costs Rp5.00 million. In this case
depreciation costs and fixed cost does not apply because the comp any is
implementing a different system of recovering the initial costs of the gear, vessel
and engine.
The total operational expenses are estimated to be about Rp36.42 million. Summing
up all the costs involved in fishing annually totals to about Rp38.13 million. The
estimated annual gross sale is about Rp58.11 million. From the gross sales, the
expense for the FAD is taken, 10% of the remaining amount would be deducted for
the fishing boat, engine and fishing gear. The remaining amount would then be
divided among the owner of the vessel and the fishers according to the agreed
system of sharing.
Issues and Recommendations
1. The whole FMA-IV because of its unique oceanographic characteristics (pathway of
water exchanges from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean) resulting to a relatively
productive fishing ground particularly for the tunas. Also, its importance to the whole
Mixed catch of juvenile
yellowfin tuna, frigate tuna
waiting to be iced in a port in
Pelabuhan Bajo, Bone.

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fisheries productivity Indonesia is quite high because before going finally into the Indian
Ocean, it also feeds to Java Sea, Malacca Strait and other bodies of water in between.
It is therefore necessary to protect these very important bodies of water, Makassar
Strait and Flores Sea, composing FMA-IV.
2. At present despite the great potential of the area, infrastructure support for fisheries
products do not exist. As a result, doing tuna business in FMA-IV becomes very
expensive as transport costs, cost of ice and fuel add immensely to the operating cost.
It results a lot of wastage as quality of fish products suffer. Such as situation
consequently exert more pressure to the resources as fishers tend to catch more than
what is necessary.
3. As reiterated above, the fisheries potential of the area is still very high but is
experiencing an unnecessary exploitation abuses to the resources because of lack of
attention and good management practices. The mismatch between the resources and
and management needs to be addressed in the following aspects:
a) The mismatch between presence of tuna resources and support
facilities.Ice plants are sorely missing pushing the cost of ice to levels that
render cost of fishing expensive. The lack of ice also undermines the quality
of tunas.
b) Lack of storage facilities. The stop gap measure used by the private
sector is to bring “collecting ships” with storage facilities to the area.
c) Other support facilities need to be brought near fishing ground. As of
now, all tunas needs to be shipped to export hubs in Bali, Jakarta, Surabaya
or Makassar for proper export documentation.
d) Transport costs are prohibitively expensive and not sufficient to support
tuna cargoes. There are no large airports to handle bigger planes to carry
heavier cargo load.
4. The unregulated use of the very efficient fishing gears and methods such as the
purse seines and all the kinds of gillnets would unmistakably leads to a faster degradation
of the fish stocks. This is well demonstrated by the experiences of FMA-I (Malacca
Strait) and FMA-III (Java Sea) whose productivity are uniquely as high. A cap on the
fishing capacity needs to be placed because the area is now fished by fleets from all
over the country. FMA-IV is one of the last tuna frontiers of the country and without any
regulation, all fishing fleets will converge to this area.
5. Communities surrounding the area are known to be traditional fishers, historically
called the people of the sea (Buginesse). When properly trained, these fishing
communities could become very effective vectors of good fisheries practices when
recruited into the sustainable fisheries management cause.
6. Taking a ship from Lewoleba to Larantuka on our way to Maumere allowed us to see
the potential to develop a fisheries-based eco-tourism where along the route, schools
of skipjack tuna and other pelagic species can be observed, with flocks of seabirds
and pods of dolphins partaking the fish schools with the small-scale fishers. The sea
passages between major islands make this particular area very productive.

Geographic Scope
Banda Sea lies central to eastern Indonesia’s fishing ground. It is bounded by Arafura
Sea to the east by 132° E longitude, Flores Sea to the west by 125° E longitude,
Seram Sea to the north by 3° S latitude and the Sermata group of islands to the
south bounded on 8° S latitude (Figure 6.1). The islands bordering the Banda Sea
include Sulawesi to the west, Buru, Ambon Island, Seram to the north and Aru
Islands and Tanimbar Islands to the southeast, Barat Daya Islands, and Timor to
the south. Banda Sea connects the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. Its total
area is estimated to be about 470,000 km
2
(Encyclopedia Britanica).
It has a very deep basin with depth of over 4,000 meters on the eastern border that
gradually increases towards the east reaching depths of over 7,400 meters west of
the Kai group of islands. It owes its morphological characteristics to its geological
development where the confluence of three active tectonic plates occur, making
Banda Sea one of the most earthquake-prone areas of the world, characterized by
frequent and high intensity earthquakes. In the last century, it recorded a quake
intensity of 8.5 in the richter scale.
From the fisheries perspective, Banda Sea’s wide and deep characteristics offer
suitable fishing area for pelagic fisheries including the tunas. However, because of
few population centers surrounding it, fisheries are mainly undertaken by large
commercial fleets based elswhere. The small-scale artisanal type of fishing activities
are limited to the nearshore areas of the numerous islands in and around Banda
Sea. Politically, Banda Sea as Fisheries Management Area Five (FMA-V); is mostly
covered by districts falling within the province of Moluccas (Table 6.1).
FMA-V: Banda Sea
Figure 6.1. Geographic location of Banda Sea, fishery management
area five (FMA-V).

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Sources of Data
Data used in this section were taken from the following sources: DKP-WPP (2006)
statistics of marine capture fisheries by FMAs with production data from 2000-
2004, the DKP Moluccas Province statistics covering the years 2001, 2002, 2003,
2005, city of Ambon fisheries statistics (2002-2005) and summary of statistical
records of the archipelagic fish port (PPN) of Ambon for years (2000-2005).
We have used the provincial statistics of the province of Moluccas, particularly the
2005 yearbook, to show the production per gear and share of each species to total
tuna production of Banda Sea. But before using the data, we separated and used
only those data pertaining to Ambon, Buru, southwest Moluccas, eastern Seram,
western Seram and central Moluccas.
The available statistics are supplemented by the results of our interviews conducted
in Ambon City and vicinity, and in Kendari on fishing vessels operating in Banda
Sea. The fishers interviewed use the following fishing gears: the small-scale purse
seine, troll line, handline and pole and line. We relied heavily on interview data on
aspects related to estimating the tuna catches, current catch rates as well as trends
of catch and catch rates for gears operating in Banda Sea. Also used as a relevant
source of information is the catch data provided by P.T. Perikanan Nusantara
(formerly Pt. Samudera Besar), a government owned longline fishing company.
We also utilized data from the south Pacific commission (SPC) database related to
pole and line, tuna longline and purse seine fisheries operating in Banda Sea (SPC
2006).
Limitations and Assumptions
Analyzing the tuna fisheries of Banda Sea proved to be a challenge because fleets
operating in Banda Sea are based elsewhere, making collection of available records
difficult. Prior to 2004, tuna taken from Banda Sea are landed in the respective
home ports of the tuna fleets such as Bali, Kendari, Fakfak (Papua) and Ambon.
However, the increase in fuel prices has presumably changed fishing operations
significantly wherein only those fishers based in Ambon (98.1%) and Papua (1.2%)
fish in Banda Sea (Table 6.2). This however is not the case as interview results in
Kendari revealed.
The landing centers for the big tuna fishing ventures are concentrated in selected
but traditional areas while those for small scale fishing operation are widely
Table 6.1. Political areas falling under fishery management five
(FMA-V) or Banda Sea.
Landing Area
2000
tons
%
2004
tons
%
Moluccas 32713 47.6 1186498.1
Papua 28625 41.6 2321.92
Southeast Sulawesi 3332 4.85 0 0
Bali 4078 5.93 0 0
Total 68748 12096
Table 6.2. Volume of tuna landings taken from Banda Sea. Note the
shift in landings to Moluccas. Source: DKP 2006.
Province Regency/District/City
Ambon City
portion of Buru Island
portion of West Seram
portion of Central Seram
portion of East Seram
portion of Southwest Moluccas
Moluccas

CHAPTER 6
FMA-V: BANDA SEA
67Page
scattered, making them difficult to reach and therefore were not covered in our
surveys. Likewise, we got an incomplete set of fisheries data from the Province of
Moluccas.
Our estimate of tuna catches does not include the small scale sector because of
lack of operational data on catch rates. Their number are believed to be significant
particularly those operating from the archipelagic islands along the eastern boarder
of Banda Sea. The catch of the small-scale sector from these areas are probably
traded and consumed locally. As a consequence, tuna catch estimate presented in
Table 6.6 for Banda Sea is underestimated by unknown proportion.
Landings
Prior to the 1970’s, large tunas in Banda Sea was first exploited by Japanese longline
fleets (Suhendrata and Sofri 1982) and thereafter until 2004, fishing for tunas are
undertaken by domestic tuna longline fleets based from ports in Bali, southeastern
Sulawesi (Kendari), Moluccas (Ambon) and Papua (Fakfak, Kaimana).
Between 2000-2004, the total tunas taken from Banda Sea have declined by over
82% from 68.7 thousand tons in 2000 to just 12.1 thousand tons in 2004 (Figure 6.
2). This trend is generated by large decline in landings over the same period for
skipjack tuna (87%) and large tunas (88%).
While it may be argued that the fuel price increase in 2004 may have changed
fishing fleet movement with vessels opting to fish near their respective home ports,
the reason for such huge decline between 2000 to 2004 is not known. Note that
the landings of small tunas is very small, probably because the catch figure was
based on small tunas caught by the large commercial fleet and did not include the
small-scale fleets based and operating in Banda Sea.
A closer analysis of landings between years 2000 and 2004 show that while total
aggregate landings have declined significantly, the share of small tunas (bullet,
frigate and bonitos) has increased from 8% to 34 % at the expense of large tunas
and skipjack that have declined by 12% and 14%, respectively (Figure 6.3). Again,
this development is difficult to interpret and probably generated by data collection
artifacts.
Landings by Species
In 2004, skipjack tuna is the most abundant species in Banda Sea with total recorded
landings of 5,286 tons (43.8%). And together with eastern little tuna (a possible
Figure 6.2. Tuna landings trend from Banda Sea for the period 2000-2004. Source:
DKP-WPP 2006. Data for 2004 separated by species but regrouped into generic cat-
egories to allow comparison.
Tuna Landings: Banda Sea
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Production (t)
Small Tunas Large Tunas
Skipjack Tuna TOTAL

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misidentification for Auxis spp.) of 3,863 tons production, the combined production
of these two species amounts to 75% of the total tuna landings. Large tunas
consisting of yellowfin, bigeye and longtail species totals to 2,667 tons or 22%.
The dominance of skipjack and small tunas over the large tunas is probably due
catch monitoring artefact, where catch of purse seine, pole and line and hook &
lines gets recorded because it is landed in the province of Ambon while large tunas
are landed in the vessel’s home ports.
Landings by Fishing Gear
There are 18 fishing gears catching tuna in Banda Sea (Table 6.3). Expectedly
among the commercial fishing gears, pole and line account for over ¾ of the total
(35.6%), troll line with 20.5% and purse seine with 18.3%. These three gear types
account for almost 75% of all tuna landings while the three remaining handline
types account for the remaining 14.3 percent.
Non-traditional tuna fishing gears also contributes to tuna output such as liftnets,
fish traps, and fish corrals with some gears such as the beach seine and liftnets
landing significantly more than usual (Table 6.4).
Interestingly, the shares of tuna longline (0.3%) and drift gillnets (3.4%) to tuna
output from Banda Sea are very small as compared to Indian Ocean (FMA IX). This
is expected due to the very few vessels and highly seasonal tuna longline activities
in Banda Sea based on records of the P.T. Perikanan Samudera Besar. It is also
Figure 6.3. Share of small, large and skipjack tunas to total tuna land-
ings between 2000 and 2004. Source: DKP-WPP 2006.
Figure 6.4. Tuna landings (tons) by species
from Banda Sea in 2004. Note that eastern
little tuna (ELT) probably is a mix of Auxis
rochei with some oceanic bonitos
(Euthynnus affinis, E. yaito). Source: DKP-
WPP 2006
2000
34%
58%
8%
Small Tunas
Large Tunas
Skipjack Tuna
2004
44%
22%
34%
Species
0 200040006000
Skipjack
ELT*
Yellowfin
Albacore
Bigeye
Frigate
Longtail
Landings (tons)

CHAPTER 6
FMA-V: BANDA SEA
69Page
reported that there are additional 19 units of longline based in Aru group of islands
(DKP Province 2005) which possibly operate in Banda Sea for unknown frequency.
The season for tuna longline in Banda Sea is from October to December. The catch
rates in early 2007 is less than 1 fish per 100 hooks. These vessels pursue fishing
despite low catch rates because the target species is the bigeye and the fish sizes
are usually large. Catches do get recorded in their landing areas but whether the
catch data are credited to Banda Sea can not be ascertained.
Drift gillnets on the other hand abound in Banda Sea but their target species are
other small pelagic fishes and its tuna catch represent only about 8% of their total
fish output (Table 6.4).
Table 6.3. Share of fishing gear types to tuna landings for the province of
Moluccas in 2005. Source: Provincial fisheries statistics, 2005.
Gear Type
Production
(t)
%
Pole & Line 9187.6 35.6
Troll line 5299.1 20.5
Purse seine 4740.9 18.3
Other Handline 1712.7 6.63
Multiple Hook Handline 1371.6 5.31
Drift gillnet 880.1 3.41
Handline 631.5 2.44
Beach seine 623.3 2.41
Liftnet (mobile) 375.6 1.45
Encircling gillnet 339.1 1.31
Set gillnet 245.1 0.95
Drift longline 162.1 0.63
Fish Corral 154.8 0.60
Tuna longline 71.6 0.28
Fish Traps 16.2 0.063
Spear gun 15.8 0.061
Stationary liftnet 9.2 0.036
Other gears 0.2 0.001
Table 6.4. Percentage share of tuna to total fish landings of each gear type oper-
ating in Banda Sea in 2005. Source: DKP Province of Moluccas, 2005.
Fishing gears and Fishing Crafts
The latest available data (2005) on the number of tuna fishing gears in Moluccas
Province are as follows: purse seine with 245 units, pole and line with 216 units,
troll line with 4,238 units, simple handline 2,658 and multiple hook handline with
3,040. In 2005, there are no tuna longline based in Moluccas Province.
Gear Type
total fish
(tons)
total tuna
(tons)
% tuna
Pole and Line 9311 9188 98.7
Tuna longline 78 72 91.7
Troll line 8381 5299 63.2
Drift longline 636 162 25.5
Purse seine 18961 4741 25.0
Multiple hook handline 7290 1372 18.8
Other handline 11600 1713 14.8
Simple Handline 4680 632 13.5
Drift gillnet 10987 880 8.01
Guiding net 3300 155 4.69
Set Gillnet 8072 245 3.04
Mobile Liftnet 13717 376 2.74
Encircling gillnet 14524 339 2.33
Beach seine 31039 623 2.01
Fish Traps 3342 16 0.48
Stationary Liftnet 2726 9 0.34
Spear gun 9498 16 0.17
Others 329 0 0.06

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Over the last five years, the trend in the number of fishing gear is declining except
for purse seine (Table 6.5). The main reason is the heightened socio-cultural conflict
in the province between 2000-2004 reduced fishing activities. The increase in purse
seine units is due to improved catch rates beginning in 2005, probably as a
consequence or reduced fishing intensity due to the conflict. The decline in pole
and line units is rooted to the chronic shortage of live baits. Many pole and line
boats preferred to operate more in Flores Sea in the Lesser Sunda Islands where
live baitfish abounds and distance between source of baitfish and fishing ground is
near. The troll lines have also been directly hit by the fuel price increase and a shift
to handline fishing in the FADs becomes their alternative. Handlines showed a
significant increase in numbers until 2003 but has since declined for unknown
reasons.
What is not presented here and difficult to account for are the fleets that fish in
Banda but land their catch in their respective homeports. Pole and line and troll line
vessels from Kendari, Bone Bay, Kolaka and Buton Island travel long distances to
Banda Sea and Moluccas waters to fish and return to home port to land their catch.
The main reason for returning is the price of fish as well as availability of supplies
(fuel, ice, etc.) in Kendari are much higher than in Ambon.
Estimate of Tuna Catches
Using the operational catch data from interviews and supported by existing data,
this study estimated tuna catch from Banda Sea in 2006 to be around 129.2 thousand
tons (Table 6.6). This catch estimate includes the small and large tunas and is
more than 10 times the quantity of tunas (12,078 tons) reported in 2004 (DKP-
Table 6.5. Numbers of major tuna fishing gears based in Banda Sea from 2001-2005.
Source: DKP Province of Moluccas (2000-2004). * - Data for handline and multiple
hooks handline before 2004 are lumped with “other handline” category.
Year
Purse
Seine
Drift
Gillnet
Tuna
Longl
ine
Pole
and
Line
Troll
Line
Other
Hand-
line
Hand
line*
Multiple
Hooks
hand-
line*
2001192 2401 20 267482710072
2002192 4330 0 226736910922
2003223 3632 0 198394019114
2005245 4197 0 2164238113572658 3040
WPP 2006). The reasons for such large discrepancies between the officially reported
and this estimate may be due to the following reasons:
1. We have covered the small scale sector, in particular the troll line
and handline fleets which represent (15.36%) of the total number of
fishing gears registered in the Province of Moluccas in 2005;
2. The catch of distant fleets operating in Banda Sea and landing their
catch in their respective home ports (troll line fleets from Kendari and
Philippine pumpboat fleets) have been included in the computation;
3. The number of fishing units operating were carefully assessed to
represent the number actually operating in Banda Sea. We have used
half of the number of units of reported gears for troll and pole and line
vessels.
4. The number of purse seine “mini” fleets operating in Ambon and
immediate vicinity has risen to 425 (as provided by a fleet operator) in
just one year owing to the highly profitable fishing activity in the area.
We have used this number instead of the 245 units listed in the statistics.
While the estimate is already many times over the reported value in 2004, we believe
that the estimate is still on the lower range as other fishing gears that are exploiting

CHAPTER 6
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the small tunas as by-catch were not included in the estimate due to lack of
appropriate information from the islands along the eastern border of Banda Sea as
well as other fishing gears that get tunas as by-catch. These include the beach
seines, drift gillnet other longlines and liftnets whose catch could probably further
raise the estimate by as much as 10-15 percent.
One of the interesting results in doing the catch estimate is that it could show the
importance of the small-scale sector whose tuna output accounts for over 81.3% of
tunas compared to less than 18.7% by commercial/industrial sector. Even more
surprising is that the small scale sector accounts for over 98% of the large tunas
produced, mainly by handline and troll line (Table 6.7). Two thirds (62.8%) of the
estimated tuna catch are small and skipjack tunas. Tuna catches in Banda Sea as
well as the trend for the whole country is that tuna fisheries is supported by small-
scale fishing operation.
Description of Fishing Techniques
Troll line/ Handline
Fishing Fleet
There are two types of fishing fleets using troll lines that operate in Banda Sea,
those based in Moluccas Province numbering about 4,238 with home ports in
(Ambon, Seram, and Buru Islands) and those based in Sulawesi Tenggara and
Sulawesi Selatan numbering about 150 units.
Table 6.6 Data used to estimate the tuna catches from Banda Sea. Legend: The same
footnote numbers on row and column should correspond to the identified values.
Group/Sector
Small-scale
(tons)
Large-scale
(tons)
TOTAL %
Small + SKJ Tunas 57,534 23,556 81,090 62.8
Large Tunas 47,459 630 48,089 37.2
TOTAL 104,993 24,186 129,179
Percent (%) 81.3 18.72
1
/ based on records of Moluccas province for 2005
2
/ used only half of recorded fleet number
3
/ number of annual fishing days
4
/ number of trips per year
5
/ data based on results of interviews
6
/ tuna catch only (billfishes and other fishes excluded)
7
/ based on actual 3-yr catch record of three units based in Ambon
Table 6.7. Share of small and large tunas by the small-scale and large scale tuna
fishing sector computed using the tuna production estimate given in Table 6.
Skipjack are grouped with small tunas.
Fishing Gear Type
No.
gears
2005
1
no of
gears
used
2,5
total fishing
days/yr
3
or
trips/year
4
annual
catch/
unit
6
(mt)
Est. total
fish
catches
(mt)
% share
of tuna
1,7
Est. tuna
catches
(mt)
Pole and Line
1,2,4
216 108 37.1 102.2 11,034 0.99 10891
Troll Line
1,2,3,
4238 2119 149 56.9 120,529 0.632 76174
Troll Line (Kendari-based)
4,5
150 26.4 33.2 4,979 0.632 3147
Simple Tuna Handline
1,3,5
2658 1000 192 17.6 17,600 0.800 14080
Phil.-based pumpboats
3,5,6
40 100 57.0 2,280 1.000 2280
Multiple hooks handline
1,2,3
3040 1520 140 22.0 33,440 0.188 6287
Purse Seine (<30GT)
1,3,5,7
245 425 204 77.6 32,982 0.384 12665
Drift Gillnet
1,2,3
4197 2098 180 18.0 37,764 0.080 3025
Tuna Longline
3,5
0 30 50 21.0 630 1.000 630
TOTAL 129179

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There appears to be a large number of recorded units (n=14,678) of troll line for
Moluccas Province in 2004 based on the National Fisheries Statistics (2005)
compared to the recorded number in 2005 based on the provincial records with only
4,238 units. This is probably due to the socio-cultural conflict in the area.
The troll line fleet consists of two size classes: the medium sized 8-15 GT vessels
that undertake 8-10 day fishing trips. The vessels measure about 15 x 3 x 2 m;
powered by two units of 150 HP engines and has a crew compliment of 6 people.
Large rectangular storage boxes for ice and fish occupy the entire length of the
boat (Figure 6.5). This vessel class typically represents the fleet based in Kendari,
Buton and Southeast Sulawesi that fish in Banda Sea and Moluccas Sea and return
back to land their catch. It is estimated that about 150 such vessels operate in
Banda Sea.
The smaller sized boats (10 x 1 x 1m) belong to the 3 GT and below class, powered
by a single 15 Hp outboard motor and manned by two fishers. These makes up the
bulk of fleet numbering several thousands and are based around Ambon, Seram
Seas, Buton Islands.
Fishing Gears
Troll line boats carry always two types of fishing gears, troll lines and simple tuna
handlines. Normally, troll lines are used in every trip but handlines are increasingly
becoming popular because operation of troll lines entails high operating cost for
fuel.
Troll lines used by the Sulawesi fleets are made up of two lines towed on both
sides of the boat, each line is about 60-100 meters long, made of 150-mm diameter
polyethyline line. Each mainline carry a jig made up of three hooks (#9) tied together
(Figure 6.6). Troll line fishing is conducted around floating logs, FADs and other
flotsams.
Increasingly over the last year, fishing with handlines is fast becoming the norm for
many of the troll vessels. This is mainly to cope up with high fuel cost of troll fishing.
Handline fishing for tuna is conducted at the fish aggregating devices. Locally
called “coping”, the mainline is wound into a spool, there is “C-shaped” wire with
lead in the middle that serve as weight and from here, another 25 m of mainline
that is connected to a swivel, and from the swivel, a wire connected to the J-hook
with artificial lures made of silk fibers (Fig 6.6).
The small vessel fleets based around Ambon and Moluccas Province undertakes
just day trips. They utilize jig-type hook consisting of 3 hooks tied together and
Figure 6.5. Troll line vessels in Banda Sea. left: small-scale (<3GT) and above:
10-15 GT class vessels based in Kendari, Sulawesi Tenggara. Top photo show
the lure and jig of the troll line.

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covered with silk threads as lures. At times during calm seas when fish don’t bite,
kite fishing is used to trick the fish into biting.
Fishing Technique
The trollline fleet from Kendari bring ice and all the operational supplies it needs for
the 5-8 day fishing trip. The navigation time from Sulawesi to Banda Sea takes
around 1-2 days. Once there, troll fishing is undertaken all day long from 6 am to 6
pm, pulling two lines attached to each side of the boat. Once the fish holds are full,
they return to port. However, at times when catch is low, fishing operation shifts to
handline and operate in FADs. That is why, boat captains have in their possession
a list of the locations of FADs in Banda, Flores, Moluccas, Seram Seas so wherever
they are, they could easily locate and visit FADs (Figure 6.7). Most boats therefore
that undertake dual fishing methods also use handheld geo-positioning units (GPS).
The adoption of this technology has considerably improved the navigation capability
not to mention the additional safety of crew it brings.
The small vessel fleets operate similarly as their larger counterparts but returns
everyday; leave port at early morning and fish until noon time and return back to
deliver the catch. The boats do bring ice on board on small ice chest but these are
for skipjack only; no ice provisions for the big tunas in case one is caught; instead
the fishers would return immediately to sell the big tuna catch while the fish remain
in good quality, which more often than not qualify for the sashimi market.
The consequence of such alternate fishing methods used contribute to the
complexity of monitoring and assigning the correct catch and effort to a particular
gear. The fishers do not follow fixed rules when to use each gear type. A study to
look into the operation of this fleet is recommended in order to determine what
adjustment to the data collection needs to be made. There is also the question on
how such gears would be licensed.
Fishing grounds
Trolling areas include the southern coasts of Taliabu Island, Buru Islands, around
Seram Island and around Ambon Island. Smaller vessels, as these are day boats,
operate from 20-25 nautical miles from their respective home ports while larger
troll line vessels could move around freely. Prevailing monsoon weather dictates
the area of fishing. Figure 6.7 shows a good representation of the fishing ground of
the troll fleet.
Catch, catch rates, species composition and seasonality
The target species of the troll fishery is the skipjack tuna but it also catches
substantial quantities of bonitos and juveniles of the yellow fin tuna. By-catches
are the small tunas, barracudas, mackerels and dolphin fishes.
Figure 6.6 The handline with lead weight (left), troll squid lure
with jig (middle) and handline hook with colored lures (right).

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Juveniles of the yellowfin tuna are significantly caught by troll lines, the proportion
range between 20-80% depending on the area and season. On the average, catch
rate of each troll vessel is between 2-3 tons per trip (5-8 days) during March to
October. During the lean months from November to February, catch drops to around
1 ton/trip.
Trends
Troll line fishers agree that there are no significant changes in the catch and c atch
rates of troll fishing in Banda Sea over the last 5 years. What has changed is the
increased operational cost of fishing and their income but the volume of catch
remained more or less the same. There is no available historical data set to show
troll line catch rates from Banda Sea.
Tuna Longline
Fishing Fleet
Tuna longline fleet operating in Banda Sea belong to the domestinc fleets based in
Benoa, Bali, Cilacap, Central Java and from Muara Baru in Jakarta. The exact number
of units operating in Banda Sea is difficult to estimate as operation is highly seasonal
and highly dependent on risks taken by boat captains. It is reported however that there
are about 19 units operating out of Aru Islands. This report has not been verified.
Catch and Seasons
Presently, enterprising fleet captains from Benoa, Bali, Cilacap and Muara Bahru
in Jakarta operate seasonally from October to December each year. Despite low
catch rates (hook rate =<0.75/100 hooks), fishing continues because the fishery
targets the bigeye which fetch a higher price and because of the large sizes of fish
(~70 kg) caught.
Trends
Banda Sea is a traditional longline fishing ground where Japanese fleets fish as
early as 1967 fish years before the development of the country’s domestic tuna
longline fisheries started in 1973 (Suhendrata and Sofri, 1987). The hook rates
Figure 6.7 Plot of FAD locations in possession of a troll line boat captain. Note that
FAD positions are present in Indian Ocean, Flores SEa and Makassar Strait.

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(per 100 hooks), at that time, ranges from 1.82 to 3.22, which is very ideal catch for
tuna fishing operations (Figure 6.8).
But the productivity of Banda Sea did not last very long; in 1973, fishing operations
yielded lower catch rates of just 1.36 per 100 hooks (Muchtar, 1973). Analysis of
the catch records of the state-owned PT. Samudera Besar in 1983-1983 (Rahardjo
1985) showed an average of 1.53 catch rate while a similar study but covering
more years between 1974-1985 (Rahardjo and Bahar 1988) showed catch rates
fluctuating between 0.5-1.5 depending on the season and areas of fishing. In
general, however, decline of productivity is evident, a condition that prompted the
government to undertake test fishing surveys in the mid-1980’s with the intent of
improving catchability by changing the depth of setting of hooks. The success of
this experiment paved the way for the change in fishing technique by making deeper
sets that resulted signalled the exploitation of the bigeye tuna (Bahar, 1985). leading
to marked change in landed species from from the shallow water dwelling yellowfin
tunas to the deeper water dwelling big-eye tunas. Because bigeye fetch higher
prices, higher income is realized from such shift in fishing technique.
During the study, the hook rate in Oct-Dec 2006 in Banda Sea is between 0.6-.075
per 100 hooks. The fleet, despite this low catch rate, still fish within Banda Sea
mainly because of the large sizes (average size ~70 kg) of bigeye.
Figure 6.8 Trend in the tuna longline catch rates expressed as total hook rate
per 100 hooks during the period of 1967-1979 in Banda Sea, Indonesia.
Source: Suhendrata and Sofri 1989).
Figure 6.9. Tuna longline hook rates (numbers caught/100 hooks) in Banda
Sea over the last 30 years. Source: Various authors.
Longline: Banda Sea
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Total hook rate
Suhendrata & Sofri
Muchtar
Rahardjo
Pt. PSB
Banda Sea
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
1967196919711973197519771979
Year
Hook Rate (per 100
hooks)

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Purse seine “mini”
Crafts and Gears
The vessel construction and gears used is similar to those units described in FMA
VI that fish in Moluccas, Seram and Tomini Seas. There are 425 units of mini-
purse seines operating in Ambon Bay and vicinity (pers. Comm, Mr. Johannes,
purse seine, pole and line and FAD owner). The numerous units is attributed to the
improved peace and order conditions and the very high catch rates (Table 8.8)
probably due to the reduced fishing intensity during the height of the socio-cultural
conflict in the past years.
Fishing Technique
The medium and small sized purse seine fleets based in Ambon (n~425) commonly
operates during the day, searching for free swimming schools. An average of about
2-3 sets are made per day. The fleet also operates around FADs alternately during
the season for Auxis spp. (locally called “como or dehu”) from July-November. During
this time, 3-4 sets per day are made catching an average of 3-4 tons per day. The
season for scads (Decapterus spp.), locally called “momar” commences in
December until February of each year, and net is set 6-7 times per day. At the start
of the season, the sizes of scads are small (12-15 cm) and as the season progresses,
size of fish increase (20-30 cm) until end of the fishing season and the species
disappear in May.
Seasonality of catch
Catch per boat fluctuates from 0.5-5.0 tons per haul. The lean season for the mini-
purse seine fishery in Ambon Bay and Seram Sea is in March and April. During
these months, many of the boats simply stop operation. Analysis of actual catch
records of three purse seine vessels over a period of two years (2002-2003)
operating in Ambon Bay and adjacent waters showed the following results. There
was an apparent decline in catch rates by about 11% from 2002 to 2003 (Table
6.8). There had also been changes in the ranking of caught fishes leading to the
disappearance of some of the species (Tab.6. 8). As explained during the interview,
before 2000, roundscads dominated the catch of mini-purse seines while the bullet
tunas (Auxis spp.) formed an insignificant portion of the total catch. Today, bullet
tunas are the dominant group. This observation was further corroborated by the
fishers in the area.
Catch of bullet tunas (Auxis rochei) displays two peaks per year, a minor peak of
abundance in April and major peak in October; both months fall around the inter-
monsoon periods (Figure 6.10).
Tuna Handline
The discussion in this section consists of two gears, the simple single handline for
large tunas and the multiple hook handline that targets the small tunas and skipjack.
Both gears are operated in FADs but the latter may also be used at times as troll
lines when free swimming schools of skipjack are sighted.
The simple single hook tuna handline locally known as “coping” is similar in
construction and use with handlines for tuna in Halmahera, Manado and Gorontalo
and has been described in FMA VI and FMA VII (Figure 6.11). This is the same
gear used by troll line fishers from Sulawesi Tenggara Province (Figure 6.6). The
minor difference is the use of a lead weight some 25 meter distance from hooks.
This gear targets the large tunas seeking shelter in the FADs at depths between
50-150 meters.
The other type is a multiple hook handline is made up of 25 hooks, each branch
line is 30 cm long and distance between branchlines is 2 meters. The boat of
multiple hook handline belong to the <3 GT class vessel powered by a 15 Hp
Purse seine “mini” in operation
searching for fish schools in
waters off Ternate, North
Moluccas province.

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outboard motor. Fishing operation is daily at daytime, from early morning to afternoon,
and always on FADs. Silk threads are used as artificial lures, with hooks set on the
upper 50 meters.
Catch, catch rates, season and trends
The multiple hook handline target small pelagic fishes consisting of skipjack, small
tunas, juvenile of yellowfin and bigeye tunas, Indian chub mackerel and bigeye
scads. The general peak months are January to April and lean months are from
May to July. For those that specialize in tuna hand-lining, the peak season for
skipjack is west season from November to May and for juvenile yellowfin from June
to October, falling during the east season. The lean months are: for skipjack is
June to October and for juvenile tunas from November to May.
Table 6.8. Aggregate catch and average catch per effort data of three small
purse seine operating in Banda Sea. Source: Records of purse seine opera-
tor based in Ambon.
Figure 6.10. Seasonality of catch of small tunas and roundscads based on catch
of three purse seine “mini” vessels fishing in Banda Sea from 2002-2003
Source: Data from records of purse seine fleet operator based in Ambon.
Purse seine mini: Ambon Bay
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
Jan' 02 May Sep Jan' 03 May Sep Jan' 04
Year
Monthly catch (kg)
Auxis spp.
Decapterus spp.
Species
Group
Total
Catch (kg)
CPUE
(kg/day)
Total Catch
(kg)
CPUE
(kg/day)
Scad 82650 397.4 40570 291.9
Bullet tuna 56880 273.5 44455 319.8
kawalinya 6240 30.0 1500 10.8
make 1860 8.9 1170 8.42
lamadang 450 2.2
tola 120 0.577 90 0.65
bubara 90 0.433
cakalang 30 0.144 45 0.32
putilae 2 0.010
TOTAL 148322 713.1 87830 631.9
Year 2002 Year 2003
Figure 6.11 Multiple hooks (left) and simple tuna
handline. Note the use of synthetic threats as
lures.

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The information on the seasonal abundance of juvenile tunas is significant information
in setting policies for the very necessary regulation on the catching of juvenile tunas.
There are no published data on handlines operating in Banda Sea but the responses
of two handline fishers were similar: that catch rates have declined in the last 10
years by about 50%. The daily average catch of large tunas (30-60 kg yellow fin)
during the peak season has gone down from 10 to just 5 fishes per day. In the lean
season, catch has gone down from 1-3 fishes per day to 0-1 fish, the zero catch is
about 3-4 times per week. Similarly, the catch of skipjack has declined during the
peak season from 200 to just 100 fishes and from 100 (4 luyang; 1 luyang = 27 fish)
to just 54 fishes per day (2 luyang) during the lean season.
The main reason given by the fishers is that there is overcrowing at the FADs
where too many boats fish on the same FADs. The distance of FAD location has
likewise increased from just an hour away to 2-3 hours travel time.
Pole and Line
Fishing Fleet
Current statistics in 2005 show 216 units of pole and line vessels registered in
Moluccas Province. These are based in Ambon with 16 units, in Central Moluccas
with 156 units, Seram Island with 14 and Buru Island with 30 units (Figure 6.12).
As expected, the places where fleet are based are areas where liftnet fishery exist
where live baitfishes are sourced.
During our survey, however, we could only account for 31 vessels (1 unit in Ambon
Bay, 30 units in Kohala) for two probable reasons: fleet migrate either to West
Papua or Flores Sea to fish or some vessels simply stopped operation.
The fishing boats observed in the area are about 27 Gross Tonnage of about 24-m
of length and 6-m of breadth powered by 155 Horsepower inboard engine. Fishing
operation lasts for just a day to a week at sea. a vessel is manned by a crew of 25
fishers.
The fishing technique are similar to those operating in FMA VI and FMA VII which
are described in full detail.
Notes on the Economics of Fishing
In the course of our interview, we collected operational and maintenance
expenditures, capital investments and prices of fish in order for us to estimate roughly
if tuna fishing in the area is profitable or not. We did not attempt to use a
comprehensive tool for this analysis, instead we simply used a simple 10%
depreciation cost on capital, put some amount on labor and tried to determine profits
usually on a per day or per year depending on the kind of information provided by
respondents.
16
156
14
30
Ambon Is.
Central Moluccas
Western Seram
Buru Is.
Figure 6.12. Number of registered pole and line
vessels in Moluccas Province. Source: DKP
Propinsi Maluku 2005.

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Purse Seine
In FMA-V, there are two major types of purse seines based on the size of the fishing
vessel; these are the mini purse seines and medium purse seines. The medium
purse seines are highly movable and could travel from one fishing to another
depending on the volume of catch and because of these, tracing these vessels
would be quite hard unless one would be able to take hold of the actual logbook of
the fishing vessels. The mini-purse seines on the other hand, because of their
small size, are highly dependent on the resources of FMA-V, and thus are more
appropriate to describe the condition of the purse seine fishing industry in the area.
Initial investment on complete set of the mini-purse seine fishing accessories in
1990 was about Rp20-25 million; that’s including the boat of 9 GT, 2 outboard
engines of 40 HP and the net. Annual operating costs in 2006 which includes fuel
and other fishing provisions excluding food is estimated at Rp82.80 million; that is
for a daily trip of about 150 fishing days a year. Estimated gross sales revenue for
a year is about Rp285.99 million.
Investment recovery system of mini-purse seines in FMA-V is unique to them and
not in conformity with the financial recovery procedures in the books. From the
gross sales, all fishing expenses is deducted and 1/3 of the remaining revenue
would be the share of the FAD while out of the 2/3 remaining, 20% would be further
taken off for the maintenance of the fishing boat, engine and gear. The residual
80% of the 2/3, would be divided equally (50% each) between the owner and the
crew members. The crew would subdivide their share according to their rank in the
vessel such that the captain would have 2 shares, the assistant of the captain has
1.5 shares and the rest of the crew would get 1 share each.
Pole and Line
The pole and line fisheries in FMA-IV is a new development in the tuna fishing of
FMA-V, the fishers started to adopt the method in the early years of this decade.
Initial investment on the fishing boat of 27 GT and its 155-HP inboard engine was
about Rp450.00 million while that of the fishing gears use by about 25 fishers was
about Rp2.00 million.
Annual operational expenses for approximately 37 trips, spending a day (peak
season) to 7 days (lean months) in the fishing ground, is about Rp270.99 million;
this is excluding the costs of ice. The cost of ice wasn’t included in the operational
expenses because sometimes there were occasions when the ice is provided by
the traders for free in exchange for the assurance of having the catch delivered to
them.
The estimated gross revenue sales in a year based on the average catch for two
years of fishing as provided by the owner of the fishing venture is about Rp389.42
million.
Remuneration system is in terms of sharing. From the remaining gross sales after
taking off the cost of ice, 80% would go the owner while the 20% would be shared
upon by the fishing crews. The captain and the engineer would have 2 shares
each, the rest of the fishing crews have 1 share each.
Troll Line
A lot of the troll liners, particularly in Ambon, have received subsidies from the
government in the form of free fishing boat and an outboard motor. The initial
investment for a set of troll line was about Rp150.00 thousands.
The troll liners in Banda Sea travel in and out of the fishing ground daily and spend
an annual average of about Rp34.56 million for operations.

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Name of Port/ Private Wharf Location Ownership Remarks
Archipelagic Fish Port (PPN)Tantui Nat©l Gov©t
Coastal fish port (PPP) Eri Local Gov©t
PT. Usaha Mina Galala BUMN State-controlled
PT. Nusantara Fishery Kate-kate Private
PT Maprudin Gudang Arang Private
PT. Segara Mulia Sejahte Batu Gong Private
Name of Cold Storage Capacity
PT. Usaha Mina Galala BUMN 360/ 1 Unit
Fa. Sanu PPN Tantui Private 100/2 Unit
PT. Nusantara Kate-kale Private 1 Unit / ?100
PT. Morela Tanah Lapang KecilPrivate 1 Unit ?100
PT. Segara Mulia Sejahte Batu Gong Private 1 Unit / 600
Table 6.9 Infrastucture support for handling, fish storage and processing for the prov-
ince of Moluccas. Source: Ambon City (2003).
In a year, an average troll line owner would earn a gross sale of about Rp377.54
million. A quick glance at the investment and operational costs against the gross
sales indicates that the troll liners of Ambon operating in FMA-V are benefiting well
from the fisheries industry. This however is not always true because of market factors.
Infrastructure Support
The major port facility, a PPN is located in Ambon but the port mainly serves the
domestic and foreign fleet of bottom trawlers operating in Arafura Sea. Records of
landings showed that the total pelagic volume transacted in the port is only 175
tons for 2005 suggesting no tuna activity at all. Aside from the PPN Ambon, there is
also another government owned port, a PPI located at Eri while there are wharves
of fishing and processing companies (Pt. Usaha Mina, Pt. Nusantara Fishery, Pt.
Maprudin and Pt. Segara Mulia Sejahte).
There are about 6 units of cold storage facilities with a total of 1,360 tons support
the preservation of fish landed in Ambon city. The storage facility is not sufficient
and an undetermined quantity of tunas caught in Banda Sea are landed elsewhere,
e.g. in Kendari for troll and handline. Proctor (2007) reported a fleet 8 carrier vessels
owned by Pt. Sultra Tuna based in Kendari that collects fish from 23 pole and line
vessels operating both in Flores and Banda Sea.
Issues and Recommendations
1. One of the respondent’s decisions to establish a purse seine is to
have a sure supply of baits for his pole and line unit. The decision, it
turned out is a very economically and rewarding endeavor that paved
the building of two more units in a span of two years and another one
under construction this year and eventually will be giving up the pole
and line unit.
2. Again the use of local names has provided a source of confusion.
The local name used in Ambon to describe the multiple hook handline
is “pancing tonda”, a term known nationally as the troll line. This situation
has confused us during the interview because at times when
unassociated schools of fish are observed, fishers use the gear as troll
line.
3. Commercial fishing is undertaken by fleets from other areas that do
not land their catch within Banda Sea. Improvements in the collection
system to incorporate the “distant water” nature of the fisheries will
address data uncertainties generated by non-reporting or double
reporting of boats, catch and fishing efforts.
4. Evidence on the presence of pumpboats from the Philippines
operating around Taliabu and Buru Islands needs to be addressed.

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5. There is a need to strengthen support facilities for post harvest
handling in Ambon or Seram where large tunas are landed. The fleets
of troll lines need not go back to deliver catch back to Kendari if prices
are at par and freight charges are brought to the minimum.
6. Strategies to improve quality of fish are observed to cope up with
post harvest challenges. One is the “loining at sea,” by the fishers
themselves, which addresses the issue on quality, space requirements
and cost savings that definitely increases the fishers’ margin of profit.
This is highly commendable development that should be pursued in
many areas of the country. Capacity building on “loining at sea” should
be encouraged and undertaken by the government.
The government also should start promoting the landing of loin instead
of whole fish by working with the exporters and Japanese buyers to
accept loin which has the same or even better quality. Doing this would
translate in improved quality and quantity of fish exports for the sashimi
market.
7. Another improvement is the process of setting up ship carriers that
buys fish from the fishing ground. This is practiced in Ambon and Seram
areas but these boats simply cater to those under a particular “plasma
system”. Ways must be explored on how to expand this to cater to the
fishing sector outside these “plasma system”.
The use of storage ships would not have been necessary if post harvest
infrastructure support is available in the area. Unfortunately, while the
center of tuna fishing is in eastern Indonesia, the main processing and
support facilities for post harvest handling are centered in Bali, Surabaya,
Makassar and Jakarta. This mismatch between landings and processing
should be addressed to minimize wastage due to poor quality of fish.

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Geographic scope
Fisheries Management Area VI, with an estimated area of 440,100 km
2
includes
three major bodies of water namely Moluccas Sea, Tomini Bay and Seram Sea
(Widodo et al, 1998). Tomini Bay is a deep (up to 1300m), semi-enclosed basin
located on the north east part of Sulawesi Island and is bordered to the north the
province of Gorontalo to the west by south by Sulawesi Tenggah. It opens to the
east into Moluccas Sea through the Togian group of islands. Moluccas Sea is the
largest of the three seas and has depths reaching 2885 meters. It includes water
areas between North Sulawesi peninsula and Halmahera forming its northern border,
to the south by the large islands of Taliabu and Mangoli and to the east the large
and numerous coastal and inland seas between and around Halmahera, Obimayor
up to the western section of Irian Jaya including Waigeo island. Along its northeast
boundary, Moluccas sea shares its border with the Pacific Ocean. Seram Sea is
located north of Buru and Seram Islands and its northern border includes the islands
of Batanme (Irian Jaya and Obimayor (North Moluccas) to the north. Depths of
over 5000 meters have been recorded in the western section of Seram Sea while
shallow waters below 350 meters characterize the northeastern section between
Obimayor and Batanme islands. It opens into Banda Sea and eventually to Arafura
Sea through the passage between Kai and Aru group of islands (Figure 7.1).
Politically, FMA-VI covers thirty-one (31) regencies and cities belonging to five
provinces that include the Provinces of North Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara), Gorontalo,
Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tenggah), Moluccas (Maluku), North Mollucas (Maluku
Utara) and Irian Jaya (Table 7.1). The very deep and the large area of FMA-VI
makes it ideal for pelagic fishing.
FMA-VI: Tomini Bay, Seram Sea
& Moluccas Sea
Figure 7.1 Geographic location of fishery management area six (FMA-
VI).

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FMA VI acts as a flow through area of oceanic waters and nutrients from the Pacific
passing through Moluccas Sea into Flores and Banda seas before exiting into the
Indian Ocean (Wrytki 1961).
Sources of data
Historical trends and information presented in this section relied a lot on the statistics
provided by the DGF Statistics by Fisheries Management Areas covering the years
2000-2004 (DKP-WPP 2006) as well as the Annual Fisheries Statistics by Provinces
and Coastal Areas, the Provincial Fisheries Statistics of the Provinces of North
Sulawesi (1986, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005), North Moluccas (2005),
and West Irian Jaya (2005). These data are supplemented by data from literature,
and the thesis of the students (unpublished) of the Sekolah Tinggi Perikanan in
Jakarta.
Note that the four newly formed districts in North Moluccas (Maluku Utara) and
three new districts in central Halmahera have made fisheries information from this
two provinces in disarray.
Limitations and Assumptions
Data of the provincial DKP were not sufficient enough to represent the production
conditions since only the data from Sulawesi Utara, Mollucas and North Mollucas
were available and the only statistics common between these provinces is 2005
Provincial Fisheries Statistics which is also the latest. In addition, the fisheries
Statistics from Irian Jaya is incomplete with only the production figures available
and lack fishing effort data.
Fisheries data from the province of north Sulawesi (years 1986, 1990, 1995, 2000,
2002-2005) were separated into fishery management areas FMA VI and FMA VII.
Included under FMA-VI are landings from the provinces of Gorontalo and partially
those from Bitung and Moluccas. The non-uniformity of available statistics between
provinces precludes a comparison and trend analysis. For example, the lack of
production data disaggregated by species and by fishing gear for years prior to
2004 (for North Sulawesi Province) and prior to 2005 (for North Mollucas Province)
have little use for time series analysis.
The Statistics from the Province of North Sulawesi was used to represent the species
composition as well as the share of each gear to total production of tunas for the
whole FMA -VI. This data was supplemented by various studies available for the
area.
Part of the difficulty is getting the time series data is caused by changes in political
jurisdictions. Before 2003, Moluccas area belongs to just three political entities
Table 7.1. Political units falling under fishery management area six (FMA-VI).
Provinces Regency, District or City Provinces Regency, District or City
part of Bitung City Central Halmahera
part of Minahasa South Halmahera
part of South Minahasa Kepulauan Sula
part of Bolaang Mongondow Ternate City
Bonebulange Tidore Kepulauan City
Gorontalo City part of East Halmahera
Boalemo part of West Halmahera
Pajuwato part of Sorong
part of Gorontalo district Manokwari
Parigi Moutong Biak
Banggai Teluk Wondama
Banggai Kepulauan Nabire
Tojo Una-una Yapen
Morowali Waropen
part of Kecil Donggala Jayapura
Jayapura City
Papua
North Sulawesi
Gorontalo
Central
Sulawesi
North
Moluccas

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
85Page
consisting of North Moluccas, Central Halmahera and the city of Ternate. By 2004,
there are now 8 political units whereby central Halmahera is subdivided into three,
namely City of Tidore, Districts of South Halmahera and Central Halmahera; North
Moluccas were likewise subdivided into four, namely West Halmahera, North
Halmahera, South Halmahera and group of islands of Sula (Table 7.1).
Another limitation is the aggregation of tuna production under a general term “tuna.”
Seggregation of tuna into species only started in 2004 for the North Sulawesi and
2005 for North Moluccas. Prior to this, tunas were categorized into three groups
namely tongkol (for small species of tuna), cakalang (for the skipjacks) and tuna
(for the large species of tuna).
We see a possible misidentification of Auxis rochei as Eastern Little tuna (ELT) in
the statistics. Whenever this data is used, we present the species as given in the
statistics and provide a note for the correction. Another misidentification is the name
assigned to “Tongkol Abu-abu” as blue fin tuna instead of the Longtail Tuna, Thunnus
tongkol. We did not include the swordfish, marlins, sailfishes, king mackerels in the
analysis because these species are extensively caught by non-tuna gears and
seggregation of data proved extremely difficult.
Tuna Landings
The total landings of FMA-VI in 2004 was 342,614 tons of which 36% or 123,303
tons are tunas (DKP-WPP, 2006). The trend of landings show that while total fish
output levelled at around 300,000 tons from years 2000 to 2004, the share of tuna
relative to the total fish catch declined from 52.8% in 2000 to just 36.0% in 2004
(Figure 7.2).
Seggregation by species only began in 2003 and not all provinces have adopted
this reporting scheme up until 2005, thus analysis of landing trends used the three
generic groups: large tunas (yellowfin, big eye, albacore and long tail); small tunas
consisting of bullet tunas (Auxis rochei), frigate tunas (Auxis thazzard), eastern
little tunas (Euthynus affinis) and juveniles of yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and
bigeye tunas (Thunnus obesus) and skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis). As Figures
7.3 depicts, both the landings of large and small tunas show a declining trend under
a regime of increasing fishing effort (expressed as the total number of tuna fishing
gears) had been on the rise over the same period (Figure 7.4). The very high effort
in 2000 represents the number of handline reported from the district of Mongondow,
North Sulawesi.
Landings of Tuna Species
Landing trends of each species of tuna is presented in Figure 7.5 using data from
the DKP Fisheries Statistics by FMAs (DKP-WPP 2006). Expectedly, skipjack tuna
Figure 7.2. Total fish landings and share of tunas for fishery
management area VI. Source: DKP-WPP (2006).
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Landings (t)
0
25
50
75
100
% share of tuna
total fish total tuna
% tuna

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GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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is the most abundant species as it is caught by all tuna gears and as target species
by purse seine, pole and line, some vertical handlines and troll lines.
In 2004, skipjack (69,000 tons) together with the bullet tunas (26,094 tons) (but
appearing as eastern little tuna) are the dominant tuna species (Figure 7.5). Large
tunas are represented by bigeye (14,317 tons), yellowfin (9,813 tons), longtail (8,658
tons) and albacore (8,519 tons). Based on the results of our market and fish landing
surveys in the area, it appears that Euthynnus affinis (eastern little tuna) is a possible
misidentification of the bullet tuna, Auxis rochei which we observed to be very
abundant in the area but which never appeared in the statistics. Eastern little tuna
in comparison are very few. This situation arose probably from the use of local
names in recording landings where small tunas are generically called “tongkol”, a
collective term for all small-sized tuna species irrespective of the species. As the
entries of eastern little tuna consistently appears on record as the most dominant
small tuna species, is probably an error perpetuated by the fisheries enumerators.
Fishing Gears
Nine fishing gears types are observed to catch tunas in FMA-VI. Each fishing gear
type has many variations depending on the area of operation, target species and
the need to adapt to changing resources. For example, purse seine comes in
different boat sizes, designs and methods of operation depending on the target
species. Likewise, troll line has two variants, the traditional one that simply pulls a
single hook with false baits and the newly introduced kite fishing technique wherein
a kite is attached to the fishing gear, a method proven to be effective especially
Figure 7.3 Landings of small, skipjack and large tunas from
fishery management area six (FMA-VI) for the period
2000-2004. Source: DKP-WPP 2006.
Figure 7.4 Trend in fishing capacity in FMA VI as exempli-
fied by the numbers registered in North Sulawesi Province
statistical records. Note: The provincial records were sepa-
rated into FMAs VI and VII. Source: DKP North Sulawesi
province (various years).
0
4000
8000
12000
16000
19861990199520002002200320042005
Year
No. of Gears
0
100
200
300
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Landings(10
3
tons)
small tunas skipjack
large tunas total

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
87Page
during calm seas. Even the simple tuna handline vary in fishing technique with the
use of live baits (as practiced in Sorong, Papua) or the use of squid ink in addition
to fish bait and use of drop stone technique to fish in very deep waters by the
Filipino fishers poaching in Indonesian waters.
Of the gears listed in Table 7.2, the gillnets, the small purse seine called “purse
seine mini”, other longlines and other handlines land tunas as incidental catch but
are targetted during certain seasons. The rest of the gears target the tunas all year.
Note that the fishing gears listed in Table 7.2 are incomplete as we have no data
from Central Sulawesi Provincial Statistics. Instead, the number of gears for the
Province was taken from the report of PRPT (2006).
Catch per Gear Type
In this section, we have used the 2005 Fisheries Statistics of the Province of North
Moluccas to show the share of tunas of each fishing gears type (Table 7.3). Tuna
catch as recorded in Table 7.3 is with high probability, just the landings of small-
scale purse seines called pajekus. The tuna landings of the pajekus account for
just 14% because the fleet targets the small pelagics consisting of round scads
(Decapterus spp.), big eye scads (Selar spp.) and Indian mackerels (Rastrelliger
spp.). It probably did not include the catch of the large purse seine fleet (>100 GT)
which regularly operate in these watersbut whose catch are probably recorded in
FMA VII where the catch are landed. By Indonesian law, these vessels, because of
their size are not allowed to operate within the archipelagic waters.
Figure 7.5 Landings of each tuna species in FMA
VI for 2004 (DKP-WPP, 2006).
Gear Type
North
Sulawesi
Central
Sulawesi
North
Moluccas
Irian
Jaya
Barat
Total
Purse Seine 359 133 191 10 693
Drift Gillnet 222 175 157 554
Encircling Gillnet 0 174 77 251
Tuna Longline 494 137 198 829
Other Longline 92 34 187 313
Pole and Line 188 272 140 600
Troll Line 358 196 13761930
Handline 168 224 21632555
Other Handline 7798 7798
Table 7.2 Number of registered tuna gear types from the four provinces encom-
passing fishery management area six (FMA-VI). Sources: DKP provinces of
North Sulawesi, Papua, North Moluccas. Data for Central Sulawesi taken
from PRPT 2006.
A typical scene at a fishing port in
Sorong, West Papua. A liftnet boat
and drift gillnet and pole & line
boats in the background.
0 20 40 60 80
Katsuwonus
pelamis
Euthynnus
affinis (??)
Thunnus
obesus
Thunnus
albacares
Thunnus
tonggol
Thunnus
alalunga
Auxis
thazzard
Species
Landings (x 10
3
t)

88
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
Share of tunas in the catches of the drift gillnet and encircling gillnet are very small
with 3.1% and 1.7%, respectively, as these gears are non-tuna gears compared to
the same gears operating in the coastal areas of Indian Ocean (FMA IX) where
skipjack, bullet tunas and frigate tunas account for the bulk of their catch.
The contribution of each gear to the total tuna landings in Moluccas province show
three fishing gears account for 92% of tuna landings in FMA VI (Table 7.4). Large
tunas, in the order of volume of catch, are taken by longline, troll line, pole & line
and handlines. While tuna longline account for 68% of the large tunas, the handlines
catch represent a mere 4.2%. The data as presented in Table 7.4 raises two key
questionable entries: the landings of longline which are reported no longer operating
in FMA VI and the volume of handline catch which is very small.
Skipjack tuna are landed by pole and line, purse seine and troll lines with almost
70% accounted for by pole and line while small tunas are taken by the pole and line
(80%), purse seine (14.2%), handline (3.15%) and troll line (1.48%).
The figures given for small tunas caught by pole and line appears questionable as
the hooks used by pole and line are quite big. It might be probable that some of the
small tunas identified here are actually juveniles of yellowfin and bigeye tunas.
Estimate of Tuna Catches of FMA-VI
We have tried to come up with an estimate of the total tuna catch for FMA-VI. This
is not meant to question existing statistical entries but to have an independent
estimate of catch in order to provide an index on the degree of under reporting, as
it is commonly accepted. As Table 7.5 shows, the estimated tuna catch for FMA-VI
for 2006 is about 131.9 thousand tons, a quantity that is 10% more than the recorded
quantity for year 2004 which was 123,303 tons. However, this value is on the low
range considering that our estimate did not include the fishing fleet from Central
Sulawesi Province because we have not collected any data. In our method, we
have used only half the number of the reported number of gears reported in cases
where we did not get any other estimate of fishing capacity.
Gear Type
total fish
landings (t)
total tuna
landings (t)
% tuna
Purse Seine 31107 4333 13.9
Drift Gillnet 1161 36 3.06
Encircling gillnet 1955 33 1.69
Tuna longline 3596 2628 73.1
Other longlines 521 81 15.6
Pole and Line 29498 28779 97.6
Handlines 2295 743 32.4
Troll line 10222 7375 72.1
Table 7.3 Tuna share in the total landings of the different fishing gears operat-
ing in FMA-VI. Source: DKP North Moluccas Province (2005).
Gear Type
large
tunas
skipjack
small
tunas
Total %
Purse Seine 0 3505 828 4333 9.85
Drift Gillnet 0 0 36 36 0.08
Encircling gillnet 0 0 33 33 0.07
Tuna longline 2628 0 0 2628 5.97
Other longlines 81 0 0 81 0.19
Pole and Line 170 23959 4650 28779 65.4
Handlines 162 398 183 743 1.69
Troll line 814 6475 86 7375 16.76
Total 3856 34337 5815 44008100.00
Table 7.4. Share of each tuna fishing gear to the total tuna landings in the
province of Moluccas. Source: DKP Province of North Moluccas (2005).

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
89Page
Our estimate relies heavily on the mean catch and catch rates provided by
respondents for each fishing gear type during our survey, using the lower estimates
of catch rates and the number of days fishing provided to us. We used very
conservative figures in the computation of number of fishing days during the peak
and lean seasons and incorporating zero catch in order to get the true estimate of
mean catch. In our desire to approximate the actual tuna landings, we included in
the computation catch taken by the Philippine-based handline fleet and catch caught
by reflagged Philippine purse seines, some of which operate illegally in FMA VI.
The Tuna Fishing Fleet of FMA-VI
The tuna fleets operating within FMA-VI consist of good mix of tuna fishing fleets
from North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, West
Irian Jaya, North Moluccas, Moluccas, East Java, Bali, East and West Nusa
Tenggara. FMA-VI is one of the three remaining productive tuna fishing grounds of
the country. The other two areas are the Flores Sea, (FMA-IV) and Pacific side of
FMA VII. The presence of fleets from different areas that lands their catch in their
respective ports make the monitoring of catch and effort a major challenge.
The following sections gives a general description of the different fishing fleets
operating in the area based on the current situation as observed during our survey
and the changes that occurred as the fleet try to meet the challenges of tuna fishing.
Purse Seine Fleet
There are three types of purse seine fleet operating in Moluccas, Tomini and Seram
Seas: the very large seiners (>100 GT), the medium sized fleets (10-30 GT) and
the small-sized fleets (<10 GT).
Large Vessels
Many of these larger vessels (>100 GT) based in Bitung, North Sulawesi use the
group seining fishing technique due to small capacity of the catcher vessels. Each
group is called a unit and consists of 4 catchers and 1 carrier ships. Each catcher
Table 7.5 Parameters used in the estimate of tuna catch for FMA VI. Note that in the
absence of other estimate of fishing gear numbers, we have used half of the re-
ported number of registered fishing gear type for 2005.
1
/ based on aggregate number of gears from Moluccas, North Sulawesi, West Irian Jaya and
Papua provinces for 2005
2
/ used only half of recorded fleet number
3
/ number of annual fishing days
4
/ number of trips per year
5
/ data based on results of interviews in Philippines
A fish market scene along a
road in Sorong, West Papua.
Fishing Gear Type
No.
gears
2005
1
no of
gears
used
2
total fishing
days/yr
3
or
trips/year
4
annual
catch/
unit

(mt)
Est. total
fish catch
(mt)
% share
of tuna
Est. tuna
catch (mt)
Purse Seine (<30GT)
1,2,3
683 346 173 117.64 40,703 0.139 5658
Purse Seine (>30GT)
3,5
24 44 396.0 9,504 0.970 9219
Pole and Line
1,2,4
600 300 120 187.0 56,100 0.976 54754
Troll Line
1,3,
1930 1930 240 21.3 41,109 0.721 29640
Simple Tuna Handline
(Seram Sea, Moluccas
392 392 240 21.0 8,232 0.324 2667
Simple tuna handline
(West Irian Jaya)
1,2,3 2163 1082 99 11.5 12,481 0.750 9360
Phil.-based pumpboats
3,5
1500 300 120 57.0 17,100 0.920 15732
Other handline
1,2,3
7790 3895 240 4.8 18,696 0.100 1870
Other longline 690 345 168 25.2 86940.156 1356
Drift Gillnet
1,2,3
554 277 252 136.0 37,672 0.031 1168
Encircling Gillnet
2,3
251 126 240 262.0 32,881 0.017 559
TOTAL 131982

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FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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vessel (also called mother boat) has a compliment of 1 or 2 skiff boats that help set
the net and retrieve the catch, three (3) light boats that also act as scout boats and
about 20 to 30 fish aggregating devices (FADs) which are deployed all over their
identified fishing grounds. Some of the catcher vessels operating in FMA-VI are
part of the 24 catchers from Philippines that have re-flagged and operating under
the new fisheries policy of July 2005 of the country.
These catcher vessels have freezer on-board to accommodate 2 to 3 days catch,
and are highly mechanized - with hydraulic system to operate power blocks with T-
boom, to retrieve the nets and set the FADs. Catch are transferred to fish carriers
regularly which are also responsible in bringing in provisions and supplies of the
catcher and the support vessels. But compared to the distant water fleet operating
in the Western and central Pacific Ocean, these vessels are quite small,
necessitating the need for carriers.
By law, these ships that are greater than 30GT are not allowed to fish within the
archipelagic waters but some vessels regularly fish within FMA-VI and FMA -VII in
clear violation of existing law.
Medium and Small Fishing Vessels
The medium and small fishing vessels differ only in size, engine horsepower and
number of crew but their operation is basically the same. The small purse seine
vessels called locally as “pajekus” are wooden boats with gross tonnage range
from 3 GT to 25 GT, propelled by 40 Hp outboard engines whose number vary from
1-5 units depending on the size of the boat.
Many of these small purse seines vessels still have an observation deck or a ladder-
like structure on the boat where the master fisher sit to spot fish schools. These are
remnants of the time before the era of the fish aggregating devices (FADs) when
boats search for schools of fish. Hauling the net is manually operated; hence the
boats carry a compliment of 8 for small up to 26 crew members for larger boats.
The main target species of the small and medium sized purse seine fleet are the
small pelagics and small (bullet and frigate) tunas are caught seasonally. Purse
seine therefore takes only the tuna as incidental catch.
Fishing Gear
The fishing gears used by the purse seiners are similar in construction and design
and vary mainly in size (length and depth) and mesh sizes depending on the target
species. The nets are made of multi-filament PE nets. Net sizes range from 250-
400 meters in length and 60-80 meters depth depending on the size of the vessel.
Fishing techniques
The medium and small purse seine fleet based in Bitung normally fish at night,
using light boats to attract swimming schools or to lure fish away from the FADs.
The light boats are small plank vessels with outrigger (d” 3GT) powered by inboard
or outboard engines. Light is supplied by power from a generator set (15 Hp) or as
with some small pajekus, from kerosene lamps (8-12 pieces).
For the medium-size purse seine fleets, structural modifications are being made
on the boats and gears, mainly in the form of changing from outboard to inboard
engines, and construction of fish hold to accommodate ice and fish. These structural
changes are made in order for vessels to fish for longer days in more distant fishing
ground as resources in the traditional fishing grounds decline. The shift to inboard
motor is also to reduce operating cost as inboard diesel is more economical than
outboard motors. This is an indication of decline in fisheries resources.

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
91Page
Fishing grounds
The small and medium sized vessels with outboard motors are all day boats. While
the larger size boats could go as far as 30 nautical miles (nm) from shore, the
smaller ones just fish within a distance of 1 to 2 hours travel time (15-30 nm). The
vessels with inboard motor and provisions for fish hold are able to carry ice and
have space for fish storage; a feature which allows them to operate longer from 3
to 7 days. Such boats are based in Bitung and Gorontalo and fish in Tomini Bay or
in Sangihe Islands. The purse seiners based in Ternate, Ambon, Obimayor and
Bacan islands are mostly day boats although some vessels based in Ambon, move
out to Seram Sea or in Banda Sea for several days to follow the season of
roundscads. The boats based in Tomini Bay operate just along the coastal area of
the respective home ports of Gorontalo, Ampana, Parigi and Poso where FADs are
deployed (DKP 2006).
The fishing grounds of the larger vessels in FMA-VI are in Seram Sea, Taliaba,
Buru Islands and extend eastwards north of Waigeo Island in Sorong, Irian Jaya.
Their operation in FMA-VI is actually an extension of their fishing oprations which
is in FMA-VII. The numbers of days large vessels spend in FMA-VI in not known as
these boats, which are over 30 GT are fishing illegally. Howeer, tuna fishers around
the area do not complain because they could fish for free on the FADs owned by
these puerse seine companies.
Species composition
The Provincial Statistics of North Sulawesi lists 15 major fish groups caught and
landed by purse seines landing in Bitung. The ranking of species vary between
places within FMA-VI. Note that landings are contaminated by the large purse seine
vessels that operate also in the EEZ and FMA VII. As expected, skipjacks are the
most abundant (30.4%), followed by bullet tuna (12.6%) and frigate tunas (5.28%).
Roundscads account for 35.8% of the landings.
Species of large tunas are highly represented in the purse seine catch with landings
amounting to 7,651.9 tons or 10.4% of the total. The catch probably represent the
juvenile tunas (sometimes categorized as rejects ~ <20 kg). This needs to be verified
considering that it takes a special training and practice to separate juveniles of
bigeye and yellowfin.
Analysis of species composition of purse seine from North Moluccas show 25
species/ groups of fishes are caught (Table 7.7). Roundscads (Decapterus spp.)
and big eye scads (Selar crumenopthalmus) account for over half of the landings
Figure 7.6. Left photo: A small purse seine “pajeku” landing its catch in Ambon fish
port. Note the watch tower for spotting fish schools. Right photo: Thai trawlers oper-
ating in Arafura Sea tied to the port of Ambon awaiting for the next fishing trip.

92
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REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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(53.9%) while bullet tunas and skipjack represent 16% and 7.3%, respectively. Large
tuna species show an aggregate catch of 1.1% of the total landings (Table 7.7).
Similar to the statistics from North Sulawesi, species of large tunas represent the
juvenile by-catch and is most likely under reported because of the difficulty
associated with identification of small-sized large tuna species.
The large number of target species of purse seines in FMA-VI is a result of the
extensive fishing grounds. In Tomini Bay for instance, catch composition could differ
between areas within this fishing ground where purse seine catch of fleet in Parigi
is dominated by bigeye scad (Selar crumenopthalmus) with ~70% and round scads
(15%) while in Bualeno, roundscads (70%) and small tunas (15%) account for 85%
of the total landings.
Species/ Groups
Landings
(t)
%
Roundscads 26,426.0 35.8
Skipjack tuna 22,425.4 30.4
Bullet tuna 9,342.9 12.6
Frigate tuna 3,898.3 5.28
Yellowfin tuna 3,665.2 4.96
Albacore tuna 2,072.7 2.81
Bigeye tuna 1,914.0 2.59
bigeye scad 1,785.4 2.42
Eastern little tuna 358.4 0.49
Indian mackerel 610.3 0.83
Others (15 species groups) 1,389.9 1.88
Table 7.6. Composition of catch of purse seine fleet based on landings from
Bitung, North Sulawesi in 2005. Source: DKP-Province of North Sulawesi.
Catch Rates
Table 7.8 summarizes catch rates of purse seine operating in FMA-VI from various
studies and supplemented by results of interview conducted in Ternate, Bitung,
Ambon areas.
Catch rates of purse seines in FMA-VI remain high and profitable (see section on
economics of fishing) but appear to have declined based on the following
observations:
1. For the large vessels, the frequency of getting large catch of >20 tons
from a single haul has declined to less than 10 times per year compared
to the 1990’s where frequency is twice per week.
2. Ten to 15 years ago, extremely huge catch of >70 tons per haul occurs
about 3-5 times per year, but from period 2000 to 2007, such extremely
large catch has not happened at all;
3. For vessels not operating on FADs, sightings of free swimming schools
have become fewer and school sizes have shrunk to just 50% percent
of 1997 levels.
4. In relation to searching schools, sightings as well as abundance of
seabirds has likewise declined.
5. Change in fishing operation by staying longer at sea as shown by
fleets based in Bitung and Gorontalo and in Tomini Bay and Moluccas
Sea is a consequence of increased distance of fishing grounds.
6. Increase in vessel power to enable day boats to reach farther fishing
grounds; and
7. Shift from outboard to inboard engine and provision for fish hold are
structural changes on the vessels that support longer fishing days.

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
93Page
Longline
Fishing Fleet
Based on the most current statistics, there are about 631 units of longline operating
within the FMA-VI, 494 units operating from North Sulawesi and 137 units in North
Moluccas. The boats from North Sulawesi are based in Kabupaten Bolaang
Mongondow (229 units), South Minahasa (149 units) and Bitung (116 units). The
units based in North Moluccas Province are based in west Halmahera (10 units),
central Halmahera (15 units), east Halmahera (10), south Halmahera (25), north
Halmahera (33), Sula Halmahera (20), Ternate City (14) and Tidore City (10).
The number of gears does not match the number of boats registered for each of
the areas above. For example, while the number of tuna longline gears is 494 for
north Sulawesi, there are only a total of 273 boats with weight >10 GT. Similarly for
north Moluccas, there are only 123 boats with displacement of >10 GT compared
with the 137 units of longline for tunas.
Fishing Grounds
During our trip, we did not see any units docked in any of the major ports except in
Bitung. Our interview with a fleet manager identified the fishing ground as in
northeast Sulawesi, Pacific Ocean eastwards and northwards into the high seas.
Published literature indicated extensive longline fishing in FMA-VI from 1967 to
1981 (Suhendrata and Subani 1988,). However, no mention of longline fishing for
tuna in FMA-VI was noted in recent years.
Species Composition
Based on the provincial statistics of North Sulawesi in 2005, the proportion of
landings by each tuna species caught by tuna longline are as follows: yellowfin
with 41%, bigeye with 27.8% and albacore with 25.4% and other tunas account for
99% of the total recorded catch of this gear (Table 7.9). By-catch include sharks,
dolphinfish, mackerel, and sea bass which collectively represent less than 1% of
the total catch.
By comparison, the species composition of landings by longline fleet in Moluccas
province showed a higher share (4%) non-tuna catch (Table 7.10).
Species/ Groups Landings (t) %
Roundscads 6765.5 35.7
Bigeye scads 3451.2 18.2
Bullet tunas 3025.7 16.0
Skipjack tunas 1387.2 7.3
Indian mackerels 831.3 4.4
Fringescale sardines 708.0 3.7
Garfishes/ Needle fishes 707.5 3.7
Sardines 355.7 1.9
Anchovies 292.1 1.5
Hardtail scad 217.3 1.1
Rainbow runner 183.8 1.0
Frigate tunas 142.8 0.8
Yellowfin tuna 111.3 0.6
Albacore 30.1 0.2
Bigeye tuna 28.8 0.2
Longtail tuna 15.0 0.1
Others 707.8 3.7
TOTAL 18961.1
Table 7.7 Catch composition of purse seine fleets landing at Ternate fish port
in 2005. Source: DKP-Province of North Moluccas 2005.

94
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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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There are reasons to doubt some of the figures shown in Tables 7.9 and 7.10. The
entry of sharks and rays appear very small contrary to what are actually caught.
The data needs to be verified if the weight given is simply the weight of the shark
fins or are raised values based on size and number of fins landed. This is because,
as practiced, sharks are removed of fins, dried and the carcass thrown overboard.
As shark fins form part of the incentive of the crew, the number and volume of
sharks are recorded, if at all. There is also the presence of questionable entries
such as southern blue fin tuna, humpback and blue-lined seabasses. Missing too
are the oilfishes that form part of the deep-sea fish community.
Baitfish
See Chapter 10 for detailed discussion of the baitfish fishery of the tuna sector.
Catch Rates
Suhendrata and Subani (1988) and Suhendrata and Sofri (1991) provided historical
data on total hook rates of tuna longline by the Japanese fleet operating within
North Moluccas and North Papua. The hook rates in North Moluccas between 1976
and 1981 ranged ranged 1.07 to 2.53, with highest and lowest catch rates occurring
in 1978. In north Papua, hook rates were significantly higher (>3.0/100 hooks)
observed during 2-4
th
quarter of 1978. Similarly, the work of Suhendrata and Sofri
(1991) showed hook rates of longline fleets operating in Tomini, Seram and Moluccas
Seas fluctuate from 1.5 to 2.5 per 100 hooks.
Recent hook rate figures for FMA-VI is not available implying that longline fleets
based in FMA-VI are now fishing elsewhere. This is because the area has become
too crowded with the other fishing gears and entanglement and loss of gear caused
by FADs may have gone from bad to worse.
Pole and Line
Fishing Crafts
There are two types of pole and line fleet in FMA-VI, the small vessels between 5
to 15 GT called funae or funai (the traditional pole and line fishing boats) and the
larger boats called Huhate whose size range from 20-100 GT. The small vessels
are generally powered by 2 to 3 units of 40-Hp gasoline-fed outboard engines while
Table 7.8. Records of catch rates of purse seine fleet in FMA-VI for the different vessel
sizes and years.
Source yearfishing ground
mean
tons/set
FADs
Remarks
Large Vessels tons/day
Sujiyanto 1999Mollucas Sea 13.6 March - April
Sakroni 1998-
1999
Mollucas Sea,
EEZ Pacific,
Sulawesi Sea
23.1 Dec-May
n=27
this study 2007Mollucas Sea 9.00 Jan-Feb
2002Ambon Bay 0.7131 n=208
2003Ambon Bay 0.6319 n=139
2000 1.31
1.13
1.22
PRPT (2006) 2004Tomini Bay 0.952 Gorontalo, annual
mean2004Tomini Bay 0.735 Ampana, annual mean
2004Tomini Bay 0.731 Parigi, annual mean
2004Tomini Bay 0.629 Poso, annual mean
this study
Irwan
Medium-sized vessels

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
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95Page
the large sea crafts have inboard motor and have several large holding tanks built
into the boat for storage of live baits.
The increase in vessel size was triggered by the need for more space for the livebait,
a chronic problem that beset this fishing sector. For the funai, the increase in engine
power is to bridge the increasing distance of fishing ground and source of live
baitfish while for the huhate, the increase in vessel size is to provide more tanks for
the live baitfish.
Table 7.10. Catch composition of tuna longline landing in North
Moluccas. Source: DKP Propinsi Maluku Utara 2005.
Species/ Groups Catch (t)Percent
Tuna 2628.24 73.1
King Mackerels 452.5 12.6
Other Fishes 371.12 10.3
Sharks 108.13 3
Rays 35.58 1
Total 3595.57
Table 7.9. Catch composition of tuna longline landing in North
Sulawesi. Note the presence of bluefin tuna entry which is
questionable. Source: DKP Propinsi Sulawesi Utara 2005.
Species / GroupsLandings (t)Percent
Yellowfin tuna 6236.1 41
Bigeye tuna 4232.8 27.83
Albacore tuna 3866.2 25.42
Longtail tuna 717.7 4.72
Sharks 79 0.52
Southern bluefin tuna 43.6 0.29
Dolphinfish 18.2 0.12
King mackerel 9.7 0.06
Humpback seabass 4.8 0.03
Blue-lined seabass 1.4 0.01
Total 15209.5 100
Figure 7.7. Hook rate of a fleet of Japanese tuna longline operating in
northern Papua (top) and in North Moluccas Sea (below) from 1967-
1981. Data drawn from Suhendrata and Subani (1988).
0
1
2
3
4
5
Q1''76 Q1''77 Q1''78 Q1''79 Q1'80
Date (quarterly)
hook rate
0
1
2
3
Q1©©76 Q1©©77 Q1©©78 Q1©©79 Q1©80
Date (quarterly)
Hook Rate

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GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
Fishing Gears
Fishing gears have remained the same, the hooks are home made without barbs. A
study was conducted in the area to determine preferences for color of lures used
as false bait but found little significance (Raharjo 1995).
Fishing Techniques
The major change in fishing technique for the pole and line in FMA-VI is the complete
shift to the use FADs in its fishing operations. This is brought about by three reasons:
a) the decreased sightings of freely swimming schools, b) the higher catch rates
realized from fishing in FADs, and c) the fuel price increase in 2004. A detailed
discussion on the implication of these developments to the management of tunas
is presented in Chapter 13.
Fishing Grounds
The location of FADs, locally called “rumpon” or “rakit” determines the fishing
grounds of the pole and line fleet. In Moluccas Sea, FADs are deployed in the area
between North Sulawesi and Halmahera Island from 125.5° to127° East Longitude
and from 0° to 2° North Latitude (PRPT 2006).
Many of the large pole and line vessels operate under the “plasma system” or
through companies that provide not just the operational cost but also FADs and live
baitfish.Those vessels not belonging to a company or “plasma system” are singly-
owned vessels that operate in FADs owned by others and pay a premium for its
use when accosted. However these singley-owned boats operating outside the
plasma system prefers to utilize the FADs set by large purse seine companies as it
is free of charge. The total number of FADs are hard to estimate but companies, as
a rule provides 1:1 ratio of FAD to boat ratio for pole and line. In comparison, large
purse seines vessels deploy 25-50 units of FAD for every catcher. As reported by
respondents, as many as 10 pole and line vessels may fish around a single FAD.
Baitfish
A section on the live bait fishery for pole and line is presented in Chapter 10 where
the attendant issues, strategies and solutions are presented.
Species Composition
Pole and line catch almost exclusively tunas and only less than half percent (0.5
%) are non-tunas (Table 7.11). Skipjack tunas are the main target and represent
around 65% of the total catch. The large tuna species, presumably juveniles of
yellowfin, longtail, albacore and bigeye tuna account for 34%. If these figures are
correct, then the issue of juvenile by-catch for almost all tuna gears is a major
concern (see discussion on by-catch). Other species caught in insignificant amounts
Mollucas, Seram & Tomini Seas
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
19671969197119731975197719791981
Year
Hook Rate
Figure 7.8. Hook rate of Japanese tuna longline operating in FMA-
VI (pooled data) from 1967-1981. Data drawn from Suhendrata
and Sofri (1991).

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
97Page
include rainbow runner (Elegatis bipinnulatus), oceanic bonito (Euthynus affinis),
Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta), king mackerels (Scomberomorus spp.),
jack trevally (Caranx spp.) and dolphin fish (Coryphaena sp.).
Species composition based on actual catch of pole and line from Halmahera Seas
showed that skipjacks accounts for 73.1%, juvenile yellowfin tuna with 18.7%, bullet/
frigate tunas with 5.22% and dolphin fish with 3.00%, of the total catch (PRPT 2006).
Catch Rates
From 1950 to 1984, the catch rates of pole and line exhibited a gradually increasing
trend, probably brought about by the increase in number and fishing capacity of
boats. During this period, fishing is undertaken either on free swimming schools or
on associated schools. Starting in 1985, fishing on fish aggregating devices was
introduced by the state owned enterprises Pt. Usaha Mina in Aartembaga, North
Sulawesi, Ambon, Moluccas, and Sorong, Irian Jaya. The result was a 75% increase
in catch and reduced operating cost by 50%, creating the tipping point for other
vessels to 75% follow suit. But because of the high cost of capitaal outlay to deploy
FADs, not all of the vessels made the complete shift. It was only in 1995 or ten
years later, driven by few sighthings of free schools, that the fleet finally became
dependent on FADs (Table 7.12).
Seasonality of Catch
Based on the results of this study, the catch rates of pole and line vary with area
and season (Table 7.13). During peak season, catch vary between 4-6 tons per
fishing day with an average of one ton per fishing day during the lean months. The
seasons likewise vary with area where peak season in Moluccas sea is from June
to September while in Waigeo, Sorong, it comes much later from September to
February (Table 7.13)
The use of FADs has significantly improved catch under conditions of reduced
operating cost. The improved catch rates shown above are due to several
contributing factors. These are:
1. Starting in 1990, vessel sizes increased between 50-80 GT to
accomocate bigger tanks to hold more live baits. The volume of live
bait carried on board determines the length of fishing which determines
the volume of catch. Rawlinson showed that the average volume of
baitfish used per day has increased fourfold from 1976 to1991.
Pole & line vessel unable to go
fishing due to lack of livebaits.
Table 7.11. Species composition of Pole and line based on landings from
districts of Bolaang Mongondow, south Minhasa and Bitung, North
Sulawesi (2005). Source: DKP North Sulawesi provincial data.
Species / GroupsLandings (t) %
Skipjack tuna 29207.2 65.0
Longtail tuna 5274.1 11.7
Yellowfin tuna 3664.3 8.16
Albacore 3373.2 7.51
Bigeye tuna 3077.1 6.85
Roundscads 102.6 0.23
Frigate tuna 92.9 0.21
Garfishes 51 0.11
Eastern little tuna 38.4 0.09
Indian mackerel 20.8 0.05
Dolphinfish 9.7 0.02
King mackerel 6.5 0.01
Raibow runner 3.4 0.01
Jack trevally 3 0.01
Bluefin tuna 1 <0.01

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Table 7.12. Trends in mean catch rates (kg/day boats) of pole and line fleet operating in
Moluccas, Tomini and Seram Seas presented in ten year intervals. See also Figure 7.9
Legend: */based on fishing during peak months only (source: Rasyid 2002)
2. Larger boats (50-70 GT) could carry more fishers (18) compared to the
traditional small boats (<5 GT) with only 3 fishers.
3. Singly-owned boats join companies or “plasma” to ensure bait availability.
While the data above suggest an upward trend in catch rates, declines in catch
rates for pole and line in this management area are actually happening since 2000.
It was first reported as early as 1992 by Rawlinson et al, (1998) and confirmed
during the interview. According to reports of respondents, catch rates have fallen
between 50%-60% between 1997 and 2006 alone. The factors contributing to the
decline are as follows:
1. Decline in fishing times due to shortage of bait. Naamin and Gafa
(1998) reported that fleets lose about 40% of effective fishing days
due to baitfish shortage, as in the case of the state enterprise Pt. Usaha
Mina records of baitfish volume consumed (Figure 7.11). Furthermore,
because of insufficient quantity of live baits, fishing operations last
only an hour instead of the usual 2-3 hours. Even within the “plasma
system”, available livebaits are distributed equally among boats just to
enable them to go out fishing.
2. The distance between bait source and tuna fishing ground has become
very far. This is evident in the changes in fishing operation of the fleet
where at present, boats undertake 3-5 day trip compared to daily fishing
operation prior to 2003.
3. Some boats have utilized other sources of bait but found them not
readily taken by tunas.
Pole and line fishing operation is intricately linked with a separate fishery, the lift
net fishery that supplies the live baits used for chumming. Live bait availability has
been a perennial problem for the pole and line fishery. Bailey et al (1981) made
mention on shortage of live baits in Moluccas areas. This situation has not improved
and in fact has since worsened, triggering large volume of studies on the topic.
Two noteworthy research surveys were undertaken to address this issue: the ACIAR
Decade 1950-19591960-19691970-19791980-19841985-19891990-19992000-2005
Mean catch rate
(kg/trip)
513 564 642 778 1263 1268 1851.5*
0
500
1000
1500
2000
1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
Year
kg/boat day
FADS
NON FADS
Figure 7.9. Comparison of catch rates of pole and line (kg/boat/day) fishing in
fish aggregating devices (FADs) (open circles) and from freely swimming
schools (closed circles). Sources : drawn from data of Purwasmita 1993 (points
1978-1992), Uktolseja (1978) (year 1973-77), Rasyid 2002 (2002).

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
99Page
Baitfish Project (1995-1999) and the WPFCC (1993). Several reviews on the fishery
exists (Gafa 1986, Itano, 1993, Naamin 1994, Naamin and Bahar 1994, Naamin
and Gafa 1998), description of the fishing method (Subani 1982, Gafa and Subani
1991, Itano 1993), analysis of the bait fish species (Subani 1982, Andamari et al,
1987, Banjar and Talaohu 1987, Banjar and Andamari 1900), surveys were made
in search for live bait to develop the fishery (Rawung 1972) or to find baitfish
substitutes (Rawung 1972; Rumahrupute et al 1987, Edrus et al, 1992a, Edrus et
al, 1992b), in depth analysis of the pole and line fishery to determine changes in
efficiency of both the fleets for bait and tunas (Rawlinson et al, 1998),
Blaber (1988) points to three major issues deemed critical to the sustainability of
the pole and line and bait fisheries. These are: 1) analysis of existing data catch, 2)
development of appropriate methods to assess stocks, and 3) development of
management options (Blaber 1998). Presently, the bait fish shortage problem has
worsened, triggering exodus of vessels to other areas (Flores Sea, Savu Sea) with
better supply of baitfish, or exit from the fishery altogether, as exemplified by the
small scale funai fleet, or to shift in fishing gear to tuna handline as discussed in
more detail in the next section.
Handline
Vessels
There are two types of handline boats: a) small boats between 3-5 GT, with 40 HP
outboard motor, with or without outrigger and is operated individually by boat owners
themselves; and b) small boats (<1GT) outrigger type boats with 3-5 HP inboard
engine or used as outboard motor with long propeller shafts and operates with a
mother ship.
The first type dominated the fishery in FMA-VI and represents the traditional tuna
handline. The second type of tuna handliners is a new development, as a response
of the commercial sector to engage in handline fishery due to the growing demand
for fresh tuna. Indonesia is the second biggest exporter of fresh tuna to Japan and
catch from simple handline is the best source of raw materials for this market. The
mother ship that brings these small boats to the FADs are retrofitted pole and line
Table 7.13. Mean catch rates during peak and lean mnths for pole and line
based on results of this study.
Area Peak season
catch rate
tons/day
Lean
season
catch rate
tons/day
Moluccas sea June-Sept 5-6 tons Oct-May 1 ton
Waigeo, Sorong Sept-Feb 4-5 tons Mar-Aug 1 ton
Figure 7.10. Trend in consumption of
baitfish by the state-owned company, PT.
Usaha Mina for its pole and line fleet.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
909192939495969798
Year
no of buckets (x 10
3
)

100
GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
REFORMING THE TUNA
FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
Page
boats.
Following the model of the Philippine tuna handline fleet, these retrofitted pole and
line vessels carry as many as 20-30 boats to the fishing ground. The mother ship
acts as the storage space for fish, ice, fuel and is used to deploy FADs.
Many of the pole and line companies have reinvested in tuna handline fishery. If
the company is large, these companies provide the small vessels to the fishers on
a partnership basis and fishers are provided with ice, fuel and food. Only the hook
and line are the investment of the fisher. The price of fish bought by the company is
much lower than existing prices. On the other hand, singly owned pole and line
vessels converted to tuna handline operates in a similar fashion but invites handline
fishers who owns boats and brings their own provisions. In such case, prices offered
are much higher and the mother boat owner actually provides just the ice and the
boat is used as a buying station.
Fishing Gears
The handline gear consist of a single hook (J-hook, 36 mm long, gap width 25mm)
attached to a main line (nylon #12, 2 mm diameter) consisting of 300 meters until
swivel and weight and use of # 90 nylon main line after weight whose length is
about 15-20 meters until the hook. Each fisher usually brings 2 to 3 sets of handline
as spare.
Fishing Technique
Fishing is undertaken exclusively on FADs. Fishing time depends on the type of
boats. For fleets operating with the mother boat, fishing time is all day long,
commences from early morning (5 A.M) till evening (6 P.M). For the individually
owned boats, the length of fishing time depends on the capacity of the boat and the
distance of the home port. Each fisher has to decide whether to go for quantity or
quality of fish.
Before actual fishing, the fisher has to catch baits enough to last the whole day.
Species of baitfish is made up of filleted small tunas (Auxis spp.), skipjack (K.
pelamis) or juvenile yellowfin tuna (T. albacares). Fishing depth ranges between
70 to 200 m deep with fishers usually prefer deeper sets to get the larger sized
individuals, particularly the higher priced bigeye tunas.
There is a marked difference between fishing techniques used by Indonesian and
Philippine handline fishers resulting in a difference in catch rates (see section on
notes of economics of fishing). Philippine fishers employ drop-stone technique to
bring the hook at the desired fishing level at a much faster rate compared to their
Indonesian counterparts, thus avoid catching the smaller-sized individuals on the
shallower depths. Another difference is the use of squid ink as added attractant to
the bait, a technique claimed to attract tunas based on the knowledge that squids
are preferred prey of the large tunas.
Fishing Grounds
FADs designed for tuna fishing are distributed all over Moluccas Sea with
concentration located between 126° to 127° E longitude and 0° to 2° N latitude
(PRPT), around Sula Islands, Buru Island and Seram Islands and the islands
extending from eastern coast of Halmahera eastwards to Waigeo Islands off Sorong,
Irian Jaya. The number of FADs in FMA-VI is not known but estimates place the
number between 5000-10000 units.
Species Composition
Handline for tunas catch predominantly large yellowfin and occasionally big eye
tuna and by-catch species include dolphin fish (Coryphaena spp.), marlins, sailfish,
One-person tuna handline
boats that are brought to the
fishing grounds by mother
vessels.

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
101Page
sharks, king mackerel (Scomberomorus spp.) and opah (Lampris guttatus). Table
7.14 represent the actual catch of handline mother boat in January 2007.
Catch Rates and Seasonality
Catch rates for tuna handline is presented Table 15. According to fisher respondents,
catch rate has remained at the same level in Irian Jaya, with the only difference is the
increase in distance of fishing grounds from home ports. But in southeast Halmahera,
fishers reported that catch rates declined by 60% compared to 1990 levels.
The catch rates of handline vary considerably between areas, between season.
(Figure 7.11) and between fleets. Marked difference in catch between Tomini Bay,
around Halmahera and in West Papua (Table 7.15). As stated earlier, the catch
rates are likewise influenced by the skill of fishers and fishing technique employed.
Troll Lines
Vessels
The boats are small scale, usually less than 3 GT, equipped with outboard motor of
15 and 25 Hp. Vessel type varies between areas in FMA VI, in Papua provinces,
fishers use a v-type construction made of ply board material without any outrigger,
in Moluccas and North Moluccas province, outrigger type boats are used for trolling.
The use of outrigger allows at least two lines to be towed simultaneously.
Troll line is very popular small-scale gear use all over FMA VI but particularly
concentrated in areas such as Bacan, North Moluccas, Ternate City, Waigeo Island,
Sorong in West Irian Jaya. Where there are traders for large tunas, there are
numerous troll line fishers. Troll lines are also widely used in Biak and Manokwari,
both in Papua.
Species/
Groups
NumberWeight (kg)
Yellowfin tuna 60 55-80
Big eye tuna 1 85
Dolphin fish 10 8-15
Marlins/ Sailfish 4 15-20
Opah 6 30-40
Sharks 1 20
Table 7.14. Actual catch of tuna handline pumpboat operating in
West Irian Jaya Barat consisting of 8 fishers fisihing for 10 days
in January 2007. Source: This study.
Table 7.15. Catch rates and trend of tuna handline for FMA 6. Note: Data for Tomini
Bay for yellowfin tuna catch only for years 2003-2004 (PRPT 2006).
Area
Peak
season
catch rate
Lean
season
catch rate Trend
Tons per
Boat year
Source
Waigeo,
Irian jaya
1
Oct-Dec3-5
fish/day
/fisher
Jan-
Sept
0.8-1.25 fish/
day/fisher
1992: 3-4
fish/d/fisher
24.7this study
Bacan,
Halmahera
2
Jan-Aug200
kg/day
/fisher
Sept-
Dec
50-100 kg/
day/ fisher
Catch rate in
2006 only 40%
of 1990 level
13.9this study
Tomini
Bay
3
Jun-Dec35-55
kg/day
Jan-
Sept
15-40 kg/day
0.527
PRPT
2006
1
/catch taken by Philippine pumpboat
2
/catch taken by Indonesian vessel
3
/refers to catch of yellowfin tuna only

102
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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Figure 7.11. Month catch rates expressed as fish number per trip (open
squares) and kg per trip (close squares) for handlines from Tomini Bay.
Source: Table 7.6 of PRPT 2006).
Fishing Gears
The troll line consist of single line with a single unbaited hook at the end. The hooks
are imbeded in nicely crafted lures made of wood and plastic materials whose form
mimics prey such as flying fish or shrimp (Figure 7.12). Its hydrodynamic form is
designed to skim the upper 1 meter water surface when towed.
The main line is about 30-50 meters long and a swivel is located 2.0 meters from
the hook at the other end. Towing speed is half the normal cruising speed of about
5-6 knots.
Quite recently, kite fishing, locally called layang layang, was introduced in September
2006. Its use found instance popularity that by the time of our interview in November
2006, almost half of the troll line fishers based in Sorong are using this fishing
technique. Based on accounts of fishers, kite fishing is effective particularly at times
when the sea is very calm when fish don’t take the bait. Fishers usually carry around
6 sets of hooks and troll lines, extra false lures and kites as spare.
Fishing Technique
There are usually 1-2 fishers per troll line boat. Fishing is conducted at daytime
only. In Sorong, fishers leave at 6 am and arrive at fishing ground after 1-2 hours
travel, usually near the FADs. Sorong fishers encircles FADs abut 50-100 meters
away. Fishing operation lasts for 6-8 hours and return to port to land the catch. In
Seram and Buro Islands, fishers don’t fish on around FADs but simply rely on
presence of dolphins and seabirds.
As practiced in Sorong, West Papua, fish caught are simply left on deck, and covered
with any material to provide shade. No icing or post harvest handling is done, a
practice that result in high post harvest losses due to poor quality. Fishers continue
to fish up to 3-4 large tuna (30-70 kg) before they return to port. As a result, seldom
will any fish qualify for sashimi grade, the last fish caught will probably get a Class
B and the rest will be classified as rejects.
In contrast, quality is given a priority in Seram and Buru Islands. Because the fishing
ground is days away from major landing port, troll and handline fishers undertake
the correct practice of loining the tunas at sea immediately after landing the catch
that result in very high quality of tunas. At sea, fishers upon hauling of the fish,
slices the fish into four large slices but retaining the skin, washed with iced sea
water to immediately lower the temperature, wrapped in plastic bags, the air
removed, the bag sealed with rubber band and submerged in ice in styrofoam boxes.
Loining at sea maintain very high quality of fish, saves on space and allow fishers
could stay longer at sea to fish.
Tuna Handline: FMA -VI
0
10
20
30
40
Je©03 D Je©04
Month
n trip -1
0
20
40
60
kg trip -1
n/trip kg/trip

CHAPTER 7
FMA VI: TOMINI BAY,
MOLUCCAS AND SERAM SEAS
103Page
Troll line vessels ready for
delivery to 12 recipients annually
provided by the fisheries
department. Photo taken outside
the fishing port in Sorong, West
Papua.
Fishing Grounds
The fishing ground for troll in Sorong is in Waigeo Island, off the north coast of
Sorong, West Irian Jay, around Biak, Supiori in Cendrawasih Bay, around Buru and
Seram Islands, Obimayor, Bacan, Tidore and practically around the islands between
Halmahera and West Papua. The location of the fishing ground is dictated more by
presence of buyers of tuna than by any other criteria.
Species Composition
Based on Provincial Statistics of North Sulawesi for 2005, at least 23 fish species
are caught by troll line. Aggregate landings of the large tuna species account for
48.1% and skipjack with 48% bringing the total tuna share to 96% (Table 7.16). The
rest of the species caught have equal or less than 1% of the total landings. Troll
line catch both small and large sized individuals of market species, the share of
juvenile tunas differ with area. In West Papua area, mature yellowfin (>30 kg) are
fairly common but in Tomini Bay and areas off west Halmahera, immature individuals
(<20 kg) dominate troll line catches.
Catch Rates and Seasonality
Information described in this section are results of the interview conducted in Ternate,
Ambon, Seram and Sorong. Troll fishing in Sorong get better catch with a daily
average of three (3) large YFT tunas (30-70 kg) per fishing day during the peak
season (November to February). The rest of the year, mean catch is 1 fish per day.
There are no days without any catch as during the low season, fishers switch to
using multiple hook troll line to target other species such as skipjack, dolphin fish,
king makerels and epipelagic species.
In Moluccas province, troll fishing is conducted in open sea and not in association
with any FADs. Peak months is from November to February, catching an average
of 3-4 fishes per day weighing between 30-60 kg each. The low catching season is
from August to Octber where average catch is 0-2 fish per day weighing around 10-
30 kg per fish. Zero catch occurs approximately six times per month of 22-25 days
of fishing.
Tuna Infrastructure support
Major fishing ports in FMA-VI include Bitung, north Sulawesi, Sorong, Irian Jaya,
Ternate, North Moluccas province and Ambon. The center of tuna activity for FMA-
VI is in Bitung, where the processing and storage companies are based. Processing
plants (producing whole fresh, frozen, canned tunas, smoked tuna, loin, steak and
fillet), fishing fleet companies and export companies have invested in this area.
The Bitung fishing port (Pelabuhan Perikanan Nusantara PPN) was opened in 2004
where large vessels of up to 300-400 GT class may be able to dock. Currently, the
port is being used by Pole and Line, Purse seine (large and small vessels), and
Table 16. Catch composition of troll line based on the fisheries statistics of North
Sulawesi in 2005. Source: DKP-Propinsi Sulawesi Utara 2005.
North Sulawesi
Landings
(t)
PercentNorth Sulawesi
Landings
(t)
Percent
Skipjack tuna 11517.5 48.2King mackerel 21.7 0.10
Yellowfin tuna 3244.4 13.6Yellowtail trevally 21.6 0.10
Albacore tuna 2826.8 11.8Wolf herring 18.9 0.10
Longtail tuna 2740.2 11.5Indian mackerel 18.9 0.10
Bigeye tuna 2675.7 11.2Obtuse barracuda 17.9 0.10
Red snappers 235.7 1.00Fourfinger threadfin 10.5 <0.01
Roundscad 144.1 0.60Rainbow runner 5.9 <0.01
Frigate tuna 128.4 0.50Sardines 3.9 <0.01
Jack trevally 106.8 0.40Torpedo scad 2.9 <0.01
Dolphin fish 72.6 0.30Garfish 0.9 <0.01
Eastern little tuna 29.3 0.10Others 2.4 <0.01
Swordfish 23.6 0.10TOTAL 23870.6 100

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handlines. There is also an international airport in Manado and major shipping port
to support transport needs of the tuna industry. During our visit, construction and
upgrading of facilities are in progress.
Tunas caught by pole and line, purse seine, handlines, directly land their catch to
the processing plants. Traders buying tunas for processing from far away landing
areas are transported by trucks to the port. The collecting vessels of companies
retrieve and deliver tunas to Bitung from fleets operating in nearby areas.
In Bitung, North Sulawesi, there are about 26 companies that are involved in
processing, catching and export of tunas including two Filipino-owned canneries
and 4 companies that produce partially or wholly, smoked tuna (katsuoboshi) (Proctor
2007).
The province of North Sulawesi has identified tuna as one of its development thrust.
The provincial government look at the tuna facility in General Santos City in the
Philippines as the model to transform Bitung into a tuna export hub. The Indonesian
government enjoins Philippine companies to operate from Bitung. Today, there are
two Philippine owned canneries which also processes fish caught in the Philippines
and PNG by the fleets owned by these companies. Also, about 24 catcher boats
have already re-flagged following the new fisheries policy of Indonesia which was
passed in July 2005.
There are other ports in the FMA-VI. These are in Sorong, Irian Jaya, in Ternate,
North Moluccas and Ambon in Moluccas Province. The fish port in Sorong (PPPS)
is no longer used for tuna since the closure of state-owned enterprise Pt. Usaha
Mina in 2003 and a private pole and line company, Pt. Keselamatan Cinta Bahari in
2005. Tuna landings and tradings are undertaken in the local fish markets in Sorong
in Boswesa Market and Remu Market where tunas caught by handline are landed.
The fish port in Ambon and Tual are archipelagic fish ports (Pelabuhan Perikanan
Nusantara) that serve not just the tuna purse seiners, longliners and pole and liners
but also local and foreign trawlers operating in Arafura Sea. The fishing port in
Ternate, North Moluccas has a coastal port (Pelabuhan Perikanan Pantai, PPP)
that serve mainly small purse seine, pole and line, handline and troll line fleets.
There are three major infrastructure challenges to overcome: a) reform of air and
sea transport to lower freight costs that is competitive with other countries, b)
infrastructure support for export of tunas from the province through a locally placed
laboratory and quarantine and inspection facilities, and c) storage facilities to cater
to distant fishing grounds.
Figure 7.12. Above: A troll fisher from Sorong showing the kite used in fishing. On the
background are two yellowfin tunas caught. Above right: two types of troll boats
used in FMA VI. Middle: Samples of lures used in troll fishing. The jig-like structure
is made up of three simple hooks tied together. Right; family picture of a troll fisher
from Sorong, West Irian Jaya.Note the television and stereo sets on the background

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Cost of transportation from North Sulawesi is more expensive compared with air
and seafreight cost in the southern city of General Santos, in the Philippines (Table
7.17).
Tuna exports need laboratory certification which currently there are only four (only
three are working during at the time of survey) for the whole country located in
Surabaya, Makassar, Jakarta and Bali. During the survey, in laboratory facility in
Makassar was ordered closed for upgrading.
In FMA-VI, tuna fishing is limited by the presence of buyers that have sufficient
storage facilities to buy the tunas. While insufficiency of post harvest support may
hinder fishing and therefore good for the stocks of tunas in general, the losses
arising from post harvest handling is significant.
For traders, the lack of enough sufficient storage facility where the tuna fishery
occurs is partly addressed by sending collecting vessels. These are large ships
with large storage capacity that anchors strategically in the fishing grounds where
boats dock to unload. But this do not address the issue of prices. Fishers who are
not members of “plasma system” are forced to sell at prices dictated by traders and
have low priority for their catch to be bought particularly at times of peak when
there is not sufficient storage space.
The practice of loining at sea in Seram Sea is a practical solution to circumvent
lack of storage space for catch and ice on board these tiny handline and troll line
boats. The fish are of high quality that fetch better prices. Unfortunately, the prices
of chilled loins have yet to improve over the prices of chilled whole fish. Loining at
sea should become the standard practice in order to improve fish quality. The
government needs to expand its market of loins for sashimi to get the most income.
While fishers may want to loin at sea but buyers who have quotas to meet will
accept only whole fish, a situation that could readily be addressed by the
government.
Notes on the Economics of Fishing
The business aspect of fishing is a major part of tuna management to determine
the economic performance of each fishing operation. However, because of limited
time, this section provides a simplified cost and benefit analaysis of the tuna fisheries
in FMA-VI. The cost expenditures would include initial investment and operational
expenses while the revenue covers the sales revenue of the certain fisheries.
Pole and Line
There are two types of pole and line in FMA-VI namely the medium scale and the
funae-funae which are small-scale in operation. The medium to large scale pole
and liners are usually company owned, thus data on investment cost is difficult to
obtain. Boat captains we interviewed did not possess or share this information.
Table 7.17. Comparison of freight costs for air and sea cargo between
Indonesia and Philippines to different destinations. Source: Trandjrason 2006.
Origin of Cargo Tokyo Los AngelesNew York
Manado, Indonesia 2.25 4.30 4.45
General Santos, Phil. 1.85 3.00 3.50
difference 0.40 0.70 0.95
Origin of Cargo Tokyo Los AngelesNew York
Bitung, Indonesia 54007800.00 8250.00
General Santos, Phil. 45005250.00 6000.00
difference 9002550.00 2250.00
Airfreight Cost (in US$/kg)
Seafreight Cost (US$/40ft container)

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The cost of fishing operation is however available. Annual operational expenses
per boat amounts to about Rp1.26 billion (depreciation cost not included), annual
estimated gross revenue is about Rp1.46 billion making a net profit of Rp 200
million. This case study represents companies that have vertically integrated
operation from fishing to processing plants, or partners of processing companies.
For the fleet based in Ternate, North Moluccas province, the initial investment was
about Rp300.00 million for both the fishing boat (25 GT) and its engine (240 HP).
Annual operational expense is about Rp1.44 billion. Estimated annual gross revenue
from sales of the catch is around Rp2.07 billion.
Based on the foregoing simple calculations, pole and liners fishing in FMA VI,
particularly by smaller vessels operating is still making profits from their fishing
ventures. The profits, particularly the large vessels are not much and in fact, the
Rp 200 million rupiah profit, if depreciation cost and taxes are included in the
computation will simply be wiped out. They continue to operate because at a profit
because of processing and export of products.
As fully explained in Chapter 14, several key strategies are employed by these
vessels to address two key issues that beset the pole and line fishing operations.
First is the acute shortage and therefore high prices of live baits. Fishers address
this by using substitute baits which are available and cheaper. Using substitute
baits are not as good as using anchovies. Another strategy is for fishers to fish for
bait themselves by rigging their pole and line boats as mobile liftnet. The third
strategy is to join the “plasma system” where a company brings together pole and
line catchers with livebait fishers and fish buyers and cold storage operators (ship
with cold storage). Becoming a member of the pole and line fleet under a company
assures one a steady and ready supply of livebaits.
The second issue is the high price of fuel. The strategy employed is to stop the
search for swimming schools and instead fish in fish aggregating devices. Large
companies and vessels under the “plasma system” usually deploys FADs that its
members could use. For those individual boats with no FADs, the vessels simply
pay for the use of FADs, usually amounting to 10%-20% of catch. In many instances,
no payments are made to the owners of FADs because there is no watcher.
Handline
For the handliners in FMA-VI who are members of a company’s operation, the
fishing boats are provided by the company on loan basis but are paid back by the
fishers mostly on a monthly remuneration basis. The terms however are not fixed
and depend on the ability of the fisher to pay. The initial investment on the engine
is about Rp1.9 million, the annual total operational expense is about Rp15.47 million.
The estimated gross revenue from sales is about Rp53.04 million a year.
The instances of finding a Filipino fisher in FMA-VI (based in Mindanao, Philippines)
is not uncommon that we took the effort of visiting these fishers in their port based
in the Philippines. The initial investment on the mother boat (of 20 GT) including its
two inboard engines (of 160 HP) in 2003 was about Php350,000.00 (~Rp55.35
million). At present the estimate of initial investment for the fishing boat of the same
tonnage but with just one inboard engine of about 160-HP (year 2006) is about
PHP1.0 million (about Rp184.07 million). Annual operational expense is
approximated to be Rp255.50 million. The estimated gross revenue from sale is
more or less near Rp554.70 million a year.
Troll Line
The troll lines in FMA-VI are called tonda and layang-layang if kites are used. Total
investment for the fishing boat (<3 GT) of tonda in 2005 was about Rp6.0 million
while the outboard motor (15 HP) in the same year was more or less near Rp12.5
million. The investment for the tonda fishing gear was approximately Rp500.00

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thousand. The annual total operational expense for a daily trip of about 240 days is
estimated at Rp113.47 million. Total gross revenue estimates from sales of catch
for a year is nearly Rp169.78 million.
The layang-layang, on the other hand, outlay for the fishing boat (<3 GT) was
Rp5.00 million while for the 15-HP outboard motor was Rp13.00 million. Initial outlay
for the fishing gear was around Rp210.00 thousand. The total annual operational
expenditure is not far off from Rp108.50 million. The estimate for the annual gross
revenue from this fishing operation is roughly Rp1.75 billion. This type of fishing
venture is obviously profiting based on the simple cost benefit analysis.
Issues and Challenges of tuna sector in FMA VI:
The main issues facing this management area are as follows:
1. There is a need to improve and strengthen fisheries data collection and
management system by:
a) Improving the quality through thorough review and validation of the
species names. Stop the use of local names as these contain many
species and are called differently depending on the origin of the fishers.
b) Improving the collection system by increasing the number of sampling
sites (e.g. Islands of Tidore, Bacan) and also to include private ports
and wharves (e.g. Pt. Raja Ampat Canning), or better still, the collecting
vessels.
c) Segregating landings for tuna handline from the rest of handlines
operating. Similarly, new entries may be needed for Vertical handlines
now gaining popularity to catch small tunas in FADs and for kite fishing,
a variant of troll line fishing.
d) Increase and strengthen capacity for enumerators to be able to identify
fish at the species level, identify and differentiate juveniles of each
tuna species as these skills are crucial to analysing by-catch of
juveniles.
e) Improve capacity of enumerators for data storage, retrieval and
warehousing of data. We observed low skills to operate spreadsheet
software.
e) The 2005 provincial statistics of northern Moluccas needs to
disaggregate tuna into species level.
f) Need to develop policy that will compel tuna industtry to comply with
information required by government to include number, location of FADs
and other relevant information.
g) In many areas of Moluccas, loining of fish (see item 6 below) is already
undertaken and fish are landed and sold as loins. Enumerators must
be trained to identify species and back calculate the total weight of
fish.
2. There is a dire need to improve access to data collected either through internet
or availability through distribution on CDs. Easing up the protocol for request access
to data is a good step forward.
3. There is a need to include information on origin of fish caught. Tunas caught in
FMA-VI are landed in major ports with the FMA-VI (Bitung, Gorontalo, Bolaang
Mongondow, Sorong) but a lot of vessels, particularly for troll line and pole and line
fleet from Kendari bring and land their catch in their home ports. Similarly, it will be
extremely useful if the information on tuna handline pumpboats from the Philippines
and large vessels could be documented.
4. All fishing fleet from other parts of the country are sailing towards to FMA-V and
FMA-VI as tuna fishing in eastern Indonesia remain profitable. Therefore, tuna fleets,
Skipjack and juveniles of
yellowfin tunas are peddled
in pushcarts in a night market
in Ternate, North Moluccas.

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big and small converge to this area. Sufficient infrastructure support is missing.
This is particularly evident in minor landing areas in the islands where ice supply,
storage facilities, transport service to and from major ports are lacking.
5. The government, both local and national should start dismantling subsidies to
the tuna sector that distorts market and trade. In the FMA-VI, subsidies come in the
following form:
a. Grants for small sized fishing vessels for tuna handline fishing complete
with outboard motor provided by both local and national government;
b. Grants for insulated fish boxes given to traders and market vendors;
c. Fish aggregating devices (FADs) deployed for small scale fishers to
use either free of charge or in very easy repayment terms;
d. Cheaper fuel prices;
6. The quality of fish in FMA-VI is much better than those observed in landing
areas in Java. The improvement in fish quality is probably private sector driven
where fish traders provide the necessary support, in response to the slow reaction
of the government, to set up proper infrastructure and capacity building programs
to get fish quality they require from fishers. These private sector driven initiatives
include:
a. Shortening the distance of fishing grounds to the storage facility through
the use of collecting vessels. These collecting vessels are large ships
(>500 GT) with large freezing capabilities that are anchored in areas
easily accessible to the fishers.
b. In remote areas such as the islands of Moluccas and Seram Islands,
traders and companies provide the proper storage boxes which are
insulated styrofoam boxes of proper sizes and with sufficient amount
of ice.
c. In North Moluccas, lack of storage space on the handlines boats is
overcome by teaching the fishers to do the quarter loining of the whole
fish and proper storage procedure. This way, small boats are able to
fish longer at sea, get a premium for selling loined fish (but see also 1g
for repercussions on data collection).
7. Buying prices of fish remain very low in these areas because of two reasons:
First, transport costs of tunas from source to export hubs (Jakarta, Benoa, Bali,
Surabaya, Makassar) remain expensive as there is only 1 export hub in Bitung
through Manado. Second, added cost of doing business due to corruption and
extortion are passed on to the fishers in terms of lower prices.
8. Over-crowding, i.e, too many fishers fishing on a single FAD is fast becoming a
problem. While solution is easily addressed by deploying more FADs, the impact of
FADs on the environment as a marine debris, on the resources as it attracts juvenile
tunas which contribute to overfishing problem, and on the environment as hazards
to navigation should be carefully studied.
9. While fishing operation for all gears (except traditional pole and line called funae)
remain profitable in FMA VI, catch rates of all tuna fishing gears are on the decline
or signs of decline that manifest in increased distance of fertile fishing grounds.
10. Reform air and sea transport system to make freight costs competitive with
neighboring countries (Philippines, Thailand).
11. Reform to facilitate export of tuna through provision locally of laboratory testing
facilities and quarantine and inspection offices so that products need not shipped
to export hubs of Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya and Makassar.
12. The tuna resources of FMA-VI is on the decline and this is a cause for grave
concern. The need to put in place critical policies is necessary before the status of
The newly constructed auction
hall at Sorong fishing port
remain unused as fishers and
buyers continue to trade on the
wharf.
A middleman helps a troll fisher
sell his day’s catch in a landing
area in Sorong, West Papua.

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109Page
resources reach a point of irreversibility. Some of the critical suggested policies
needed for FMA-VI are as follows:
a. Policy regulating fishing effort, either in terms of controlling the number
of fishing vessels/ gears operating in the area. Immediate steps is to
recall the policy enjoining fishers to fish in eastern Indonesia.
b. Policy on regulating catch of juvenile tunas as well as other by catch
that include sharks.
c. Policy regulating the use, deployment and siting of FADs.
d. Undertake a study to determine the actual amount of and impact of
current subsidies on the tuna sector and recommend how this budget
could be redirected to improve management of tunas.
e. A program of government aimed at improving post harvest handling
particularly in building capacity for fishers to undertake loining at sea
to maintain fish quality.
f. Reform support for tuna industry to focus on maintaining the health of
resources through improved collection of information supported by
research and development of manpower that will monitor the status of
the fishery. There are less than 50 fisheries scientists all over the country
working on the tunas and many of them undertake administrative rather
than research activities.
g. Policy that seeks to improve and strengthen the role of the private
sector in the management of the tunas through their cooperation in
monitoring and even research.
The wharf turns into fish wet
market. The fish in the foreground
is an oceanic bonitor, Euthynnus
sp.
Fish are transported and peddled
to nearby villages using scooters.

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Geographic Scope
Sulawesi Sea and the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone along the Pacific Ocean
constitute the breadth of Fisheries Management Area VII (Figure 8.1). Sulawesi
Sea is a deep basin with an estimated area of 450,000 km
2
. As a basin, it has two
sills, the Sangihe Talaud group of Islands and the Sulu Archipelago which allow
limited water exchange on the surface area. A deep passage through Makassar
Strait is where water from the Pacific Ocean exits. Water depth averages about
4500 m and reaches over 6000 m along the southern extension of Moro Gulf in the
Philippines.
FMA VII is very important in the fisheries management of Indonesia because it
shares a common border with four other countries: with Malaysia to the west of
Sulawesi, with the Philippines along the whole stretch of Sulawesi Sea and parts of
the Pacific Ocean, with Palau Islands on the northeast portion and with Papua New
Guinea to the east. Because of its location, the fisheries management of FMA VII
faces more challenges not only on the local and regional fisheries matters but also
from a wider suite of other challenges on piracy, illegal fishing, smuggling, pollution,
climate change and other regional security concerns.
From the fisheries point of view, Sulawesi Sea together with Sulu Sea and Moro
Gulf is a major spawning area of the tunas. Also, the sea corridors between Southern
Mindanao and the Sangihe Talaud Island and the Sulu Archipelago are known “tuna
highways”. Based on tagging experiments conducted, the yellowfin and skipjack
tunas, along with large marine mammals and marine turtles, pass through.
FMA-VII: Sulawesi Sea and
EEZ in the Pacific Ocean
Figure 8.1 Geographic location of fishery management area seven (VII).

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Sources of data
This section rely heavily from three published sources: the Statistics of Marine
Capture Fisheries by FMAs (DKP-WPP 2006) which covered the years 2000 to
2004, the Provincial Fisheries Statistics of the Provinces of Sulawesi Utara,
Gorontalo, Maluku Utara and Irian Jaya Barat (for the years: 1986, 1990, 1995,
2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005), and from the results of our interviews at the
following places: Fish market in Manado, Bitung Fish port (PPS Bitung), Bunaken
Island, Fisherman’s Training Center and the government offices of DKP. We utilized
a lot of references in portraying the status of the fishery; specifically, we have used
and re-analyzed catch rates from unpublished thesis studies of student from Sekolah
Tinggi Perikanan. The data of Secretariat to the Pacific Commission (then called
South Pacific Commission or SPC) was also analyzed to show the catch rates of
specific fisheries, particularly for the longline and purse seine fisheries. The results
of observer program of WWF for longline operating in FMA VII were also used.
With much effort, we have sorted the Provincial Fisheries Statistics of Sulawesi
Utara to approximate the landings that belong to the two appropriate management
areas which covers the province, FMA VII and FMA VI. The districts of Minahasa,
Minahasa Utara, Sangihe, Talaud and the Kodya Manado (Manado Regency), and
half of the regency of Bitung were grouped under FMA VII while Bolaang
Mongondow, Minahasa Selatan and half of regency of Bitung belong to FMA VI
(Table 8.1). Similarly for Irian Jaya Barat, districts were separated into three FMAs,
and the districts of Manokwari and Wondrama were included within the FMA VII.
Limitations and assumptions
The separation of data of the Provincial Statistics of Sulawesi Utara attempted in
this study did not involve the use of the statistical tables (e.g. LL forms) and therefore
is just an approximation of the actual values. We did this to supplement data that is
not covered by the capture fisheries statistics for fishery management areas (FMAs).
Our aim in doing this step is to get an idea of the trend of gears as well as landings
for each gear type.
To present the species composition of each gear and the share of tunas to total
catch, we used the latest fisheries statistics of the Province of Sulawesi (2005). Its
use is ideal because tunas are already classified up to species level. The data from
observer program were used to describe the species composition and catch rates
for tuna longline.
We attempted to come up with a realistic tuna production for this management
area using catch data based on interviews and the carefully assessed number of
fishing gears. We used a combination of values provided by interview respondents
and use this information to weigh the validity numbers given in the statistics. When
Province District/ City/ Regency Province District/ City/ Regency
Bulungan Halmahera Utara
Nunukan sebagian Halmahera Timur
Tarakan sebagian Halmahera Barat
Berau sebagian Sorong
Talaud Manokwari
Sangihe Biak
Kota Manado Teluk Wondama
parts of Bolaang Mongondow Nabire
parts of Minahasa Yapen
parts of Minahasa Selatan Waropen
parts of Kota Bitung Jayapura
Gorontalo parts of Kabupaten Gorontalo Kota Jayapura
Kalimantan
Timur
Sulawesi
Utara
Maluku Utara
Papua
Table 8.1. Provinces and local government units belonging to fishery management area
seven (FMA-VII). Source: DKP-WPP 2006.

CHAPTER 8
FMA-VII: SULAWESI SEA
& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
113Page
high discrepancy arises between published and those given by respondents, we
used the value given by respondents pertaining to the immediate area where the
respondents feel comfortable with the estimate.
We did not include the sword fish, marlins, sailfishes and seerfishes in the analysis
as data are highly contaminated by catch from non-tuna fishing gears.
Tuna Landings
Total fish landings from FMA VII is 195,763 tons in 2004 of which tunas account for
106,685 tons representing about 55% of the total fish output (Figure 8.2). The tuna
output of 2004 is 2.7 times the recorded tuna landings in 2000. The share of tunas
relative to the total fish production likewise increased from 27% in 2000 to 55% in
2004 (Fig. 8.2). Such trend suggest a shift of fishing activities to the tunas, probably
lured by the high returns and the dwindling nearshore resources which compel
fishers to make the shift.
The provinces of East Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Moluccas and
West Irian Jaya contribute to production of tunas to FMA VII in varying degrees
(Fig. 8.3). Between the period 2000 to 2004, tuna production increased by 32%,
generated by large tuna landings from Sulawesi Utara (262%), Kalimantan Timur
(61%) and Maluku Utara (38%). However, contribution of West Irian Jaya over the
same period dropped significantly by 67% (Fig 8.3).
Tunas, prior to 2004, were conveniently grouped into generic categories as small
tunas, large tunas and skipjack tuna. Using this classification, large tuna landings
grew by 37% from 2000 to 2004 period when its share to total tuna production
similarly increased from 35% to 48% at the expense of small tunas which landings
decreased by 63% (from 17% down to just 6%). Skipjack tuna remained at about
the same level, accounting for half of total tuna landings (Figure 8.4). This result
suggests an important development: a shift in target species for the larger market
species, presumably generated by high demand for fresh tuna largely caught by
simple handline and troll line fisheries. And because the large tunas, together with
shrimps, are better monitored than all the fishes partly explains the significant rise
in the share of tunas relative to the overall fisheries production.
Tuna species
Based on landings for FMA VII, nine species of tunas are landed in significant
quantities. These are the yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), bigeye (Thunnus obesus),
Figure 8.2. Fisheries production, total landings and share of tunas to total
fisheries production for fisheries management area 7 for years 2000-2004.
Source: DKP-WPP (2006).
FMA7: Landings
0
100000
200000
300000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Landings (t)
0
20
40
60
% tuna share
TOTAL TUNA
TOTAL FISH
% tuna to total catch

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longtail (Thunnus tonggol), albacore (Thunnus alalunga), skipjack (Katsuwonus
pelamis), eastern little tuna (Euthynnus affinis), bullet tuna (Auxis rochei), frigate
tuna (Auxis thazard), and striped bonito (Sarda orientalis).
Share of landings of each species show that skipjack accounts for half of the landings
(47%), yellowfin tuna a quarter (26.2%), and long tail tuna with 8.26%, bigeye tuna
with 7.21% and albacore with 5% (Table 8.2). This data set also show two interesting
entries: the significant quantities of longtail tunas (T. tongkol) and the large share
of eastern little tuna (6%). From our extensive travels around Indonesia, there were
only two other places where T. tonggol were observed in the markets, in Surabaya,
eastern Indonesia and in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung province. In contrast,
we rarely observe eastern little tuna in the markets and we believe that the ELT
entry probably are bullet tunas (A. rochei) which abound in all markets and landing
areas in this area (Table 8.2).
There are no reports of blue fin tuna from the statistics but the species composition
of longline vessels landing in Bitung and Davao, Philippines, based on the results
Figure 3. Landings of tuna by provinces from 2000-2004. Source: DKP
(2006). Note the decline of tuna productin from Papua.
Figure 8.4. Share of major tuna groups to total tuna production.
Tuna landings
0
20
40
60
80
100
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Landings (10
3
t)
East Kaliminantan
North Sulawesi
Tuna landings
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
20002001200220032004
Year
Landings (10
3
t)
Gorontalo
North Moluccas
Papua
2000
0.48
0.35
0.17
large tunas
small tunas
skipjack
2004
0.49
0.06
0.48
Fleets of small purse seine
docked alongside handline
boats in fishing port in
Bitung, North Sulawesi.

CHAPTER 8
FMA-VII: SULAWESI SEA
& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
115Page
of WWF observer program, accounted 33% of the catch are northern bluefin (see
species composition of longline).
Tuna Catch Estimate for FMA-VII
Based on our estimate, tuna catch of FMA VII is 455.5 thousand tons (Table 8.3).
This figure is almost three times (2.91) the tuna landings reported for FMA VII in
2004. How this estimate was arrived at is discussed in detail below.
Our tuna catch estimate relied heavily on the operational catch and effort data
collected from interviews which represent conditions in 2006, the time when the
interviews were conducted. In the estimation of catch and catch rates, we have
used the lower limits of values given by respondents, incorporated the zero catch
in computing for the averages, separated the catch rates between the peak and
lean seasons and used the corresponding number of fishing days for each season.
For tuna longline, troll and handline, catch were expressed in numbers and these
were converted into weights, using mean weights of fish as estimated by fisher.
[Note that experienced tuna handline fishers could estimate length and weight with
high degree of accuracy]. Actual fishing days (excluding travel time to and from
port of call) were used in the computation. Also considered was the shift in use of
fishing gears from single-hook handline to multiple-hook handline fisheries.
In addition, separate categories were made for small, medium and large sized fleet
for both purse seine and pole and line. Likewise, handlines are presented separately
which included Philippine pumpboats operating in Indonesia.
Why is the discrepancy so large? One of the possible reason is the inadequacy of
current tuna catch monitoring systems. As Proctor (2007) already enumerated, there
is a need to expand monitoring sites to include private wharves, mainly large
processing plants where bulk of tunas are landed. Much of the shortcomings in
data collection is found in Papua where smalle scale fisheries for tunas (handline,
troll line) in Cendrawasih Bay and vicinities are undertaken. There are the “collector
vessels” or cold storage ships where catch are directly delivered and then brought
elsewhere for further processing. Some of these ships actually sail directly to Japan
or to other destinations. Another big reason is that our estimate include the small
tunas which are not fully monitored by the current data collection system.
One of the interesting entries in Table 8.3 is the very high catch rate of small-scale
purse seine during the peak months. The value of 5 tons per day fishing (of the
small-scale purse seiners) is approximates catch rates for the medium sized and
the large sized vessels. The reason for this is that these small purse seine fleet
operates exclusively on FADs and goes fishing only if the estimated volume of fish
Table 8.2. Landings by species of tuna in FMA VII. Prior to 2004, tunas were grouped
into three coarse categories of large tunas, small tunas and skipjack. Legend: weights
in metric tons. Question mark on entries for 2004 are doubtful entries Source: DKP
2006.
Species 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 %
Yellowfin tuna 2873726.2
Bigeye tuna 78997.21
Longtail tuna 90528.26
Albacore 52544.79
Skipjack tuna 189192529837920548085194247.4
Eastern little tuna 38013.47
Bullet tuna ?
Striped Bonito ?
Frigate tuna 29352.68
13690161592565838024
6756 61231621419428

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aggregate in the FAD is >5 tons or more. The information is provided by the FAD
guard or owner. This fishing practice results in very high catch rates and highly
reduced fishing trips, providing a serious challenge for fisheries scientist on how to
incorporate fishing effort of FADs (see also Chapter 13).
Generally, we feel that this tuna production estimate is still an underestimate as the
contribution of fleets operating from East Kalimantan, Minahasa and other areas
were not considered. Furthermore, the by-catch of other gear such as drift gillnet,
set longlines and liftnets were not included in the estimates for lack of sufficient
data.
From this study’s estimate of tuna production (Tab. 8.3), the purse seine catch
account for 23.6% of total tuna production, troll line contributes 33.9%, pole and
line 26.4%, handline 13.1% and 3.07% for the longline. These foregoing results
showed changing scenarios in the tuna sector of FMA VII. These are:
1. Change in the structure of the tuna fleet. The troll line fleet, a small-
scale fishing operation, is the dominant fishing gear, accounting for
33.9% and has overtaken traditional fishing, large-scale fishing gears
such as the pole and line with 26.4% and purse seine with 23.6%. The
longline catch represent a mere 3%.
2. The growing significance of the small scale fisheries sector. Small scale
fishing gears (handline, troll line, mini purse seine) has overtaken the
large-scale fishing operations in terms of tuna landings accounting for
55% of the tota (Table 8.4)l.
3. Similarly, large tunas, the backbone of the luxurious sashimi market
are caught mainly by small scale fishing gears, particularly the handlines
where this sector’s landings account for 80%. This is a surprising result
and confirms that the major source of tunas for fresh, frozen loin and
steaks are now from the handline and troll line fisheries. The longline
fleet operating in FMA VII supply just around 20% of the large tuna
catch.
4. Small tuna production is shared almost equally by the large scale and
small scale tuna fleets, a changing development where it used to be
the domain of the purse seine.
Table 8.3. Estimateof total tuna catch from fishery management seven (FMA-VII). See
explanation below for different operational parameters used. Figures on each cell
refers to footnote numbers both at the column and rows.
1
/ based on aggregate number of gears for North Sulawesi and Papua provinces for 2004
2
/ estimate given by boat captain of carrier operating in the area
3
/ number of annual fishing days
4
/ number of trips per year
5
/ during peak season, vessels operate only when fish quantity in FADs >5 tons, # of operation is 40 times
during the peak season
Fishing Gear Type
No.
gears
2004
1
no of
gears
used
2,3
total fishing
days/yr
4
or
trips/year
5
annual
catch/
unit

(mt)
Est. total
fish catch
(mt)
% share
of tuna
Est. tuna
catch (mt)
Purse Seine (>30GT)
2,4
41 168 1,512 61,992 0.970 60132
Purse Seine (15-30GT)
3,4
690 25 143 94 13,385 0.833 11150
Purse Seine (<15 GT)
4,5
300 72 240 72,000 0.500 36000
Pole and Line(>15 GT)
2,4
3163 300 237 488 146,460 0.805 117900
Pole and Line(<15GT)
2,4
60 136 41.0 2,458 0.976 2399
Troll Line
1,3,
11918 2394 240 89.3 213,880 0.721 154207
Tuna Longline
1,5
982 107 11 162.2 17,352 0.805 13969
Simple Tuna Handline
2,4
26147 1000 225 31.6 31,560 0.800 25248
Other handline
2,4
1090 103 28.2 30,771 0.100 3077
Phil.-based pumpboats
2,3
1500 600 120 57.0 34,200 0.920 31464
TOTAL 455546

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117Page
Table 8.4. Share of small-scale and large scale sectors in the production of
large and small tunas. Data based on Table 8.3.
Sector
Tuna
Production
(t)
%
Large tunas
(t)
%
Small
tunas (t)
%
Small-Scale 252,395 55.4 56,810 80.3195,58550.8
Large-Scale 203,151 44.6 13,969 19.7189,18249.2
TOTAL 455,546 70,779 384,768
Fishing Gears
There are 13 different fishing gears operating in FMA-VII that catch tunas. Of these,
only pole and line, tuna longline and troll line catch tunas exclusively (Table 8.5).
The rest of the gears catch tuna as by-catch. But data as presented in Table 1 do
not reflect the true share of tunas per gear because of “lumping effect” brought
about by generic classification of gears rather than by target species. This is true
for purse seine, handline and to a certain extent drift gillnets. For instance, large
purse seine fleets based in Bitung but operates in the archipelagic waters and EEZ
target mainly the skipjack tunas while many of the small purse seine fleet pursue
small pelagic fishes such as roundscads, Indian mackerel and ox-eyed scad. The
tuna handline fleets also go after the large tunas seeking shelter in the fish
aggregation devices FADs.
For 2005 in Sulawesi Utara show there are five fishing gears whose cumulative
catch accounts for 95% of the total tuna production (Table 5). These are the pole
and line, purse seine, tuna longline, troll line and handline with the first two gears
accounting for 65%. Interestingly, four of the five major tuna gears belong to the
hook and line type of fishing method.
But comparing these rankings with those based on estimates presented in Table 3
showed very little agreement. For one, the tuna handline which account for 13%
and troll line with 34% from our estimates accounts for just 4.5% and 17.2%,
respectively. The reason again is the insufficiency in the monitoring of the catch of
small-scale fishing gears which are landed outside the data monitoring areas.
Gear Type
Gear
number
total fish
landings (t)
total tuna
landings (t)
% tunas
to total
fish
% share of
gear to total
tuna
landings
Pole and Line 308 44925 44728 99.6 33.3
Purse seine 427 73889 43677 59.1 32.5
Troll line 2394 23871 23162 97.0 17.2
Tuna longline 107 15210 15096 99.3 11.2
Other handline 3271 13883 6026 43.4 4.50
Beach seine 4915 1307 26.6 1.00
Encircling gillnet 449 362 133 36.8 0.10
Non-tuna longline 780 626 106 17.0 0.10
Scoop net 195 89 45.6 0.10
Handline 2066 983 72 7.34 0.10
Drift gillnet 1112 5594 57 1.02 0.00
Set longline 12 8 63.9 0.00
Pelagic Danish seine 96 2217 7 0.30 0.00
TOTAL 191922 134469 70.1 100.0
Table 5. Tuna output and share by gear types for the province of north Sulawesi for
2005. Data presented is not separated by FMA. Source: DKP Province of North
Sulawesi, 2006.Note: there is a big difference in share of tunas for each gear as pre-
sented here and those used to compute values in Table 3 which is based on opera-
tional values from interviews.

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The Tuna Fishery in Sulawesi Sea and Pacific Ocean
Purse Seine Fleet
What is presented in the section is a brief history of the purse seine fishery for
Sulawesi Sea and Pacific Ocean. In addition, we presented the conditions and
situations in the area and limited the description of each fishing fleet to those that
differ from the rest of the Fisheries Management Areas.
In Sulawesi Sea, purse seine fishing was started by Philippine fleets as early as
1982 (Aprieto, 1995, Resma, 2004). It started with single boat seining searching
for unassociated fish schools. The use of group seining technique probably began
in Sulawesi Sea in the 1990’s with the use of anchored FADs as a technology,
supported by light boats and probe boats. Some progressive fishing companies,
completely private-sector-driven without intervention of the governments, undertook
the initiative called “joint venture agreements or JVAs”. This “JVAs” was entered
into with “Indonesian companies” for “chartering” agreements and was the very
popular mode of getting fishing access in Sulawesi Sea. However, this practice
actually circumvents existing fisheries policies on export as well as reporting
requirements.
Parallel to this development, the tuna handline fishers from the Philippines started
to fish in Sulawesi Sea, without any permits or license to fish, following the purse
seine fleet by utilizing, free of charge, the anchored FADs deployed by the purse
seine companies. The proliferation of FADs and rampant illegal fishing activities
prompted serious complaints from Indonesian fishers. The Indonesian government
finally acted on the matter with the issuance of Decision No. 508 in 2000,
deregulating the fisheries sector. This policy put to stop any “chartering agreements”
and led to the arrest of many illegal fishers and confiscation of fishing boats and
gears.
This development forced the Philippine government to address the situation and
negotiated fishing access agreement with Indonesia. On January 10, 2002, a fishing
access agreement was signed by the two governments that allow Philippines fishing
companies’ access to fish in Indonesian EEZ of Sulawesi Sea, Pacific Ocean and
Indian Ocean. The agreement specifies the use of the purse seine and longline
fishing, and depending on size of vessels, would operate on specified distance
from the shore using the archipelagic baselines of the country. Table 8.6 specifies
the total number and total tonnages.
What the agreement failed to include was the access of the tuna handline fishing
fleet from the Philippines. The reason for its exclusion was due to the stiff opposition
by Indonesian fishers and organized fishers groups. This fishing access agreement
was, however short-lived due to change in Indonesian fisheries policy that led to
unilaterally cancelling all existing fishing agreements to give way to a new policy.
Fisheries policy No. 6 of July 2004 would help boost the countries’ fisheries sector,
particularly focusing on the development and strengthening of the tuna fisheries.
Under this directive, foreign companies need to have land-based investments (e.g.
processing, storage), re-flagging and re-manning requirements of fishing vessels.
To date, it is estimated that a total of 24 catchers from the Philippines have taken
this offer.
Fishing Fleet
The exact number of large purse seine vessels is not known but the Province of
Sulawesi Utara listed 22 units of ships with 100-200 GT class and another 21 boats
with gross tons over 200 GT class, all but two are based in Bitung, Sulawesi Utara.
These we assumed are all catcher vessels. Some of the vessels operating in the
Indonesian EEZ are probably the largest ships operating in the Indonesian fishery
with a handful of the ships belonging to the super seiner class of >500 GT but
operating in several countries (e.g. PNG, Vanuatu).

CHAPTER 8
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Fishing Grounds
Over the years, the fishing ground of the large purse seine fleet has moved from
west to east and at present seldom operate in Sulawesi Seas. Most of the large
purse seine fleets operate in the area west of Sangihe Talaud group of islands
(western-most fishing ground) and the main fishing ground is eastwards within the
0° to 3° N latitude and 124° to138° E longitude.
The medium and small-sized vessels operate in Sulawesi Sea; mainly those based
in Manado fish just around north and north east of Bunaken Islands, while only a
few boats based in Bitung on opportunistic basis, travel to FMA VII to fish. As a
rule, most of the vessels based in Bitung operate in FMA VI, particularly in Moluccas
Sea due to distance considerations.
Catch Rates
The catch rates provided by respondents for large purse seine fleet were computed
to be about 9 tons per set which includes zero values due to operational hitches
because of bad sea conditions. Using data in Table 8.7, the average catch per set
in the Indonesian EEZ has dropped from 21 tons/set while in the Sulawesi Sea,
from 12.1 tons/set in 1999 it decreased to just 9 tons/set. These represents a 57%
and 25% drop in catch rates over the last seven years in the Pacific Ocean and
Sulawesi Sea, respectively.
Medium and small-scale fleet
The medium sized purse seine vessels range from 10-35 GT, propelled by either
inboard engine (for vessels > 25 GT) or 4 to 5 units of 40 Hp outboard motors. The
small size vessels have between 6 to10 GT and usually have two units of outboard
engines.
The statistics does not discriminate between types and number of vessels; hence
there is no record on the exact number. The fisher respondents place the total
number of medium and small-scale purse seine ~1,000 units for the whole province
of Sulawesi Utara, with 300 units based in Bitung alone, 80 units in Manado and
the rest are scattered around the other the different landing centers.
Fishing technique
The small vessels are day boats; leaves port between 4 to 8 pm and travels to the
fishing for about 1 to 2 hours. They operate on FADs 70% of the time and uses light
boats to extricate the fish from the FADs. The light boats are small in-board motorized
plank boats (<1 GT) with outriggers. It uses either 4 or 5 pieces of pressurize
kerosene lamps or four pieces of 200-watt lamps generated from a 15 Hp generator.
During each operation, number of hauls could vary between 1 to 5 hauls depending
on the catch and sea conditions. During the dark phase of the moon and depending
on the season, they do not use FADS and simply use light boats to attract the fish.
Table 8.6 Number, type of fishing method and total tonnage of al-
lowed fishing vessels to fish in Indonesian EEZ by Philippine fish-
ing companies. Source: Resma, 2004
Fishing Method
Type of
vessel
No. of
fishing
vessels
Total Tonnage
of vessels
Catcher 75 22,000
Light Boat 300 15,000
Carrier 150 40,000
Single Seining 10 8,000
Longline 20 4,000
Group seining

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The medium sized boats operate exclusively on the FADs, and with skiff boat to
help set and stabilize the position of the catcher boat. This fleet undertakes 2-days
trips as travel time to fishing ground is about 12-15 hours. Lighting commences at
midnight and setting of net starts at around 5 am. These boats bring ice on board.
As noted earlier, a growing number of small boats partner with FAD owners/
operators and fish only when the required quantity (of fish in FADs) is present. This
is why some small vessels have very high catch rates as the precondition for
emptying the fish in FADs on a sharing basis (50-50) should be >10 tons.
Species Composition
As revealed by results of the interviews, the pajekus target the tunas; hence 85%
of its catch consists of bullet tunas (30%), small skipjack called “mesang” (30%),
juvenile yellowfin and bigeye (15%) and other small pelagic fishes (roundscads,
sardines, bigeye scad) 15%.
The smaller vessels tend to differ slightly in its species composition: roundscads
(40%), bullet tuna (30%), skipjack (10%), sardines and Indian mackerel with 20%.
Such differences probably arise from where the two fleets operate; the small fleets
are mainly coastal (20 nm) and could not go far while the medium sized fleet operates
in FADs as far as 100-150 nm.
Comparing these results with a study conducted 10 years ago (Jabbar 1998), that
over a 10-year period, significant changes in the species composition happened
where the catch composition of mini purse seine used to be roundscads, accounting
for 60-80% and other small pelagic fishes (Table 8. 8). Small tunas (bullet tunas
and skipjack) were not even listed. Species replacements could be happening. At
the time of the study, Jabbar (1998) mentions of a “roundscad “malalugis” crisis
where the population is headed for a collapse (Fig. 8.5).
Table 8.7 Catch rates and averages of historical data on purse seine fishing in the Indo-
nesia EEZ in Pacific Ocean (PO) and Sulawesi Sea (various sources). Legend: num-
bers in parenthesis refer to the number of sets.
mean catch
tons/set
mean catch
tons/set
FADs Non-FADs
Sugiyono 1999PO EEZ 11.59 (9) 11.93 (8)no zero sets
PO EEZ 9.49 (32) 16.56 (4)w/ 5 zero sets for FADs, 1
for swimming schools
Muis, Abdul 1999PO EEZ 31.25 (90) 37 sets long:137E-140E;
lat: 0-2N
Ikhsan, M 1999PO EEZ 27.36 (14) zero set =3 and locw catch
= 3 due bad weather
Watung 1999PO EEZ 13.8 (41) c(max)=96 tons/set
Sujiyanto 1999 Sulawesi 13.44 (35) March-May; 9 sets>20 tons
20.99 13.5
sets = 221 (FAD)
sets =12 (freely
swimming)
1998Sulawesi 16.9 (5)Dec-98
1999 Sulawesi 25.6 (21)Jan-May
1999Sulawesi 14.37 (14) February: zero set=1
1999Sulawesi 8.89 (16) March; zero sets=3
1999Sulawesi 9.98 (13) April; zero sets=2
1999Sulawesi 9.61 (10) May; zero set=0
Tonimba 1997Sulawesi 14.48 (31) February to May
12.1 23.9
sets=84 (FAD)
sets=26 (freely swimming)
Sakroni
Nugraha, E
AVERAGE Catch (Pacific)
AVERAGE Catch (Sulawesi)
Large Purse Seine
Sources year
fishing
ground
Remarks
Tunas are graded as class A for
export, B for canning and C and D
as rejects. Class C & D are often
what is sold in the wet market.

CHAPTER 8
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& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
121Page
Catch rates
Current catch rates of medium scale purse seine averages about 6.5 tons per fishing
day during the peak season (west and south season) to 2.6 tons during the east
season. The catch of smaller boats averages 5-10 tons per fishing day during the
peak season and 1.25 tons per day during the lean season. The unbelievably higher
catch rates (higher than medium purse seines) are the result of sharing system
now practiced between the boat and the FAD owner. The precondition for the boat
to empty the FAD is a minimum guaranteed quantity of fish to be >5 tons. The catch
(not the sales) is split equally. This practice limits the annual fishing days to 72
days in a year, of which 40 trips are made during the peak season.
Catch rates of the rest of the fleet have been falling since 2000. Owners and fishers
of the medium size purse seine fleet describe catch rates in 2006 as just 50% of
2000 levels and, that catch >10 tons per set has become very rare (1-2 times/yr)
compared to a weekly occurrence before. For the small vessels that regularly fish,
catch now is just 40% of 2000 levels.
Declining catch rates have been recorded even before 2000. The study of Jabbar
(1998) shows the collapse of the roundscad fishery in Sulawesi Sea where catch
rates fell from 5.23 tons/day in 1993 to <1 ton/day in 1997 (Figure 5). This could
explain the probable succession of small pelagics, i.e., the upsurge of small tunas
at the expense of roundscads.
Pole and Line
The Fishing Fleet
Pole and line fishing was probably introduced by Japanese fishers in Sulawesi
around 1918 (Naamin and Gafa 1998) to supply the raw materials for smoked fish
(Katsuobushi or ikan kayu).
Table 8.8. Species composition of mini purse seine catch (%) in Sulawesi Sea
based on landings of purse seine mini fleet in Aartembaga, Sulawesi Utara.
Source: Jabbar (1998).
Figure 8.5. Catch, effort and catch per effort trend for the mini purse seine
mini roundscad fishery of Sulawesi Sea from 1993-1997. (Data drawn
from Jabbar,1998).
Purse Seine "Mini"
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Year
Catch (tons)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
CPUE (tons/trip)
Catch Effort
C/f
Effort (# Trips)
Species Groups 1994 1995 1996 1997
Roundscads 84.4 63.4 69.8 85
Bigeye scad 4.2 1.3 2.4 2.2
Anchovies 2.9 7.6 0.2 0.9
Sardines 5.7 12.3 23.9 10.9
Fringe-scale Sardines 1.3 8.2 1.1 1
Indian Mackerel 1.6 7.1 2.6 0
Total catch (t) 263.4 157.9 226.8 184.8

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The fishery first developed in north Sulawesi with centers in Bitung, Gorontalo,
Kemah and Manado (Naamin and Gafa 1998) and in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi.
From there, the pole and line fishery spread to the rest of east Indonesia (Ternate,
Ambon, Sorong, Kupang, Maumere).
The fleet consisted of two sectors, the small scale boats called “funae or funai” that
operates on the coastal areas and the large scale fleet called “huhate”.
Large Scale Fleet
The boats belonging to this category range between 30-95 GT and have been
classified during the early development of the fishery as industrial/government boats
(10-30 GT) and industrial joint-venture boats of 85-95 GT class (Uktolseja,1978).
The reason for this classification was to encourage the development of the fishery.
Therefore, the first fishing huhate company is the government-owned P.N. Perikani
Aartembaga based in Bitung that started operation in 1967 after being established
in 1966 (Uktolseja 1978). Similarly, two large vessels under the industrial joint-
venture operated from Ternate, Province of Maluku Utara.
The state-enterprise, P.N. Perikani Aartembaga represents the history of the pole
and line development of eastern Indonesia. Operating initially with 12 units of 30-
GT vessels in Bitung, the number increased to 20 vessels in 1979 and since 1980
with 30 vessels (Naamin and Gafa 1998).
By 1990, the private sector started investing in the business, albeit slowly that
resulted in the number of fishing vessels grow to just below100 units. Massive
buildup of fleet was observed in 2003 the number of fleet doubled in 2004 with 258
and rising by another 50% in 2005 to 388 units.
The increase in the number of boats is generally accompanied by an increase in
the gross tonnage (Gafa et al, 1993, Rawlinson et al, 1998) of boats to provide
larger holding tanks for live baitfish storage – a strategy to cope up with the perennial
problem of bait shortage (Figure 8.7). The larger boats also allow longer fishing
days.
As practiced today, many of the pole and line vessels undertake 3-day trips during
the peak season from June-August and undertake 7-day trips during the lean months
from September to May. This is a significant change from the usual day boat
operation. These operational changes suggest low production and growing distance
of fishing grounds.
Fishing Grounds
The fishing grounds of pole and line in FMA VII is determined by location of fish
aggregating devices. For fleet based in Minahasa Utara and Manado, FADs are
located in Sulawesi Sea fronting their sea areas. Those fishing fleet operating out
of Bitung port, the location of FADs are on the east and west of Sangihe group of
islands, off Lembeh Island, and vicinity of Bangka Island. There are few enterprising
vessels based in Bitung who fish around Talaud Islands but the distance to port
and very often, the sea conditions limit fishing opportunities. Generally, the fishing
grounds as located on the map by our fishing boat captain respondents are between
2° to 3.5° N Latitude and 123° to 127° E longitude.
Another important consideration for fishing ground identification is the location of
the source of bait (see Chapter 10: Bait Fisheries). Fishing ground should be located
within the or near the source of baitfish. Baits are sourced from the liftnet (locally
called bagan) fisheries which operates in the coastal areas, near coves, bays and
embayments. Many of the pole and line vessels spend 1 to 3 hours travel (~10-25
nautical miles) from source of baitfish. However the large boats with large holding
tanks for baitfish could travel greater distances and carry baits to last for 2 to 3
days fishing operation.
Pole & line boat docked at the
fishing port in Bitung, North
Sulawesi.

CHAPTER 8
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123Page
Fishing technique
The pole and line boat leaves early morning (3-4 AM) to collect baitfish from the lift
nets. This entails travel between 1-3 hours depending on the distance and sea
conditions. The boat then travels to the FADs to fish for another 1 to 3 hours. Upon
reaching the FADs, fishing commences by simulating schooling fish by spraying
water and releasing the live baits. Fishers on prow of boat commence fishing using
hooks with lures. The length of fishing generally last for 1 to 2 hours and depends
on abundance of fish and more importantly how long the supply of baitfish lasts.
Thereafter the boat heads back to port or collecting vessel to deliver the catch.
Traveling time depends on the boat’s port of call. A boat from Bitung making a 3-
days or a 7-days trip travels between 6-18 hours to reach the fishing ground of
baitfish and use this as a temporary base of operation. Every morning after getting
supply of baits, the boat would head for the FADs, stay for 1 to 2 hours and return
back. Boats bring ice with them (about 300 blocks for 3-days trip) if there are no
Figure 8.6. Trend in the number of pole and line vessels based in FMA VII. Source:
North Sulawesi Provicial fisheries Statistics (1986-2005). Data used to separate by
management area include gears from districts of Minahasa, North Minahasa (2005),
Sangihe, Talaud, City of Manado and half the numbers from City of Bitung. The
entry of gear number for 2002 for Minahasa was changed from 234 to just 23 as
probably a typo error as the number of gear which is the same number for the next
year.
FMA VII: Pole and Line
0
100
200
300
400
500
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
No of Vessels
Figure 8.7 Increase in vessel number and total tonnage of pole and line vessels in Sulawesi
sea. Redrawn from Table 1 of Gafa et al, 1993.
Fleet Tonnage: Pole & Line
0
100
200
300
19831984198519861987198819891990
Year
Tonnage (x10
2
)
15GT 30GT
60GT Total
Small-scale pole & line boat
called funai off the shore of
Bunaken Island, North Sulawesi.

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collecting vessels to pick up the catch. Sometimes, depending on the decision of
the owner, they simply sell their catch to buyers nearby.
Live Baits
Pole and line fleet operating in Sulawesi Sea suffer also a chronic shortage of live
baitfish since its development. The fleet adjusts two ways: by staying close to the
source of bait and making special agreement with the lift net owners (or through a
company) or each vessel gears up to fish for their own baitfish.
As the demand for baitfish increases for human consumption and for the pole and
line fishery, the price of anchovies likewise increases. As a result, the live baitfish
forms a significant part of the operating cost. An 80-GT boat utilizes about 50-60
containers called “ember” of live bait per day which cost about IRP 30,000 (US$
2.88 @ 10,400/dollar, IMA Asia 2005). For a 3-day trip, each boat invests in about
US$480 (Rp5 million) for baits alone.
The bait becomes prohibitively expensive that its direct consequence is the
redirection of protein going to production of tunas instead of human consumption.
The operation of pole and line therefore competes for food sources and its fishing
operation could be compared with aquaculture using fish to produce fish.
Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs)
Pole and line companies has, since 1984, started to fish in FADs resulting in higher
catches and reduced operating cost (see Chapter 7). Recently however, pole and
line vessels fish exclusively in FADs. This is brought about by the declining sightings
of free schools and large overhead costs in searching for unassociated schools
(see Chapter 13: Other Management Considerations).
But FADs are also expensive to build, set and maintain. In Sulawesi Sea, setting
and deploying of FADs has become business in itself. Large companies of pole
and line and purse seines build and deploy their own FADs. Even fish traders deploy
FADs for the use of tuna handline fishers in return for the exclusive access of the
fishers catch. Large companies as well as “plasma companies” deploy their own
FADs to support fishing operations of members of its fishing fleets.
The individually owned boats of the small and medium purse seine fleet as well as
pole and line boats who do not own FADs have to pay percentage of its catch for
fishing in the FADs. Many of the medium class purse seine fleet fish 70% of the
time on FADs, paying a hefty 5 to 15% of the gross sales.
But many of the small-scale tuna handline fishers do not pay for fishing in FADs,
particularly those that are owned by purse seine who allow them to fish on the
condition that they inform the company on the status of fish schools under the
FADs. Note that there is no overlap of target species as the purse seine targets the
surface tunas, the tuna handline go after the large tunas in the deeper waters.
FADs in Manado are unique because a small hut is built on the raft (Fig. 8.8). The
FAD is always guarded to prevent poaching. The guard informs the owner on the
estimate of fish quantity present and owner informs guard the arrangements made
as to who will empty the FAD. All information are relayed through mobile phones
(see also FAD section on Chapter on EBM considerations).
Catch Rates
Catch rates of large pole and line vessel operating in 2006 range from 3.3 tons/day
during the peak season and 1.74 tons/day during the lean season. All fishing
activities are undertaken on the FADs. Indicators of declining productivity include
reduced incomes as current level of catch is just 70% of 2000 levels and rising
operational cost due to increased distance of fishing grounds.
Barbless hooks with lures
attched as used in pole and line
fishing.

CHAPTER 8
FMA-VII: SULAWESI SEA
& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
125Page
Surprisingly, there were no catch rates available in the literature because all existing
studies and research were conducted in Moluccas, Seram and Sorong areas.
Small scale fleet
The small scale pole and lines are called the funae or funai and are considered the
traditional pole and line fishing gear. The funae or funai mainly operates in Sulawesi
Sea, north Moluccas (Ternate, Bacan, Tidore) and Ambon area. It utilizes small
boats (11m x 2.0m x 1.2 m) propelled by 2 to3 units of 40 HP outboard motors and
manned by 10 fishers/crews. It has a large holding tank for live baitfish.
According to our respondents in the Manado area, the total number of funae has
dramatically dropped from a high of >1000 vessels in the 1990s to just over a
hundred. Presently, there are 60 operational units remaining in Bunaken and Ganga
area.
The demise of the funae fishery was attributed to two factors: the offshore FADs
set by Philippine-based purse seine which fishers claimed are catching the fishes
before they could move to the coastal areas where they operate. Studies supporting
this claim include the “curtain effect” of FADs (Aprieto 1995) and this belief was
substantiated by results of tagging studies suggesting that skipjack could stay in
the FAD area for about six months (Gafa and Susanto, 1991). Another reason is
the shortage of bait and depletion of baitfish population. Many funae vessels operate
an encircling net to fish for live baits. Obviously, the resource of anchovies as baitfish
could not support the demand for baitfish.
One of the strategies of the small pole and line fleet to survive is to fish in distant
fishing grounds. But because it could not stay more than one day at sea due to the
size of the vessel, they compensated by adding more power to the boats. This
explains why all the funae boats are overpowered. With 120 Hp to propel a very
small boat, the high speed engine enables them to reach the distant fishing grounds
and return the same day.
Some boats were converted into a more of profitable baitfish boats, fishing for live
baitfish and supplying the pole and line fleet.
Fishing Ground
The traditional fishing ground of funae fleets fish where their larger counterparts
operate, i.e, on the FADs owned by someone else. Traditionally, funae operates by
searching for skipjack schools, using birds and dolphins to detect unassociated
schools and log-associated schools. Since 1997, they have completely shifted to
Figure 8. A newly constructed raft of fish aggregating device (FAD)
ready for delivery and deployment. Photo taken in FAD manufactur-
ing in Manado, North Sulawesi.

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FAD –based operation, resulting in better catches than before. They pay for FAD
use whenever there is a guard, either in cash or in certain quantity of fish, but usually
equivalen to around 10% of the gross sales.
Bait
Anchovies are the preferred baits but will use any available substitute species.
Baitfishes are normally sourced from liftnet operators. However, many operators of
funae could not afford the prices so they themselves catch their own baitfish using
encircling seines. Fishing for own baitfish is common particularly during the light
lunar phase where bait shortage and high baitfish prices compels many vessels to
stop fishing. Each boat uses about 5 embers of baitfish a day which cost 1 million
Rupiahs.
Trends
Current average catch rates range from 400 kg/day during the peak season to just
160 kg/day during the lean months. Their catch now has improved since they started
fishing on the FADs in 1997. But given the current high operational costs (fuel, bait)
and the perceived low prices given by fish traders, fishing is currently not profitable
(see below on Notes on economics of fishing). This explains the demise of a
significant part of the fhe funae fleet. Many boats were observed decaying on the
coastal area, some were converted into baitfish boats while others converted boats
to tuna handline fishing.
Handline
History of tuna handline fishing in Sulawesi
In the Indonesian part of Sulawesi Sea, the exploitation of large yellowfin and bigeye
tuna (40-100 kg size) in FADs using handline started in the early 1980s by Filipino
fishers when fishing in the Philippine part of Sulawesi and other traditional fishing
grounds in Moro Gulf, Davao Gulf and Sarangani Bay became overfished.. It happened
during the formative times of the development of the distant water fleet of the Philippines.
Therefore it could be said that the Philippine handline fishery follow where the purse
seine set and deploy their FADs because these fishers are allowed free access to
these FADs. To return the favor, handline fishers inform purse seine owners on the
quantity and quality of surface fishes on the FADs.
To cope up with the growing distance of their fishing grounds, the Philippine handline
boats became bigger starting from 2 fisher pumpboat (<1 GT) to evolve into a 20
GT pumpboats with outriggers (dimensions 26 x 4 m x 2.5 m), with 20 fishers and
carry 12 units of small boats. Currently, there are about 1,500 boats remaining
from a high of about 15,000 units in mid 1980s. As their number grew and catch
rates fell, many started fishing illegally within the Indonesian EEZ.
Tuna fishing has been practiced by Indonesian fishers since time immemorial. The
change in the size of hooks used to catch tuna explains the major development
and changes associated with this fishery (Figure 8.8).
In the past fishing for tunas is simply for local consumption; using of small hooks to
catch immature yellowfin tuna just infront of the fishing village in Bunaken Island.
Then an increase in hook size was made to catch bigger tunas in areas farther
from the coast and catch is for the local sales in Manado market and neighboring
areas. Here they use small fish and squids as baits. The advent of exports of tuna
and use of fishing aggregation devices caused a shift to tuna fishing to deeper
waters, using larger hooks. This has been on-going for the last 15 years. Of late,
the fishers have again shifted to use live baits (bullet tunas) as catch rates continue
to decline.
Small pole & line boat or funae
docked in Bunaken Island. Note
the bamboo poles used in
fishing.

CHAPTER 8
FMA-VII: SULAWESI SEA
& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
127Page
Fishing Fleet
The number of handline fishers is difficult to estimate because handline fishing for
tuna are undertaken as part of a slew of gears used by traditional fishers. Our
respondents estimate about 1,200 tuna handline boats in Manado area alone
including 300 in Pulau Nain. In addition, we estimated about 300 tuna handline
mother boats (out of 1,500 total fleets) from the Philippines probably operating
illegally in Sulawesi Sea.
Current statistics list total handline units to be about 5,337 in 2005 (DKP 2006).
The entry for handline gears as listed in the most recent statistics has yet to be
refined and classified according to the target species and construction. Attempt to
discriminate handline units were made in 2004 as “pancing ulur” and “pancing tegak”
but these are still vague terms. Handline units should be classified according to
target species for the data to be useful.
Catch Rates
According to fishers interviewed, the average catch of handline in 2006 is between
3-5 fish/day (60-80 kg size) during August to December and 0-2 fish during low
season from March to July. Ten years ago, catch rate is 10-12 fish/day. Back then,
the fishing ground was just in front of the village, 15-30 minutes using non-motorized
boat, the bait used was artificial lure. In 1990, they started fishing around FADs
and by year 2000, started to use live baits. The size of fish however has increased
over the years because they now fish between 75-150 meters deep.
During low season for tunas, fishers switch to targeting skipjack and bullet tunas
using vertical, multiple hook handlines (15 hooks). Here they use false baits made
from synthetic colored fibers. Catch range from 50-100 pieces of skipjack and up
to 200 pieces of frigate tunas.
Tuna Longline
Fishing Fleet
Primary data used in this section are based on interviews of a vessel captain and a
company manager of the fishing company based in Bitung. There are about >100
units of longlines that are based in Bitung and operate in eastern Sulawesi Sea up
to the EEZ of Pacific Ocean eastward until north and northeast of west Papua. Very
few of these vessels attempt to operate within FMA VI due to overcrowding of other
fishing vessels and obstructions posed by FADs.
About half of the fleets are in the size range of 40-60 GT adopting Taiwanese fishing
techniques with 42 baskets, each basket contains 42 hooks and 6 buoys. Fishing
technique depends entirely on the master of the vessel and influenced by the phase
of the moon: dark phase targets the bigeye because of higher prices but during
light phase of the moon, some vessels go after the yellowfin.
Different types of baits are used depending on the phase of the moon, with frozen
scads and squids or a combination during lighted moon phase and live baits of
Figure 8.9. Sizes of hooks used for
tuna handline in Bunaken Island,
Manado, North Sulawesi. Note
the evolution of hook sizes from
40mm (before 1990), 1990’s
2000’s
1980’s
Yellowfin tuna catch carried on its
way to the auction hall in
Manado, North Sulawesi.

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GETTING OFF THE HOOK:
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milkfish (20-25 cm) during dark phase. Because of higher prices of big eye, vessels
tend to make deeper sets.
Surprisingly, there is a good agreement on the number of longline vessels registered
in the province of Sulawesi Utara (107) and the number given by the respondent.
However, the central licensing registry for 2006 list 222 longline vessels for FMA VII.
Estimates of Gillette (2006) place the number tuna longline operating in 2005 after his
thorough investigation on fleet capacity to be about 50 vessels of the >30 GT.
Catch, Catch Rates and Species composition
Available records from the data base of South Pacific Commission (SPC) reflect
catch of longline in Sulawesi Indonesia as fairly stable between 2,300-2,800 tons
(Figure 8.10) with corresponding total hook rates of 0.7 to 1.35 for the period 2000-
2004 (Figure 11). By comparison, total catch on the Philippine side of Sulawesi
Sea is just one third (below 1,000 tons) but hook rates are higher than those in the
Indonesian side. The highest catch was in the Moluccas Sea and Halmahera Sea
longline operations.
Hook rates as presented in Figure 11 do not vary much between areas. Interestingly
however is the closeness of the value of the total hook rate with the tuna hook rate
which suggests the minimal catch of non-tunas in the fishing ground north of
Cendrawasih Bay.
The results of the WWF observer program in 2006 allowed a detailed analysis of
catch, and catch rates. The species caught are yellowfin, big eye, northern bluefin,
marlins, sailfish, barracudas and sharks.
The total hook rate range from 1.04 to 3.57 while the tuna hook rate ranges from
0.82 to3.25. It is possible to compare catch rates from Indonesian territorial waters
taken east of Talaud group of Islands (column 5), Indonesian EEZ (columns 8 & 9)
and the high seas (columns 1-4; 6-7). It appears that the mean hook rate for the
high seas is about 1.53 compared with those taken in Moluccas Sea with 1.79 and
north of Irian Jaya Barat with only 0.86 (Table 8.9). These results are difficult to
interpret considering the other factors that affect the catchability such as bait type,
use of J and C hooks, season, among others. The results above compare quite
well with the hook rates computed from the data base of SPC on longliners operating
in FMA VII.
Interestingly, non-tuna catch vary highly between areas with no contamination of
non-tunas in the Moluccas Sea, almost 30% for Sorong and 17% for the high seas
(Table 8.10). This has implications on the WWF program to implement circle hooks
on longline fleet.
Tuna Infrastructure support
The center of tuna activity for Sulawesi Sea is concentrated in Bitung. The fishing
port in Bitung is a second level port or Pelabuhan Perikanan Nusantara (PPN)
which was opened in 2004 where large vessels of up to 300-400 GT class may be
able to dock. Tunas caught by pole and line, purse seine, handlines, directly land
their catch there. Traders buying tunas for processing from far away landing areas
are transported by trucks to the port in Bitung. Similarly, collecting vessels of
companies retrieve and deliver tunas to Bitung from fleets operating in nearby areas.
Processing plants (producing whole fresh, frozen, canned tunas, smoked tuna,
loin, steak and fillet), fishing fleet companies and export companies have invested
in this area. In a meeting with the representatives of the governor, the province of
Sulawesi Utara is looking at General Santos City, Philippines as the model. The
government has also encouraged Philippine companies to operate in Bitung. Today,
there are two Philippine owned canneries which also processes fish caught in the
Philippines and PNG by the fleets owned by these companies. A total of about 24
Philippine tuna vessels have also re-flagged.
A typical tuna handline boat used
by fishers around many islands in
Sulawesi Sea.

CHAPTER 8
FMA-VII: SULAWESI SEA
& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
129Page
In Manado, there is the landing area where handline and troll-caught tunas are landed
and shipped to Bitung for final processing. The landing areas in Manado therefore
serves as a transshipment point of exportable tunas (primarily yellowfin and bigeye
only).
Processing and Tuna Products
Bitung as the center for the tuna market and processing is supported by 22 companies
that provide storage and processing facilities. The aggregate freezing capacity of
these companies is about 440 tons, an aggregate 7,735 tons storage capacity, nine
ice plants with a total of 187 tons/d capacity (Sulawesi Utara Annual Report 2005).
Moreover, there are two Philippine-owned canning factories producing a total of 57
ton daily processing capacity and two other companies producing smoked fish.
There are three tuna products exported as fresh and another ten products exported
as frozen from Bitung. In addition, canned tuna and smoked fish are also processed
and exported to major countries that include the USA, Japan and Europe.
Total tuna exports out of Bitung is 8,952 tons valued at US$ 24.61 millionfor 2006.
The export volume however for the first 9 months of 2006 has declined by 71%
compared with 2005 figures for the same period (Figure 8.12). The main reason for
the decline in exports as provided by processors include not enough supply of raw
materials, particularly for the whole fresh tunas. Another reason is corruption that
led to a processing company relocating its operation elsewhere.
Tjandrason (2007) summarized the issues and problems of tuna market and trade
for Indonesia to include a) high rejection rates due to high histamine content of
exported products; b) low quality of fish landed; c) high freight cost; and d) lack of
value adding and no new product development. In short, the tuna products coming
out of Bitung is not competitive. A comprehensive discussion of the tuna trade is
presented in Chapter 11.
Notes on the Economics of Fishing
Handline
The initial outlay on the fishing boat (5-GT) of handline in 2003 was Rp12.00 million
while its outboard motor (40 HP) cost approximately Rp10.00 million. The total
Figure 8.10. Catch of longline fleet operating in Sulawesi Sea, Pacific Ocean and
Moluccas sea. Data taken from SPC database for years 2000-2004.
Sulawesi Sea Philippines
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Catch (t)
Total
Tuna
Non-tuna
Sulawesi sea Indonesia
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Catch (t)
Pacific Ocean (FMA7)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Catch (t)
Moluccas Sea (FMA6) & Halmahera Sea
(FMA7)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Catch (t)

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operational cost annually is estimated to be near Rp56.98 million and a set of handline
costs about Rp200.00 thousand. Annual gross sales revenue is estimated to be
approximately Rp91.55 million for about 34 trips. The handline fishery in FMA-VII as
indicated by the data presented is still profiting from the fishing venture.
In 2004, some of the handliners invested the same boat size had approximately
costs Rp20.00 million for the same size of fishing boat as above (5-GT) and about
Rp10.00 million for its out board motor of 40-HP. This type of fishing spends more
or less Rp87.50 million for annual operations while the cost of the fishing gear is
about Rp400.00 thousands. The gross revenue from sales of fish annually is
estimated to be Rp170.10 million. This further proves that the handline fishing in
FMA-VII is a profitable endeavor.
The handliners from the Philippines fishing in the waters of FMA-VII invests more
or less Rp180.00 million (converted from Pesos currency) for the mother fishing
boat of 20-GT and inboard engine of 160-HP. For a set of handline fishing gear,
investment is about Rp180.00 thousands and the average number of fishers per
mother boat is 15 independent individuals; the total estimated investment for the
small fishing boats and their corresponding engines would be Rp2.70 billion. The
annual depreciation costs for ten years lifespan of all the fishing boats and engines
mentioned above is about Rp288.00 million. The estimated total annual operation
cost is about Rp302.00 million. Gross revenue from the proceeds of catch is
estimated to be more or less Rp1.12 billion. It is obvious that this fishing venture is
just on the financial breakeven point. This is because of the very high operational
costs due to the far distance of the fishing ground from the home ports, bribes and
the risks involved. The fishers are still earning a bit though because of the higher
prices of fish in General Santos City, Philippines as compared to the fish prices in
Indonesia.
Figure 8.11. Hook rates of tuna longline for different areas of FMA7. Source: SPC
database.Legend: total hook rate include all catch, tuna hook rate include only tunas
excluding billfishes.
Sulawesi Sea (Indonesia)
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
20002001200220032004
Year
hook rate (HR)
Total HR
Tuna HR
Indonesia EEZ Pacific Ocean
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
20002001200220032004
Year
hook rate (HR)
Total HR
Tuna HR
Sulawesi Sea (Phil)
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
20002001200220032004
Year
hook rate (HR)
Total HR
Tuna HR
Indonesia EEZ & North Sorong
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
20002001200220032004
Year
hook rate (HR)
Total HR
Tuna HR
Cendrawasih Bay, Papua
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
20002001200220032004
Year
hook rate (HR)
Total HR
Tuna HR
Moluccas & Halmahera Sea
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
20002001200220032004
Year
hook rate (HR)
Total HR
Tuna HR
Tempat pelelangan ikan (TPI) or
auction hall in Manado after a
busy day.

CHAPTER 8
FMA-VII: SULAWESI SEA
& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
131Page
Pole and Line
There are two types of pole and line operating in FMA-VII, the small-scale funae-
funae and the large scale which is akin with the pole and lines in the country. The
funa-funaes were observed to just operate in two FMAs, FMA-VI and FMA-VII.
The initial investment on funae-funae fishing boat of 10 gross tons and three
outboard engines of 40-HP was Rp100.00 million in 2002 while that for the fishing
gear including the net used to catch baitfish was Rp3.00 million. Annual operational
expense is estimated to be Rp240.88 million. The estimates of annual revenue from
gross sales of just Rp146.49 million showed a losing fishing venture.
Table 8.9. Total fish catch (in numbers) and tuna of longline
operating in FMA-VII and high seas in the Pacific ocean.
Source: Observer program of WWF.
High seas
Off Talud
Islands
Off Sorong
Total fish 3861 150 952
Total tuna 3320 150 660
# hooks 216,720 8400 76608
Total HR 1.78 1.79 1.24
Tuna HR 1.53 1.79 0.86
High seas
Off Talaud
Is.
Off
Sorong
Yellowfin 22.5 53.3 37.1
Bigeye 22.0 20.0 14.4
Bluefin 39.0 26.7 18.6
Marlin 3.70 0.00 7.22
Sailfish 4.23 0.00 8.25
Barracuda 5.37 0.00 9.28
Shark 3.20 0.00 5.15
Table 8.10. Species composition of longline catch taken from
two areas in FMA-VII and in the Pacific high seas. Values
in percent. Source: WWF observer program.
Export Commodity
volume
(t)
value
(million $)
Export Commodityvolume (t)
value
(million $)
Frozen (tuna products) Fresh
Tuna whole Tuna whole 528.0 1.566
Tuuna cubes/ chopped meat 189.1 0.151Tuna loins 59.5 0.312
Tuna loin 145.6 0.264Tuna fillet 0.1 0.000
Tuna saku 417.5 1.871Swordfish fillet 0.5 0.004
Tuna steak 137.2 0.382Mixed species 3,909.0 5.864
Tuna fillet 16.0 0.104smoked
Tuna poke cubes 1.9 0.004Kaleng 5,752.4 15.075
Tuna belly 0.4 0.001Kayu 948.8 3.752
Skipjack whole 756.0 1.134
Frozen (non-tuna) Frozen (non-tuna)
Marlin chunks 19.1 0.041Scads whole 1,145.2 1.529
Marlin chopped meat 16.1 0.016Squids 47.6 0.019
Black marlin saku 5.0 0.015Octopus 17.2 0.048
Swordfish chunks 0.4 0.001Shrimps 58.2 0.547
Sailfish chunks 0.3 0.001Mixed species 2,839.9 4.162
Oilfish fillet 11.0 0.010
Table 8.11. Volume (t) and value (in million US$) of the 10 tuna products that are
produced, processed and exported out of the 22 companies operating in Bitung, North
Sulawesi for 2006.Source: Sulawesi Utara Provincial quality control office (LPPMHP)
2006.
Tunas are brought to the auction
hall in Manado for quality grading
and repacking for export.

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The large pole and liners on the other hands investment on the fishing boat (80 GT)
and 360-HP inboard engine was Rp1.00 billion. Assuming a 10 years lifespan of the
boat and engine the annual depreciation would be Rp100.00 million. The starting
investment for the pole and line fishing gears was Rp1.75 million. The total annual
running cost is approximated at Rp1.26 billion. Gross revenue from sales of catch a
year is more and less Rp2.58 billion. Despite the large costs presented unlike the
funae-funae this fishing venture is still profiting from the fisheries.
Mini-purse seine
The investment on the pajeku fishing boat (33 GT) was Rp100.00 million, Rp300.00
million for the 300-Hp inboard engine and Rp100.00 million for the fishing gear.
The total annual operation is Rp19.75 million. The annual gross revenue is about
Rp1.33 billion. The fishery is definitely profiting from this venture. This is more
because of the system of going out to fish only when the payao operators called
and assured the fishing master that the particular FAD has at least 20 tons of fish
on it.
Issues and Challenges of tuna sector in FMA-VII
1. Data collection at the provincial level.
a. There is the need to further improve identification of landings up to
species level to include not just the large tunas but the small tunas as
well.
b. The use of local names (tongkol) should be avoided as same local
names in different areas refer to entirely different species. This is to
address our concern on the entries of eastern little tuna which we
verified to be Auxis rochei.
c. Handlines needs to be categorized into different types. There are simple
single hook handlines for tunas, there are vertical handlines using
multiple hooks designed to catch small tunas and there is the use of
kite as a variation of troll line fishing.
d. Since fishing fleets move continuously following the fish, the source of
where the fish caught should be included as important additional
information. This will facilitate the production of statistics per FMA.
e. There is the need to improve on the effort information. The use of the
number of trips has very little use. The effort index should be reflective
of the fishing gear as used in the area but should be convertible to a
Tuna Export Volume: Bitung
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov
Month
Tuna volume (t)
2005
2006
Figure 8.12. Volume of tuna exports coming out of Bitung City, North
Sulawesi compared for years 2005 and 2006. Source: North Sulawesi
Quality Control Center 2004-2006.

CHAPTER 8
FMA-VII: SULAWESI SEA
& EEZ IN PACIFIC OCEAN
133Page
standard effort for stock assessment purposes. This could be done if
the government will undertake collection of operational catch and effort
data for each type of fishing gear between seasons. How this will be
implemented is either through observer program or a highly efficient
log-book system in place.
f. The use of mother boats to bring handline fishers to FADs and operate
there for several days is becoming popular. There is a need to include
them in catch monitoring system in place. The commercialization of
handline fishing adds another complexity in how to collect the necessary
information.
2. Coverage for statistical purposes needs to be increased. Fish landed on private
ports and wharves are currently not monitored. Sangihe Group of islands needs o
be covered as many of the boats operate there, particularly handlines. Proctor
(2007) lists specific recommendations on how to improve data collection system in
eastern Indonesia but has not included Sangihe area as a top priority.
3. Rise in fuel prices has been raised as an issue in 90% of the interviews conducted.
Subsidies are enjoyed by those who knew about it and how to avail of this fuel
subsidy.
4. Fish prices have remained stagnant and did not rise accordingly with the fuel
prices because, as alleged by fishers, are manipulated by middlemen.
5. For pole and line, availability of live baits remains a chronic problem. The fleet
has turned to other types of baits (e.g. fingerlings-sized scads, very minute skipjack)
and the ecological consequences of using these highly important species as baits
must be studied.
6. With the price of fuel continue to increase, dependency on the FADs by tuna
gears such as handline, pole and line, purse seine and troll line will continue. The
government needs to act on regulating FAD’s use and establish monitoring protocol
to collect information about the FADs.
7. Lack of know how of fishers on quality assessment of fish made by buyers. Many
fishers feel shortchanged during the quality assessment, and complain of not getting
the right prices for the right quality of fish.
8. The handling of tunas in auction halls needs to be improved, premises around
auction halls needs to be sanitized, waste water needs to be treated and hygenic
conditions must be set at a minimum requirement for continued operation.
Tunas are individually place in
styrofoam containers called
“coffins” and packed in ice.

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CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
135Page
Background
Among the fishery management areas with tuna fisheries, fishery management nine
(FMA-IX) is the most studied as its domestic longline fishery used to be the tuna fisheries
backbone of the country. Expectedly, most of developmental assistance for the tuna
sector (with aim to develop the fishery, and improve the monitoring and assessment of
tuna stocks) have been poured into the Indian Ocean (DGCF 2003, Gafa & Nishida
2000, IOTC 2003, Marceille, 1984, Ishida et al., 1994, Herrera 2000, Merta, 2000,
Proctor et al., 2003, Simorangkir 2003).
The tuna fisheries of FMA-IX is unique for two reasons, significant tuna catches are
taken from the Indian Ocean by its domestic longline fleet and second, the endangered
bluefin tuna is also caught and landed. These are the reasons why Indonesia is important
to become an active member of the regional management organizations for the
conservation of tunas in the Indian Ocean (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission or IOTC)
and the Commission for the Conservation of Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) that manages the
endangered bluefin tuna.
Geographic Scope
The Indian Ocean is a vast expanse of sea that covers three time-zones; it is actually
the third largest body of water in the world. The Ocean is about 73.4 million km
2
with an
average depth of 3,900 m with the deepest part (7,725 m) found within the jurisdiction
of Indonesia, off the southern coast of Java Island (Encarta, 2002).
FMA-IX: Indian Ocean
Figure 9.1. Geographic location of Fishery Management Area Nine (FMA-IX) covering the
entire Indian Ocean EEZ of Indonesia. The area is divided into FMA-IXa representing
western portion (above) and FMA-IXb representing the eastern portion (below).
Goddess & protector of the
Indian Ocean resources, this
painting hangs on a wall of a
hotel in Pelabuhan Ratu, West
Java.

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For statistical purposes, the Indonesian government divided their aquatic resources
into nine management areas; and that, the whole Indonesian jurisdiction of Indian
Ocean became Fisheries Management Area Nine (FMA-IX). There are 13 provinces
and 78 districts/regencies partly or wholly covering FMA-IX (Table 9.1). Also included
in FMA-IX are the small bodies of water immediately adjacent to the land masses such
as Bali Strait and the Sawu Sea (Figure 9.1).
Table 9.1. Provinces and districs covered within FMA-IX. (Source: DKP Statis-
tics by fisheries management areas, 2006).
Provinces Regency/ District
Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam
Aceh Selatan, Aceh Barat, Aceh Besar, Kota Banda ceh, Kota
Sabang
North Sumatra
Tapanuli Selatan, Tapanuli Tengah, Kota Sibolga, Nias Islands,
Mandailing Natal, Nias Selatan
West Sumatra
Pesisir Selatan, Padang Pariaman, Kota Padang, Agam,
Pasaman, Mentawai Islands, Kota Pariaman
Bengkulu
Bengkulu Selatan, Kota Benkulu, Bengkulu Utara, Muko-Muko,
Seluma, Saur
Lampung Lampung Utara
Bali
Kap. Badung, Tabanan, Jembrana, Karangasem, Klungkung,
Gianyar, Kota Denpasar
Jawa Barat Ciamis, Tasikmalaya, Garut, Cianjur,Sukabumi
Banten Lebak, Pandeglang
Jawa Tengah Wonogiri, Purworejo, Kebumen, Cilacap
D.I. Yogyakarta Gunung Kidul, Bantul, Kulon Progo
Jawa Timur
Jember, Lumajang, Malang, Blitar, Tulungagung, Trenggalek,
Pacitan, Sebagian Banyuwangi,Daker Muncar
Nusa Tenggara Timur
Kapb. Sumba Barat, Ende,Sumba timur, Kupang, timor Tengah
Selatan, Timor Tengah Utara, Belu, Lembata, Kota Kupang,
Rote Ndao, Sebagian Manggarai, sbagian Ngada, sebagian
Sikka, sebagian Flores Timur, sebagian Alor, sebagian
Mangarai Barat
Nusa Tenggara Barat
Sebagian Lombok Barat, Sebagian Lombok Timur, Lombok
Tengah, Sebagian Sumbawa, sebagian Dompu, Sebagian Bima,
sebagian Sumbawa Barat, sebagian Kota Mataram
Sources of data
The secondary data used in the presentation in this chapter came from the following
sources:
a) national fisheries statistics of Indonesia consisting of the yearly marine
capture statistics by provinces and coastal areas and by fishery
management areas;
b) the provincial statistics of Sumatera Utara, Sumatera Barat, Sumatera
Selatan, Jawa Tengah, Jawa Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat and Nusa
Tenggara Timur;
c) data collected from PPS Bungus in Sumatera Barat, PPN Palabuhan
ratu in Jawa Barat, and PPS Cilacap in Jawa Tengah;
d) unpublished thesis of students from Sekolah Tinggi Perikanan (STP);
e) published sources or scientific journals; and
f) the internet.
Primary data are the results of interview conducted during this study and the records of
fishing operations, mostly in Banda Sea and Indian Ocean from 1973-2003, by the
state fishing enterprise, PT. Samodra Besar.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
137Page
Limitations and assumptions
We have not included Banda Aceh in our survey as there was no fishery to speak of
following the tsunami destruction in 2004. However, massive rehabilitation efforts is
being poured upon in the area including the fisheries sector, of which is undertaken by
FAO and Red Cross. Another reason of not visiting Aceh was, most of the fleets operating
in there are based in the fishing ports of Benoa and Jakarta wherein they could be
interviewed, instead.
To conveniently characterize the Indian Ocean tuna fishery, we have separated FMA-
IX into FMA-IXa (western: Sumatra Island) and FMA-IXb (eastern: entire Java Island,
Nusa Tenggara Barat Province and Nusa Tenggara Timur Province). Interestingly, there
is a move to divide FMA-IX into two distinct management areas (Nugroho et al., 2006)
but where the separation and boundaries is still unidentified.
Tuna Catch and Trends
According to the DKP statistics by fisheries management areas published in 2006, the
total tuna catch from Indian Ocean in 2004 is 214.1 thousand tons and fluctuated
between 175-215 thousand tons from 2000-2004 (Figure 9.2). While there was no
significant changes easily seen in aggregated landings, significant changes occurred
per major tuna groupings. Small tunas decline by 54% while the large tunas more than
doubled in volume (105%) and skipjack increased by 16%.
Figure 9.2. Nominal tuna catch from the Indian Ocean categorized as large
tunas, small tunas and skipjacks. Source: DKP Statistics by WPP, 2006.
0
50
100
150
200
250
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Catch (000 tons)
Small Tunas SKJ
Large Tunas TOTAL
In order to present a detailed picture of tuna catch trends, the landings from six of the
13 provinces covering this FMA (Sumatera Utara, Sumatera Barat, Jawa Tengah, Jawa
Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat, and Nusa Tenggara Timur) were pooled (Figure 9.3a).
The pooled landings indicates wide variabilities over the years but generally depicts
exponential rise.
Existing data on tuna from the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) database show
that longline catches from Indian Ocean grew exponentially from 1985 until 1999 when
it has reached its maximum catch of 80 thousand tons in the year 2000 (Figure 9.3b).
Thereafter, catch took on a sharp decline and in 2006, the total catch stood at 23.6
thousand tons, a value just 28% of the highest level.
FMA-IX is conveniently divided into two sub-areas for ease of presentation, FMA-IXa
refers to west Indian Ocean and FMA-IXb to east Indian Ocean. The landings in FMA-
IXb increased by 62.2% from 195.2 to 316.8 thousand tons while that in FMA-IXa
decreased by 12.8% average (Figure 9.4). Looking at the details of trends by species-
groups, the significant increased in FMA-IXb was generated by the rising volume of
Increasing fuel prices and
very low catch rates forced
hundreds of tuna longline
boats to remain at ports in
Muara Baru, Benoa and
Bungus.

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Figure 9.3a.Aggregate tuna landings from the provinces of Sumatera Utara, Sumatera
Barat, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, Jawa Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat and Nusa
Tenggara Timur. Red line is a trendline drawn using an exponential curve equa-
tion. (Source: Provincial Fisheries Statistics DKP, various years).
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
197019751980198519901995200020052010
landings (tons)
Year
Figure 9.4. Comparison of catches of tunas between sub-areas and by tuna groupings
in FMA-IX.(Source: DKP-WPP 2006).
Large tunas
0
50000
100000
20002001 2002 20032004
Year
Catches (t)
FMA-IXa (west)
FMA-IXb (east)
Total tuna production
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Catches (t)
FMA-IXa (west)
FMA-IXb (east)
Skipjack tunas
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Catches (t)
FMA-IXa (west)
FMA-IXb (east)
Small tunas
0
50000
100000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Catches (t)
FMA-IXa (west)
FMA-IXb (east)
Tuna Catch from Indian Ocean
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
1950196019701980199020002010
Year
Catches (tons)
Other Gears
Longline
Figure 9.3b. Tuna landings from Indian Ocean - Indonesia. Note the better
agreement of this data and the national figures. Source: Indian Ocean
Tuna Commission (IOTC) database.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
139Page
Table 9.2. Tuna catch by provinces and by species category. Data presented
is for 2004. Source: DKP WPP 2006.
Provinces large tunasskj tunas
small
tunas
Total
West FMA-IX 18599 19102 16026 53727
Aceh Darussalam 1467 6512 5408 13387
North Sumatra 3293 3826 6513 13632
West Sumatra 11990 7475 0 19465
Bengkulu 320 237 441 998
Lampung 1259 559 838 2656
Banten 270 493 2826 3589
East FMA-IXb 97010 3174131663160414
DKI Jakarta 54232 396 5109 59737
West Java 2511 2303 0 4814
Central Java 2688 2069 4 4761
D.I. Yogyakarta 14 5 97 116
East Java 8291 6824 2398 17513
Bali 26005 3295 7968 37268
NTB 902 3290 6967 11159
NTT 2367 13559 9120 25046
large tuna landings while the decreased in FMA-IXa was due to the falling landings of
small tunas (Figure 9.4).
There are six provinces within FMA-IXa (Sumatra Island, Table 9.1). The province of
Sumatera Barat ranked first, accounting for over one-third (36.2%) of the total tuna
landings in FMA-IXa, followed by Sumatera Utara and Aceh Darussalam. These three
provinces account for 86% of the tuna landing records of FMA-IXa (Table 9.2). In the
east Indian Ocean (FMA-IXb), Jakarta and Bali account for over 60% of the tuna
landings. This is because these areas are the major host to the tuna processing, landing
and export in the entire country. Recently however, more tunas are caught and landed
in East Java and East Nusa Tenggara, that despite the absence of fishing ports higher
than the landings sites in the communities (Table 9.2).
Figure 9.5. Comparison of share to production of tuna categories between the western
and eastern Indian ocean. Legend: Blue-small tunas, yellow-skipjack, white-large
tunas. Source: DKP Statistics by FMA, 2006.
2000
56%
23%
21%
2004 51%
25%
24%
2000
28%
12%
60%
2004
25%
10%
65%
West FMA-IX East FMA-IX
In FMA-IXa (west Indian Ocean), small tunas represent roughly half of the total landings
while skipjack and large tunas share the other half in almost equal proportions. This is
in total contrast in the east Indian Ocean (FMA-IXb) where the large tunas account for
2/3 of total tuna landings (Figure 9.5).
The difference in the landing proportions of the three tuna species-group between east
and west is due to the types of fishing gears and size of operation. Small tunas and
skipjack dominate in the tuna landings of Sumatra (FMA-IXa), largely supported by
small and medium scale fishing activities while the large tunas are mostly landed in
FMA-IXb (Java, Bali, NTB & NTT). The large tunas landed in FMA-IXb are from the
New troll line boats in
Lombok add to the already
saturated fishing fleet
operating in Indian Ocean.

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tuna longlines, drift gillnets, pole and line fleets which homeports are in Muara Baru in
Jakarta, Benoa in Bali, and Cilacap in Central Java.
There appears a shift in the dynamics of tuna landings between the three tuna species-
groups. In the FMA-IXa (West FMA-IX), share of large tunas and skipjacks increased
between the 2000 and 2004 years period while the small tunas decreased (Figure
9.5). A similar trend but on a larger scale is observed in FMA-IXb (East FMA-IX). The
proportion of large tunas further increased from 60% to 65% while both the skipjack
and small tunas fell by 2% and 3%, respectively (Fig. 9.5).
Viewed on a longer time series, share of the tunas relative to the total fish appears to
have changed differently in FMA-IXa (Sumatra). Proportion of tuna from total fish
landings in the province of Sumatera Barat significantly declined over the last 10 years
from a high of 30% to just under 15%. In contrast, share of tunas in Sumatera Utara
doubled from 7.42% in 2000 to 15.0% in 2005 (Figure 9.6).
Landings in FMA-IXb had been increasing over the last 10-15 years. For instance, in
the province of Jawa Barat, all three species categories increased in landings between
the period of 1998 to 2004, with the small tunas registering threefold increase. This
observation is evident on tuna landings at Pelabuhan Ratu fishing port. Even the landings
for skipjack and large tunas had also been increasing over the years 2000 to 2005.
Respondents to interviews conducted for pelagic Danish seine, drift gillnet and other
fishing gears experienced unprecedented increases in catch for 2005 and 2006. Fishers
attributed such high catches to the overextended dry season that characterized much
of 2005 and 2006.
Figure 9.6. Share (%) of tuna to the
total fish landings in the prov-
inces of Sumatera Barat and
Sumatera Utara. Source: Provin-
cial statistics of Sumatera Utara
and Sumatera Barat (various
years).
Share of tuna to total fish production: FMA9a
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
198819921995200020012002200320042005
Year
Share (%)
West Sumatra
North Sumatra
However the increasing trends is reversed on tunas landed in Jawa Tengah where
skipjack landings in 2004 reduced by 70% ten years back (Figure 9.7). For Jawa Timur
Province, small tunas showed an almost exponential increase from less than one
thousand tons in 1980 to over 16 thousand tons in 2000 and declined back to less than
8,000 tons in 2005.
The cause of the decline in the tuna landings of Jawa Tengah Province, when both the
Jawa Timur and Jawa Barat Provinces are experiencing high catches, is difficult to
determine. Perhaps the proximity of both Jawa Timur and Jawa Barat to major water
passages between islands lends to this productivity.
Trends and number of fishing gears
We have separated the fishing gears that operate and fished in the Indian Ocean
through registration records by regencies or districts. For most of the provinces, this is
straight forward but is difficult in Surabaya, Jawa Timur where fishing vessels operate
both at the Indian Ocean and Java Sea.
The total number of registered fishing gears that catch tunas in FMA-IX is difficult to
determine with accuracy as data from provincial and national agencies do not agree.
In FMA-IXb (east Indian Ocean), the total number of fishing gears catching tuna is over
148 thousand (Table 9.3a). In FMA-IXa (west Indian Ocean), the records of the provinces
Pole & Line fleet
operating in Savu Sea
are docked in Kupang
port.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
141Page
of Sumatera Utara, Sumatera Barat, Bengkulu and Lampung totals to over 37 thousand
units of fishing gears (Table 9.3b). Summing up, the estimated total number of tuna
fishing gears in FMA-IX is about 185.3 thousands. Some of these fishing gears are
catching tuna incidentally only depending on season and area. Furthermore, majority
of these gears are small, operated in coastal areas and have limited capability to stay
long at sea.
The fishing gear that targets tuna in FMA-IXa (west Indian Ocean) are the drift gillnets
and mobile liftnets; which accounts for the highest tuna landings (see also landings per
gear). The typical tuna gears based in FMA-IXb (east Indian Ocean) are tuna longline,
troll line and pole and line (Table 9.4).
Summarizing, FMA-IX has the most diverse number of fishing gears in the country,
with at least 18 different gear types catching tunas either as target or as by catch. The
types of fishing gears significantly vary between the western (FMA-IXa) and eastern
(FMA-IXb) sub-areas on the following aspects:
1. the traditional fishing gears that target the tunas (e.g. tuna longline,
pole and line) are predominantly present in the eastern part of FMA-IX
or indicated in this report as FMA-IXb (Jakarta, Bali, NTB and NTT).
Even longlines in FMA-IXa (Sumatra side) are concentrated in
Lampung, an adjacent area and which fleets use the fishing ports of
Nizam Zachman in Jakarta and Benoa in Bali to land its fish catch.
2. the tuna landings in the Sumatra side (FMA-IXa) mainly consist of
incidental catches of drift gillnets and pelagic Danish seines wherein
the share of tuna relative to the total catch of each species do not
exceed 60% (Tables 9.5a&b). Only the troll line mostly based in
Sumatera Utara Province target the tunas, of which 90% of the gear’s
landings are tunas.
3. most of the fishing gears in FMA-IXa (Sumatra side) are small to medium
vessels of single ownerships while large fishing companies characterize
the tuna fleets based in Jakarta and Bali, provinces in FMA-IXb .
4. non-tuna fishing gears such as the demersal Danish seine (dogol),
drift gillnet, trammel nets and liftnets are the major contributors to tuna
landings of FMA-IXa.
5. The share of tuna catch for each gear changes over time; drift gillnets,
demersal Danish seine, set gillnet and trammel net showed increasing
share of tunas in the catches for the last 10 years (Tables 9.5a&b).
Central Java
35 0
935
0
7209
2069
43
516
0
0
2500
5000
7500
10000
1984 1994 2004
Year
Landings (t)
Large tunas
Skipjack
Small tunas
East Java
0
4000
8000
12000
16000
20000
1976198019851990199520002005
Year
Landings (t)
Large tunas
Skipjack
Small tunas
West Java
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
1998199920002001200220032004
Year
Landings (000 tons)
Large tunas
Skipjack
Small tunas
Figure 9.7. Landings of tuna from the
provinces of west Java (Jawa Barat),
central Java (Jawa Tengah) and east Java
(Jawa Timur) by tuna species group.
Source: Provincial Fisheries Statistics
(DKP various years).
Longline fleet await better
catch rates in Bungus,
Padang, West Sumatra.

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Tables 9.3a&b. Numbers of tuna fishing gear for the provinces belonging to FMA-IXa
(upper table) and FMA-IXb (lower table) sub-areas of Fishery Management Nine
(FMA-IX). Sources: Provincial DKP statistics, various years.
Table 9.4.Summary of major tuna fishing gears for the FMA-IXb (east Indian
Ocean) and FMA-IXa (west Indian Ocean). Data taken from Tables 9.3a&b.
Tuna Gear Type East West Total
Purse Seine 1233 384 1617
Tuna longline 3059 597 3656
Pole and Line 195 8 203
Troll Line 17695 1298 18993
Handline 300 91 391
Total 22482 2378 24860
Gears (2005)
West
Sumatra
North
Sumatra
Lampung
2004
Bengkulu
2004
Total
Pelagic Danish seine 1599 48
0 192 1839
Demersal Danish seine 452 0
0 105 557
Beach seine 809 86 154 17 1066
Purse seine 16 351 17 384
Drift Gillnet 2406 1312 897 448 5063
Encircling gillnet 34 58 312 0 404
Set gillnet 1265 1575 616 846 4302
Trammel net 906 140 12 514 1572
Boat Liftnet 1079 279 0 0 1358
Stationary Liftnet 0 390 0 1 391
Tuna Longline 0 0 597 0 597
Set longline 277 571 923 595 2366
Drift Longline 185 277 147 609
Pole & Line 0 0 8 0 8
Other Hook & Line 6591 3729 903 4141 15364
Tuna Handline 0 91 0 0 91
Troll Line 851 11 401 35 1298
Total 16285 8826 5100 7058 37269
Number of Gear Units
West Java
(2004)
Central
Java
(2004)
East Java
(2005)
NTT
(2005)
NTB
(2005)
Bali
2006
Total
Pelagic Danish Seine 2,086 - 3,702 624 262 6,674
Demersal Danish Seine 893 - - - - 893
Beach Seine 2,628 63 110 121 748 3,670
Purse Seine 189 - 380 306 280 78 1,233
Drift Gillnet 4,782 1,199 2,105 562 13,704 6,470 28,822
Encircling Gillnet 221 - - 109 2,718 59 3,107
Shrimp Gillnet 2,578 - 8,184 853 267 11,882
Trammel Net 2,990 514 1,140 603 929 6,176
Set Gillnet 4,846 2,191 1,914 869 3,349 13,169
Boat/Raft Liftnet 994 1,400 - 75 231 2,700
Stationary Liftnet 249 - 174 91 578 1,092
Scoop net - - 328 - 12 340
Tuna Longline 33 133 2,398 - - 495 3,059
Pole and Line - - - 195 195
Other Drift Longline 261 - 1,403 - 999 222 2,885
Set Longline 427 - - 118 570 1,115
Other Handline 7,875 328 8,210 1,040 24,738 833 43,024
Troll Line 24 - 408 1,197 8,604 7,462 17,695
Handline 30 - - 270 - 3,901 300
TOTAL 31,106 5,828 30,456 6,838 58,184 19,520 148,031
6. In Sumatera Barat, trends of troll line landings of tuna is decreasing
while the reverse is exhibited by the same fishing gear in Sumatera
Utara, of which tuna landings is still increasing (Table 9.5a&b).
Landings and trends by fishing gear
The latest statistics of Bali Province, to represent FMA-IXb (eastern sub-region of FMA-
IX), shows that two-thirds (63%) of tuna landings is from longlines and over 27% is
Handline boats for ribbon
fish beached in Csisolok,
Pelabuhan Ratu. These boats
also use troll line that target
skipjack and juvenile
yellowfin tunas.
L

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
143Page
Tables 9.5a&b. Percentage share of tuna landings by fishing gear and year in the prov-
inces of Sumatera Barat (upper table) and Sumatra Utara (lower table) Sources: Pro-
vincial statistics of Sumatera Barat and Sumatera Utara (various years).
Year 2005200420032002200120001995
Pelagic Danish seine 0.750.860.8633.437.441.114.2
Demersal Danish seine 56.443.343.30.0027.20.000.00
Beach seine 0 0 07.489.88.484.80
Purse seine 4.31.051.057.597.28.176.77
Drift Gillnet 44.232.332.33.155.34.138.03
Encircling gillnet 0.00.000.0015.414.313.235.4
Shrimp gillnet 0 0 0 0 09.2712.1
Set gillnet 38.431.731.73.887.77.347.49
Trammel net 39.625.325.313.07.310.00.83
Boat/raft liftnet 40.613.636.41.421.93.370.37
Set longline 0 0 018.650.133.40.00
Hook and Line 15.915.415.41.4928.930.041.7
Troll line 24.729.129.172.087.580.495.8
Other traps 2.151.701.7099.90.00.000.00
Total 19.714.1 1910.6328.927.628.2
Gear Type 200520042003200220001998199519921988
Pelagic Danish seine 0 0 0 0 0 0 01.821.53
Demersal Danish seine 0 0 0 03.331.172.129.543.49
Beach seine 0 0 0 00.170.764.592.354.36
Purse seine 26.526.521.4 05.95.49.320.56.59
Drift gillnet 44.945.554.817.925.326.523.916.314.1
Encircling gillnet 4.874.870.0041.722.122.442.547.116.79
Set gillnet 0.810.821.71 03.714.952.082.181.17
Trammelnet 0.940.94 05.26 0 0 0 0 0
Boat liftnet 0.070.07 0 00.311.020.830.841.96
Raft liftnet 0.540.58 0 00.061.010.411.390.53
Scoop Net 0 0 0 0 0 0 05.481.40
Other Liftnets 0 0 0 0 0 0 015.41.77
Drift Longline other than tuna0 074.3 02.45100.036.6 099.2
Set longline 2.222.235.26100.013.99.9711.245.957.48
Other Hook and Line 37.437.226.1 013.514.811.116.416.5
Troll Line 90.390.30 029.97 0 0 070.9 0
Simple Tuna Handline 31.531.50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Others 0 0 07.291.193.77 070.440.3
Total 15.015.112.212.57.426.877.0213.08.08
from troll lines (Figure 9.8a). The combined landings of these two fishing gear account
for 91.8% of the total tuna landings in PPS Benoa.
By comparison, in FMA-IXa (west Indian Ocean) represented by Sumatera Utara,
statistics show that the fishing gears catching tunas are, the drift gillnet which accounts
for almost half (49.1%) of the total landings and the purse seines which contribute 22%
(Figure 9.8b&c). Handlines also land 7.2% of total landings. The landings of the famed
major gears targeting tunas (such as longline and troll lines) are not significant in
Sumatera Utara Province. In Sumatera Barat, out of the total tuna output amounting to
19.7 thousand tons, tuna handlines and the mobile liftnets (Bagan perahu/rakit) are
the major contributors (Figure 9.8b). The mobile liftnets contributed 6,314 metric tons
(32%) of the total tuna landings of the Province. The species caught are mainly juvenile
skipjacks and frigate tunas. With high certainty, bullet tunas and eastern little tunas
were caught as well but was probably lumped with the frigate tunas and skipjacks.
Landings and trends by species of tuna
There are eight commercial species of tuna caught and landed in FMA-IX. This include
the yellowfin, bigeye, albacore, skipjack, eastern little tuna, longtail, frigate and southern
bluefin. The endangered bluefin are taken by longline fishing gears operating in the
oceanic part of the Indian Ocean south of the islands of Java and Bali.
The composition of tunas caught in the sub-areas of fishery management area nine
differs starkly. In the Sumatra side (FMA-IXa), small tunas dominate the landings, with
Propulsion system of
handline boats line up at
the back of a fisher’s
house in Csisolok,
Pelabuhan Ratu, West
Java.

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Figure 9.8. Comparison of the share of landed tunas for each gear type for the
provinces of a) Bali, b) West Sumatra and c) North Sumatra. Source: Provincial
DKP statistics of Bali (2006), Sumatera Barat (2005), and Sumatera Utara (2005).
0 20406080
Longline
Troll line
Drift Gillnet
Handline
Others
other H&L
Purse seine
Percent
Gear Type
Bali
0255075100
Other handline
Boat Liftnet
Danish Seine
Troll line
Drift Gillnet
Trammel net
Set Gillnet
Purse seine
Other Gears
Pel Danish seine
Percent
Gear Type
West
Sumatra

0255075100
Drift Gill Net
Purse Seine
Other Lines
Handline
Other Seines
Set Long Line
Set Gill Net
Troll Line
Enc. Gill Nets
Bagan
Trammel Net
Boat Net
Percent
Gear Type
North
Sumatra
frigate, eastern little tunas and skipjacks almost equally sharing an aggregate share of
76% (Table 9.6). In Bali, which represents the eastern FMA-IX (FMA-IXb), the four
large tuna species consisting of the yellowfin, albacore, bigeye and longtail account for
three quarters (76.1%) of the total tuna landings.
One of the interesting entries in Table 9.6 is the presence of the southern bluefin tuna.
In Bali, this species accounts for 3.52% of the total catch but in North Sumatra, it
accounts for about 13.4%. This entry appear erroneous given the lack of longline fleet
landing in North Sumatra and most of the fishing gears operating and landings there
are mainly coastal and far from where bluefin tunas are caught. This entry is probably
an albacore mis-identified as southern bluefin tuna because it is not at all reported in
the statistics despite its abundance in the market.
Table 9.6. Comparison of tuna species landed in Sumatera Utara Province
(2005) and Bali Province (2006). Source: Provincial statistics DKP.
Species
North
Sumatra
(%)
Bali
(%)
Frigate tunas 23.7 4.72
Eastern little tunas
24.0 7.96
Skipjack tunas 28.1 7.61
Yellowfin tunas 3.53 28.6
Albacore 22.3
Southern bluefin 13.4 3.52
Bigeye tuna 3.53 16.3
Longtail tuna 3.71 8.93
Total catch (tons) 13362 28781
Seasonality of tuna catch
The monthly landings of tuna from PPN Pelabuhanratu over six years period is used to
describe the seasonal trends of the large and small species of tuna, and skipjacks.
Landings of the three tuna species categories follow a 1-year peak period, the peak
month shifts between years but generally falls in the middle of the year (Figure 9.9).
For the small tunas, the intensity of peak abundance does not vary much between
years. For the large tunas, the years 2003 to 2005 showed very high abundance
compared to the three preceeding years. The skipjacks showed regular seasonal single
peak of abundance in landings but with high spike of landings in 2005.
The increased volume of large tuna landings are mainly due to the rising landings of
handline and troll line which have become extremely popular fishing gear. Even fishers
that target the ribbonfishes (layur) now partake on the tuna rush and targets the yellowfin
tunas using simple handline.
Troll line fleet line up the
entire length of Padang
River.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
145Page
Small Tunas
0
100
200
300
J'00 J J'01 J J'02 J J'03 J J'04 J J'05 J
Month
Landings (t)
Large Tunas
0
100
200
300
400
J©00 JJ©01 JJ©02 JJ©03 JJ©04 JJ©05 J
Month
Landings (t)
Skipjack
0
250
500
750
1000
J©00 J J©01 J J©02 J J©03 J J©04 J J©05 J
Month
Landings (t)
Figure 9.9. Monthly landings of small tunas (upper), skipjack (middle) and large
tunas (lower) from PPN Pelabuhanratu, Jawa Barat. Line drawn for skipjack is a
moving average of three data points.
Trends of the fishing gears
At the Sumatra side (FMA-IXa), tunas are taken mainly by drift gillnet, boat liftnet and
purse seine. The number of these fishing gears have increased in number over the
years. In Sumatera Utara, drift gillnets tripled from 448 units in 1992 to 1,312 units in
2005. Similarly in Sumatera Barat, where drift gillnets and mobile liftnets account for
two-thirds of tuna landings, the number of units grew by 59% and 16%, respectively
from 2000 to 2005 (Fig 9.10a&b).
At the eastern side (FMA-IXb), the traditional tuna fishing gears such as longline, troll
and handline account for most of the tuna landings. In the province of Bali, the number
of tuna handline and troll line increased over the periods of 2005 to 2006 while tuna
longline declined from 769 in 2005 to just 495 in 2006 (Table 9.7). Similarly, purse
seine units went down from 158 in 2005 to just 122 units in 2006. Even drift gillnets
decline by 700 units from 2005 figures.
The decline of fishing gears is a cause for concern because it signaled the non-
profitability of fishing operations. Declining catches and increasing operation cost
brought about by the increases of fuel prices has taken its toll on tuna fishing. The
detailed discussion in the impacts of fuel price increase is in Chapter 13.
Estimate of Tuna Catch for FMA-IX
The estimated total tuna catches for FMA-IX is 777.4 thousand tons. This current catch
estimate is 3.63 times the official recorded tuna landings of 214.1 thousand tons. Catches
landed in the Sumatra side (FMA-IXa) is about 274.6 thousand tons or 37% while the
Drift gillnets operated on
sailboats in Lombok Island are
not affected by fuel price hike.

146
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FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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West Sumatra
0
2000
4000
6000
1995 2000 2005
Year
Number Fishing Units
Pel. Danish seine
Drift Gillnet
Boat Liftnet
North Sumatra
0
500
1000
1500
198819901992199419961998200020022004
Year
Number of Fishing Units
Purse seine
Drift Gillnet
Figure 9.10. Trends in the number of tuna fishing gears registered in the Prov-
inces of Sumatera Barat (upper) and Sumatera Utara (lower). Sources: Provin-
cial DKP Statistics (various years).
Year
Purse
Seine
Drift
gilllnets
Tuna
Longline
Other
longline
Troll line
Tuna
Handline
Other
Handline
2001 143 6055 529 655 9823- 13183
2002 116 7448 545 10236- 8547
2003 179 6123 522 279 8159 3526 6934
2004 174 7922 769 206 9453 5809 6770
2005 158 8316 769 36 9260 4526 6010
2006 122 7648 495 222 9303 6844 4330
Table 9.7. Number of fishing gears from the province of Bali from 2001 to 2006.
Source: Provincial DKP Statistics of Bali, 2006.
eastern part (FMA-IXb) accounts for two-thirds of the total or 470.4 thousand tons
(Table 9.8).
Viewed by species groups, small tunas (“tongkol”) dominate the total estimated tuna
landings with 311 thousand tons or 42% followed by skipjack with 286.3 (38.4%). Large
tunas, constitute 20% of the estimate (Table 9.9). Tuna landings from eastern sub-
area (FMA-IXb) accounts for two-thirds (63.1%) of the total landings; most of which are
the large tunas and skipjacks.
The Tuna Fishery of FMA-IX
This section discusses current observations and analysis of data taken from various
sources that covers the whole FMA-IX. Not included is the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam
(NAD). This is because at the time of the surveys, rehabilitation efforts from the tsunami
event is deep underway and a major fisheries component is also being implemented
by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The discussion
would cover the entire tuna fisheries of FMA-IX including but not limited to the tuna
longline fishery, which is the best known tuna fishery in Indonesia. We have given
focus on other tuna fishing gears as well as the current situation of the fishery and
A troll line hook and
lure used by Lombok
fishers.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
147Page
Table 9.8. Data used in the estimation of the tuna catches in FMA-IX. Based on inter-
views conducted, where number of fishing units not known, 60% of official records
was used. (The footnotes refers to the numbers given at the row and columns).
1/based on official records from provinces of West & North Sumatra (2005), West (2004), Central (2005) and East
Java (2005), Bali (2006), NTT and NTB (2005)
2/ only 60% of gears were used in computation
3/ total number of actual fishing days
4/ number of fishing trips per year
5/ Combined values for east and west FMA-IX which include only provinces of West Sumatra, West Java, NTT and
Bali. Used only 60% of gears recorded from Bali
6/ combined vlaues for longline that includes provinces of west java, central java, east Java, Bali and NTT.
7/ Data refers to West Sumatra
8/ Data refers to Nusa Tenggara Timur
9/ Data refers to North Sumatra
Gear Type
Number
of
Gears
1
No. of
Gear
Used
2,6
Annual
Fishing
Days
3/
annual
trips
4
CPUE
(tons/day
or fishing
trip)
Annual
Catch
(mt)/unit
Est. Annual
Total Fish
Catch (mt)
% Tuna
Share
Est. Tuna
Catch (mt)
Danish Seine -
FMA-IX a
1,2,3
1647 988 162 0.25 40.5 40,014 0.56 22,407.84
Danish Seine -
FMA-IX b
1,2.3
51583094.8 162 0.40 64.8 200,543 0.90 180,488.74
Drift Gillnet - FMA-
IX a
1,2,3
3718 2230 200 0.15 30.0 66,900 0.45 30,105.00
Drift Gillnet (<10gt)-
FMA-IX b
1,2,3
17293 162 4.7 80,931 0.60 48,558.74
Drift Gillnet (>10gt)-
FMA-IX b
1,2,4
500 12 51.5 25,750 0.90 23,175.00
Handline - FMA-
IX
1,2,3,5
4292 2732 120 0.22 26.4 72,125 1.00 72,124.80
Longline - FMA-
IX
1,2,3,5,6
3227 670 232 0.24 55.7 37,306 0.95 35,440.32
Mobile Liftnet
1,2,3,7
1079 647 197 1.05 40.5 26,204 0.41 10,638.62
Pole and Line
1,2,3,8
195 220 171 1.73 295.0 64,900 0.98 63,602
Purse Seine(15-day
trip)
9
351 175 24 36.0 864.0 151,200 0.90 136,080
Purse Seine (7-day
trip)
10
176 36 5.89 212.0 37,312 0.27 10,074
Trammel Net
7
906 543 24 0.97 23.2 12,598 0.40 4,988.65
Troll line - FMA-IX a 862 517 52 1.00 52.0 26,884 0.9 24,195.60
Troll line - FMA-IX b10233 6140 192 0.14 26.9 165,043 0.7115,530.24
TOTAL 777,409.79
28822
Sub-Area skipjacksmall tunaslarge tunas total %
FMA IX-A 67647 152673 54232 27455236.9
FMA IX-B 218670 158525 93205 47040163.1
TOTAL 286317 311199 147437 744953
% 38.4 41.8 19.8
Table 9.9. Estimated tuna landings by species category between sub-
areas of FMA-IX.
changes. The readers are referred to studies of Simorangkir (2003), Ishida et al. (1994),
Marceille et al. (1984), Merta (2000) and Proctor et al. (2003) on the studies so far
made on the tuna longline fishery of Indonesia with much focus on the fleets based in
Java and Bali islands.
Tuna Longline Fleet
The biography of the government-owned corporation PT. Nusantara Perikanan (erst
known as PT. Samodra Besar) is the history of the tuna longline fisheries of Indonesia.
Wind power fish dryer
prototype under test in
Tanjung Luar, West Nusa
Tenggara.

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR EBM
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Its fleet development, catch rates, profits and loses made in recent years mirrors the
boom and bust history of the tuna longline of Indonesia.
Current fleet sizes of PT. Nusantara Perikanan in 2007 is 26 vessels, of which 13 are
operational, 9 units are rented out to other fishing companies and the rest are out of
commission. Based on the data provided by the company, the company started in
1973 with 3 vessels, grew to 12 in 1974, and in 1975 has a fleet of 18 vessels of >100
GT. In 1992, 2 units of wooden-hulled vessels of 40 GT were acquired, the fleet continued
to grow with acquisition of wooden vessels of 60 and 80 GT. By early 2002, the company
has six 40-GT, nine 60-GT and three 80-GT class vessels, all wooden hulled. The
company likewise invested in small 15 GT fiberglass reinforced hulls between 1993
until the present. At its peak in the 1980’s, the company has an aggregate total tonnage
of 1,800 GT (Figure 9.11).
The tuna longline fleet of Indonesia consisted roughly of around 1,600 boats (based
on estimates made by at least 10 longline boat captains). About 495 of the fleets are
based in Benoa Bali (DKP Propinsi Bali 2006) and the rest are distributed in the fishing
ports of Nizam Zachman in Jakarta, Pelabuhanratu in Jawa Barat and Cilacap in Jawa
Tengah. The sizes of fleets have decreased from that reported by Proctor et al.in 2003
(Table 9.10).
The longline fleets consisted mainly of three types, the large steel-hulled vessels, the
mostly wooden-hulled (very few are steel-hulled) medium to large vessels (of maximum
100-GT size), and the small fleet made of steel, wood or fiberglass reinforced boats.
Total Tonnage of Fleet: PSB
0
500
1000
1500
2000
19701975198019851990199520002005
Year
total gross tonnage
Figure 9.11. Aggregate tonnage of tuna fishing fleet of PT. Nusantara Perikanan
(formerly PT. Samodra Besar).
Many of these vessels, particularly the wooden-hulled crafts, are old with inefficient
storage facility on board and are not equipped with sufficient navigational equipment
required for safety at sea. The living conditions aboard these old vessels also leave a
lot to be desired.
Small and medium-sized vessels operate between 15-25 days at sea, larger vessels
between 25-45 days at sea. This was the practice prior to 2003. With the decline in
hook rate and the increased of fuel prices by almost 200%, the fishing operations have
changed drastically. Medium to large boats now operate longer between 3-6 months at
Vessel size
(GT)
Benoa
Muara
Baru*
Cilacap Total
0-30 138 - 10 148
31-60 160 61 45 266
61-100 209 294 34 537
101-200 195 521 25 741
>200 3 26 - 29
Total 705 902 114 1721
Table 9.10. Number of tuna longlines by gross tonnages based in FMA-IXb
(east Indian Ocean) in 2002. Source: Proctor et al. 2003.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
149Page
sea, making only 2-3 trips per year to save on fuel and operating cost. The smaller
fleet, mainly <30 GT operate between 7-10 days at sea and supply the fresh and
chilled tunas. The small fleets are now operating nearer the shore to ensure better
catch yet smaller fishes.
In 2006, the fuel price increased amid declining catch from Indian Ocean has practically
stopped over two-thirds of the fleet from operating. Many of the boats remain tied up at
PPS Benoa, PPS Muara Baru and PPS Bungus waiting for the change of season
(better catch rates) and fuel subsidies from the government. Some of the longline
fleets has to stopped operating because the sizes of boats could not allow streamlining
of operations to become economical. Large longline companies (e.g. PSB, DaMarina)
survive because they streamlined operations making the fleet stay longer at sea and
carrier vessels collect the catch and deliver supplies to the fishing boats. For the longline
fleet of Indonesia, many of the 1,600 boats have single ownerships.
Fishing Techniques
Most of the longline boats operating in Indian Ocean target the bigeye tunas which
requires setting deeper than when targeting the yellowfin tunas. The number of mainlines
per set varies from 12-18, with each mainline having 15-17 hooks; that the number of
hooks utilized per setting ranges from 1,800 to 2,600 hooks. Before 1990, many of the
longline operated within the upper water column (shallow-sets) to catch the yellowfin
tunas. The preference of longliners for bigeye tunas, found on the deeper part of the
water column, is it higher market price than the yellowfin tunas, particularly for the
sashimi grades.
Today sardines are mainly used as baits because it is much cheaper than round scads
(layang). Early on, imported Pacific saury were used but its availability and high price
made local fleets to look for substitutes. The roundscad is a perfect bait but has become
prohibitively expensive because it is also for human consumption and exported as
baitfish to Korea, Taiwan and Japan. However, since sardines are smaller (18-20 pcs/
kg) and more difficult to use as baits due to its much laterally compressed body, it
requires a smaller J-hook than what is used in other countries. The size of hook greatly
influences the sizes of fish caught, escapement rates and the amount of juveniles and
by-catch taken by the longline gear (see also discussion on Chapter 12: By catch).
Due to the consistently high demand for sashimi, about 200 of the vessels cater to this
market where catch from vessels are taken by carriers every 15 days.
Fishing Grounds
The fishing ground of the domestic tuna longlines of Indonesia is undertaken mainly
along the boarder of the EEZ south of Java at 110
o
to 114
o
East Longitudes and >15
o
South Latitude. Rarely do vessels fish south of Sumatra Island and the 100
o
E longitude
appears to be the western border of their fishing operations. Size of fish depends also
on the fishing area so fishers normally go past latitude 15
o
S to get to bigger sized fish.
Fishing for bigeye and albacore means that the fishing depth is between 100-330
meters
Boats are equipped with GPS and some crude navigation equipment. Very few of the
wooden-hulled vessels have radars. For large companies such as the government
owned PT Nusantara Perikanan (now renamed PT. Samodra Besar), the selection of
fishing grounds is also aided by satellite generated maps that are supplied weekly at a
subscription rate of US$400 per month. But usually, these maps are rarely used and
more often, records kept by the company over many years and the experience of the
boat captains determine where fishing is to be conducted.
Longlines also operate within the archipelagic waters, particularly in Flores and Banda
Seas (Figure 9.12). Their operation is highly seasonal (October-December) and targets
the bigeye tunas.
Yellowfin tunas from Indian
Ocean by the by troll line
fleet from Sulawesi Selatan.

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Catch Trends
Using data from Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the catch of longlines from Indian
Ocean peaked in 1999 and hence have continued on a downward trend (Figure 9.13).
Looking at the species level, catch of four major species similarly have been on the
decline, downfall trend started in 1999 for the yellow fin and big eye tunas and in 2003
for albacore. The catch of the Southern Blue Fin tuna fluctuated erratically but generally
on the downward trend also.
Figure 9.12. Locations of the sets of longline boats made by on-board ob-
servers during the circle hook fishing trials. Source: WWF By-Catch re-
port, 2007.
Catch Rates
The declining catch rates, expressed as hook rate (fish/100-hooks) and CPUE (kg/
day-fishing), of tuna longlines operating in Indian Ocean are presented in Figure 9.14.
The fishery started in 1973 and for the first 10 years of operation catch rates were
rising until the mid-1980s and hence the decline began. In the early 2007, catch rates
have reached an unprofitable level of 0.36 per 100 hooks (pers.comm with Mr.
Soeprioyono, Manager of Bali Branch-PT. Perikanan Nusantara).
Catch rates of tuna vary with vessel size with higher larger boats catching more than
smaller ones. However, vessel greater than 100 GT caught less than those of an 80-
GT class boat. This explains why the company where this data was taken from stopped
using this steel-hulled large fishing crafts. The catch made by a 40, 60 and 80 gross
tonnages did not differ significantly with each other but all these are significantly higher
than the catch of a 15 GT boat (Figure 9.15).
While smaller vessels have lower catch rates, they are economically more efficient
when the financial aspect is taken into consideration, as the requirement for initial
operational and capital investments is lower (Figure 9.16). With the fuel prices continue
to rise, use of smaller vessels for tuna longline is more economically sense. This is
why, only the smaller vessels remains in operation at this time of crisis; the bigger
fleets remain tied up at the various fishing ports.
Pelagic Danish Seine (Boat Seine)
The Fishing Fleet
This fishing gear, known locally as “payang” was already used in the area long before
the tuna fishery developed. Designed and used as a demersal fishing gear called
“dogol”, it has been modified to catch small pelagics.
Fish handling in Cilacap,
Central Java, leaves much to
be desired.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
151Page
Total tuna catch: LL Indonesia
0
25000
50000
75000
100000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Catch (metric tons)
Figure 9.13. Trend of total catches (upper) and by species of longline
taken from the Indian Ocean. Source: IOTC database.
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
197019751980198519901995200020052010
year
catch (tons)
Albacore
Bigeye
Southern Bluefin
Yellowfin
Catch Rates: Longline
0
200
400
600
800
1000
197019751980198519901995200020052010
Year
kg/day
0
1
2
3
hook rate (10
2
hooks)
kg/day
Hook Rate
Figure 9.14. CPUE (kg/day) and hook rate (fish/100-hooks) of tuna longlines of PT.
Perikanan Nusantara (formerly PT. Samodra Besar) from 1973-2007. Source: Un-
published data from PT. Perikanan Nusantara from 1970-2006. 2007 data provided
by Mr. Soepriyono.
The fishing fleet of the pelagic Danish seine totals 8,321 units as of 2005 of which
about 80% (n=6,674) are based in FMA-IXb. Tunas account for 75% of the catch for
the fleets from Sumatera Barat while about 100% during the peak season for those
from Jawa Barat. The small number of Danish seine in North Sumatra appears not
taking tunas at all. Pelagic Danish seines generally belong to the 5-10 GT class, powered
by outboard motor.
Fishing Techniques
Characterizing the fleets based in Pelabuhan Ratu, Jawa Barat, the boat operates
daily, goes out fishing early in the day between 5-6 o’clock at dawn, travels between 2-
4 hours to the fishing ground and returns to home port between 7-8 o’clock at night.
A health standard for fish
handling in Muara Baru ,
Jakarta needs to be inplace to
improve the quality of fish

152
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FISHERIES OF INDONESIA &
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Catch Rates: Vessel Size
0
100
200
300
400
500
1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
kg/day
100 GT
40 GT
15 GT
60 GT
80 GT
Figure 9.15. Trend of catch rates of tuna longline for different boat size classes.
(Earlier data are available but the 10-years period was chosen for compari-
son purposes). Source: Catch records of PT. Perikanan Nusantara.
0.0000
0.0500
0.1000
0.1500
0.2000
0.2500
1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003
Year
kg/day/GT
100GT
80GT
60GT
40GT
15GT
Figure 9.16. Catch efficiency (kg/dayfishing/gross ton of vessel) shows that for
tuna longline, the smaller the vessels, the more efficient it becomes.
The boat makes 15-20 sets per day with an average catch of 0.5-1.5 tons per day
during the peak season (south winds) and 0.25-1.0 ton per day during the lean (west)
season.
The net follows a typical 2-seam trawl net design with the following specifications:
wings length (175-200 m), wing height at widest (60 m), wings mesh size (5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10 cm), body length (35 m), mesh size (2, 3, 10 cm), bunt length (35 m), bunt mesh
size (1 & 2 cm), mouth opening of the net ~ 45 meters through the use of bamboos as
floats and stones as sinkers.
The net is set only after schools have been detected, either through sightings of birds,
debris, or dolphins. The danish seines operating in Indian Ocean do not use FADs as
compared to other areas of the countries where the fishing gear operates, such as in
Java Sea and Malacca Strait (Bailey 1987).
Trends of the fishery
According to one of the boat captains we interviewed, catch rates for tunas have been
increasing for the last three years starting in 2004. The catch levels in 2006 is 20%
more than in 2005 and about 40% more than in 2004, a claim substantiated by catch
rates taken from data of landings in Pelabuhan Ratu fish port (Figure 9.17). The catches
of skipjacks appear to increase during the peak season over the period of 2000-2005.
The main reason given was the prolonged dry season these last three years.
Seasonality
In eastern Indian Ocean (FMA-IXb), Danish seines target the tunas and their availability
differ between months. Large tuna species (YFT, BET, ALB) are most abundant in
March to April, small tunas follow suit in May to June and skipjack dominates in the
Fresh and salted, these bullet
tunas are ready for boiling
call pindang, a native way of
fish processing.

CHAPTER 9
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months of August to December. Share of non-tunas (Indian mackerels, roundscads)
remain low through most of the year (Figure 9.18).
Handline
Handline fishing in most areas of FMA-IX is relatively coastal compared to the other
fishery management areas (e.g. FMA-VI & FMA-VII). Many fishers use handline as
their secondary fishing method and many more use it only when opportunities come
along such as sighting tuna schools or during the off season of their primary targeted
fishing activity which is cutlass or ribbonfish. The full time tuna handline fishers operate
as part of a fishing or trading company and these are found in Bali and Lombok in Nusa
Pelagic Danish (Boat) Seine:
Skipjack
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
J 05J 04J 03J 02J 01J 00
Month
kg/trip
Figure 9.17. Catch rates (kg/trip) of pelagic Danish seine fleet landing at the
Pelabuhan Ratu fishing port. Source: PPN Pelabuhan Ratu 2000-2005.
Danish Seine: Landings
0
50
100
150
200
250
Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov
Month
Landings (t)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Landings (t)
large tunas
small tunas
skj
non-tunas
Figure 9.18. Monthly landings of Danish seine at PPN Pelabuhanratu (2005).
Source: PPN Pelabuhanratu Fisheries Statistics, 2005.
Tenggara Barat. These tuna handline is usually managed by tuna trading companies
or they belong to a “plasma system”. In Lombok, and vicinities, there are about 150 to
200 fishing sampans under this company which is the sole operator of this method in
Lombok.
The company provides the mother boat of 7 gross tons and powered by two inboard
engines of 40-HP. Onboard the mother boat are about 4 to 6 fishers with their own
sampans (non-motorized boats) which they used for actual fishing. The mother boat
acts as dining and resting place and as storage for their catch and provisions. They go
out fishing with their non-motorized plank boats (sampans) at daytime and return to
the mother boat at night to rest. Fishing is exclusively done around the FADs which are
also set up by the company. They stay at sea for about 7 to 10 days per trip.
The handline uses mainlines of 500-mm diameter and hooks of 4 - 5 commercial sizes.
Fish are used as baits. The daily fishing routine starts with catching of baits consisting
of small-sized tunas and scads. Only when sufficient bait has been caught (20-30
pieces) to last for the day, will the fisher begin fishing for tuna. This daily routine is only
Pindang are ready for
delivery to neighboring
markets in Java and
Sumatra.

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broken when school of tunas are sighted before the bait provision is fulfilled, this rarely
happens however.
The fishery catches mostly yellowfin tunas and skipjacks. The peak months is usually
during the months of September and October, during which the mother ship would
carry back about 500 kg of skipjacks and 20 pieces of large yellowfin tunas. The rest of
the months are considered lean months, when catch is more or less half of the catch
during the peak months. The fishers perceived 50% decrease of catch since 10 years
ago.
In the Province of Nusa Tenggara Timur, handline fishing is likewise conducted on a
part-time basis by the troll liners from as far as Sulawesi Tenggara and Kendari,
particularly during the lean months when schools of tunas are chanced upon. Locally
called “coping”, these used to be opportunistic activities but fast becoming a real
endeavor as a result of the increase of fuel cost.
In Pelabuhanratu, Jawa Barat, the main target of handline fishers are the ribbon fishes
(layur) but becomes opportunistic tuna fishers when schools of tunas are chanced
upon. They also undertake trolling activities going to and returning from the fishing
ground. It is claimed that 20-30 % of their income is augmented by these part time
fishing activities. Landing data of the fishing port show small volume of landed yellowfin
tuna in January and April which represent 0.25% and 0.32%, respectively, of the total
fish landings.
Troll Line
Troll lines in FMA-IX are primarily used for catching skipjacks, small tuna species, and
juveniles of yellowfin and bigeye tunas. By-catch include king mackerels, dolphin fishes,
rainbow runners, jacks and barracudas.
In the southwest coast Sumatra, the troll lines uses boats of 5-GT powered by a 33-HP
outboard motor. There are more or less 300 fishing boats of this type homing in Muara
Padang, and there are more of its kind distributed along the other landings ports of the
the southwest coast of Sumatra Island. The fishing gear is made of 2-mm diameter
nylon mainline’ which is further extended into a branchline at the other end. The
branchline is made of the same material but of smaller diameter twine of 1.5-mm where
the hook (commercial size #3) is attached. The hooks are baited with lures made up of
neon colored light plastic materials. The design and operation of this boat is to target
skipjack (and tongkol).
During the fishing operation, 10 lines are towed; four lines of 7.5-m length are on the
underside of the hull near the water line, two (7.5-m long) at the midlevel, one at each
side and two (40-m long) at the topmost part of the vessel. This setup when viewed at
the top is a series of lines arrange in a horizontal manner. Fishing is at daytime and
each fishing trip lasts for 7-15 days. A troll line boat has crew of four fishers. Historical
accounts of the fishers indicated no changes in the volume of catch or fish sizes but
the fishing ground has significantly moved farther asea compared to 10 years ago.
Troll liners based in the Island of Java are using smaller boats of <4GT powered by a
6-HP outboard motor. The mode of operation and fishing technique is designed to
target the large tunas (>10kg) swimming at the surface. The troll line’ mainline is made
of 300-mm diameter nylon rope, the branchline is of the same material but with diameter
of 150-mm, and uses just one hook. Lures are used and are made of colorful chicken
feathers. Fishing operation is daily and at daytime only. The catch is mostly composed
of juvenile tunas and skipjacks. During the peak months of April to October the average
daily catch is 50 kg while only 20 kg during the lean months which starts from November
to February. Accounts of fishers indicate marked decreased of catch by 300% when
compared 10 years ago.
Troll liners from the Island of Sulawesi are using nylon twine mainline of 150mm diameter
and 50mm branchline. The hook used is actually a jig (three-pronged hook) which is

CHAPTER 9
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unique to the fishers whose origin is from Sulawesi Island. The baits are made from
colorful light fabric materials. The fishing boats are also bigger, of 12 GT, powered by 2
units of 150-HP inboard engines. The fishers (5-6 individuals per boat) do not limit
themselves in the inland waters of Sulawesi but travels as far as Banda Sea and Indian
Ocean wherever catch is good. In the Indian Ocean, the main catch compositions are
skipjack, yellowfin (all sizes) and juveniles of bigeye tuna.
As earlier stated, a troll line boat also carries handlines and fished in FADs for large
tunas and skipjack if trolling catch is not good. Because of their mobility and their
ability to use two different gears, these Sulawesian fishers could not really observe
significant changes in the fisheries of their fishing grounds. In the coasts of Kendari
City there are about 150 units of this type that make annual excursions to the fishing
grounds of Sawu Sea, Flores Sea and Banda Sea.
Further east in the Lesser Sunda Islands, troll liners are using fishing boats of 7-GT
powered with 2 inboard motors of 30-HP. They fished for 7 to 10 days per trip. Their
catch is composed mainly of skipjacks, yellowfin tuna of all sizes and juveniles of
bigeye tuna. They only fished during the months of September and October, catching
an average of 20 individuals of large tunas and about 500 kg of skipjacks. They
accounted that 10 years ago, catch is better by 50% when compared to today. In the
fishing port of Lombok, there are about 150 units of this type of fishing.
The use of various fishing techniques to catch the different species of tunas, really
complicates data collection system. It will be difficult to separate which fishing gear or
what variety catch that ceratin species of fish/tuna. The use of information taken simply
from landing sites will not suffice and will provide huge errors, particularly if the
information will be used to assess the status of the fishery.
There is an urgent need to really study these developments in order to develop an
appropriate data collection system. Observer programs for these vessels would appear
to be more appropriate.
Catch Rates
Monitoring the landings of troll boats unloading in PPS Bungus in Sumatera Barat
showed catch rates of 400 kg/boat per 7-days trip in 2003 (Luthfi 2005). Catch consisted
mainly of skipjack tunas. Historical analysis showed that at the end of 2003, the number
of troll boats has declined to just 25% of 1994 levels (Fig 9.19). Quite evidently, even
without the benefit of a solid stock assessment, 100 units of troll boats (in Padang,
West Sumatra) appears to have caused the leveling of catch rate to about 400 kg/boat
per trip. This graph is a good admonishment to the resource managers in thinking
hard of formulating a precautionary measure to prevent further increase in fishing effort.
This situation is further enhanced by the fishing efforts exerted by fishing boat from
other places coming to the area to fish. Fishing effort regulation should also include
these fleets that operate in the area on a seasonal basis.
Drift Gillnet
The use of drift gillnet for tunas is prevalent in Central Java (Jawa Tengah) Province
and is a major source of the skipjacks landed at the fishing port of Cilacap (PPS Cilacap).
Though there are also gillnet operations for small tunas and skipjacks in Jawa Barat
Province, the scale of operation is significantly smaller when compared to that of the
Jawa Tengah Province.
In Jawa Tengah, offshore drift gillnets are using fishing boats of 20-70 gross tons
powered with inboard engines ranging from 120 to 150 horsepower. The length of the
fishing nets ranges from 1,200-m to 2,100-m with netting depths ranging from 18-35
meters. In one fishing boat there are about 10-12 fishers onboard. Just in the vicinity of
Cilacap there are about 500 units of fishing boats engaged in tuna drift gillnet fishery.
Their fishing ground falls within the latitudes of 8° to 10° South and longitudes of 105°
Sharks and rays, by-catch
of longline and gillnets for
sale at auction hall in
Cilacap, Central Java.

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Troll Line: West Sumatra
0
100
200
300
400
500
J©94 J ©95 J ©96J ©97J ©98J ©99J ©00 J ©01J ©02J ©03
Month
Landings (t)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
kg/boat trip
# of boats
Catch (tons)
kg/boat
MAVE
Figure 9.19. Trends in the number of troll line vessels, catch, catch rates (kg/boat/trip).
Yellow line is the moving averge of three data points for catch rate. Source: Luthfi
2005.
to 110° East. One fishing trip may consist 7 to 15 days, mostly 15 days unless the
catch is really good that the boat needs to return earlier; such times are usually observed
during the months of April to August while lean months are observed in the months of
November to February. Setting is at night time and is usually done once. Average
catch per trip during the peak months is more or less 2 tons of skipjacks and 250 kg of
other fishes. During the lean months however, average total catch is just 500 kg to one
ton. Historical account of fishers indicated that the volume of catch had decreased by
50% over the last ten years.
The driftnet gillnets in Jawa Barat particularly those landing in PPN Pelabuhanratu
target the small tuna species. Peculiar for this area, the drift gillnets are set in combination
with a short longline attached at the other end of the net. The longline targets the
sharks. The fishing boats used in this fishery are small-scale with gross tonnages of <3
and powered by inboard engines of five to eight horsepower. The number of vessels
based in the port of Pelabuhanratu alone is about 100 of such units. The total length of
the netting panel ranges from 1,200-m to 2,100-m with depth of about 18-22 meters.
Fishing is undertaken daily at the waters off Java Island (Indian Ocean neritic zone) for
an average of 5-6 hauls per fishing-night. During the peak months of fishing from August
to October the average catch per fishing-night ranges from 100 to 200 kilograms while
during the lean months of February to May the average maximum catch is only 10
kilograms. Compared from the early years of 2000, the fishers still observed an
increasing volume of catch, a narrative quiet different from that of Central Java drift
gillnet fishers targetting the same species. It is however interesting to note that the
fishing ground of this fishery is near shore as compared to the offshore fishing ground
of Central Java. Also note that the main target of the Central Java fishers are the
mature skipjacks while in West Java, the fishers target the small tuna species of the
genus, Auxis, and juveniles of the skipjacks.
Analysis of landings of drift gillnet in PPN Pelabuhanratu in 2006 confirm the seasonality
information provided by respondents (Figure 9.20). There are generally two peaks of
abundance, each falling during the intermonsoon period but since year 2006 is
considered by fishers as anomalous because of the prolonged season of high catch
rates which are attributed to the long dry spell that hit Java.
The same drift gillnet fishery as that found in West Java is similar to those in West
Nusa Tenggara (NTB) particularly those homing in Tanjung Luar fishing port. Here, the
fishing boats are larger (10-GT) and propelled by 2 units of 150-HP inboard motors.
This fishery’ fishing ground is in the waters of Indian Ocean and sometimes reaches as
far as Bali Sea, that a trip may lasts for an average of 25 days. This fishery is not using
FADs or lights, to aggregate fishes, even when fishing is at night. One fishing unit is
manned by 4-6 fishers and there are about 200 units in the vicinity of Tanjung Luar.
The catch composition of this drift gillnet fishery are skipjacks, bullet and frigate tunas,
Fish classified as rejects
are further processed into
fish barbeque and sold
locally.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
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and the juveniles of yellowfin and bigeye tunas. Peak season of fishing is during the
east monsoon from May to December with average catch of 10 tons for seven days of
fishing.
Liftnet
The liftnet fisheries in FMA-IX mostly support the pole and line fisheries. But in Padang,
Sumatera Barat this fishery do not support the pole and line fleets of live baits but
rather target anchovies and small tuna species for human consumption. The peak
season for the small tuna species, in particular, starts in the month of September until
December. The average catch during this season ranges from one ton to 2.5 tons per
Figure 9.20. Landings of tunas taken by the drift gillnet fishery based in the
fishing port of Pelabuhanratu, Jawa Barat. Source: PPN Pelabuhanratu
records, 2005.
Drift Gillnet
0
5
10
15
JFMayAM JJASOND
Month
Landings (tons)
skj
large tuna
small tuna
others
fishing-night. During this season, the catch composition is 90% small tuna species
mostly the Auxis spp. And 10% mixture of anchovies (teri), mackerels (kembung), scads
(selar) and juveniles (~500g) of yellowfin tuna (sisik or jabric). The fishing boat used in
this fishery is of 30-GT power-driven by an inboard engine of 160-HP. The fishing gear
is about 16,900-m
3
enclosures. To aggregate the fishes, this fishery is using a total of
154 bulbs (140-daylights and 14-mercury bulbs) installed all around the peripheries of
the fishing boat. There are about 200 units in Bungus only operating this specific type
of fishery.
Purse Seine
Purse seine operation in FMA-IX was believed by most to be just starting but an interview
with the fishers from Sumatera indicated that this fishery has been existing even in the
seventies and are mostly operated by Filipino fishers and companies but stopped
operation upon the behest of local fishers who felt outcompeted in the race to catch
fish. Not long after the exit of the Filipinos, the local fishers started using the same
fishing technique. To date, there is a single unit owned by the state and managed and
operated by PPS Bungus Management. The fishing vessel is wooden-hulled of 117-
GT and power-driven by an inboard engine. This fishery fished at nights in FADs. The
boat has 40 crew members. The peak fishing season is during the months of January
to June with average of 60 tons per trip of 10 days while the low season is from July to
December with catch averaging to just 10 tons per trip. Aside from the FADs the boat is
also installed with about 30 bulbs of 1,000 watts each, which function is also to attract
and aggregate fishes. This is the only boat of this type in Sumatera Barat but about
200 units of this is found in the ports of Sumatera Utara which operation is also in FMA-
IX. The purse seine fleet targets the small pelagics and main tuna catch are the bullet
and frigate tunas.
The collapse of the domestic tuna longline have given way for these companies to go
into purse seine fishing. A port visit in Benoa, Bali and Muara Baru confirms the
constructions of brand new nets, FAD anchors and floats are being prepared. Interview
Rays are stripped off their skin
for leather processing.

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with fishers reveal that these boats will be operated in the Indian Ocean. This
development of allowing large purse seine boats (>250 GT) to operate at the Indian
Ocean will likely create new sectoral conflict with the longline and small scale drift
gillnets unless proper zoning and regulation of FADs are in place.
Tuna infrastructure support
Because of the vast expanse and significant fisheries activities in FMA-IX, it is supported
by several first level fishing ports. Starting from the western most side the first level
fishing ports supporting FMA-IX are PPS Bungus in Sumatera Barat, PPS Nizam
Zachman in DKI Jakarta, PPN Pelabuhan Ratu in Jawa Barat, PPS Cilacap in Jawa
Tengah, and PPS Benoa in Bali (noticed that good fishing port facilities stops in Bali
and very few fishing port facilities is found eastern ward).
Visit to the PPS Bungus indicated that the said port is used mostly as transient point or
standby area of longliners on their way to the fishing ground. Despite the first level
category of the fishing port, there is not much activity there and only a few support
facilities such as storage and the likes are installed. In fact, the port is even closed
during the weekend, an indicator that it is not really a busy fishing port. Also found in
the port are mobile lift nets (Bagan perahu/rakit) and small-scale purse seines. Aside
from managing the ports, the port authority also directly manages two fishing boats
operating as small-scale purse seines. PPS Bungus is the only first level fishing serving
the southwestern coasts of Sumatra Island. There are however several lower level
fishing ports supporting the fisheries of Indian Ocean in Sumatra Island, these are
PPN Sibolga in Sumatera Utara, PPP Sikakap in Sumatera Barat, and PPP Lempasing
in Lampung.
Going east to the Island of Java there are three major fishing ports servicing the tuna
longliners operating in Indian Ocean (FMA-IX). Nearest to Sumatra Island but found
not in the coastal area of Indian Ocean but rather in Java Sea is PPS Nizam Zachman
in Muara Baru, Jakarta. Though this port is located facing Java Sea (most of the large
fishing fleets are fishing in Indian Ocean). This fishing port might be the biggest in
Indonesia and supposedly is the best in facilities as it was heavily aided by Asian
Development Bank (ADB) for its rehabilitation. In this port are two major fish landing
quaysides, one transshipment wharf and one wharf especially allotted for vessels
uploading provisions. There are 25 processing rooms leased by different companies
and a cold storage facility of 1,000 tons capacity. The fish market center is quiet large
(9,865 m
2
) and separate from the fish auction area (3,500 m
2
). Next to the PPS Nizam
Zachman is the PPN Pelabuhanratu located in the southern coast of Jawa Barat
Province. This fishing port is second level in category servicing fishing boats of 15 to
60 gross tonnages. Still going east, in the province immediately next to Jawa Barat is
situated the very young first level fishing port of PPS Cilacap. This fishing port started
its operation as second level (PPN) in 1995 but have upgraded into a PPS level in
2001 due to the increasing occurrence of oceanic fishing vessels. Apart from these big
fishing ports a number of small-scale fishing ports are also available, such as PPN
Prigi in Jawa Timur which services the coastal fisheries.
Servicing the long liners which homeports is in Bali and the provinces further east is
PPS Benoa. PPS Benoa is not a state-managed fishing port but is managed and
operated by a private company, the Persero Terbatas (PT) Pelabuhan Indonesia III.
There is only one landing quayside and is shared and leased upon to different fishing
companies. There is one processing and fishing company which has its own private
wharf, the PT Perikanan Samodra Besar, which is state-owned. Aside from this big
fishing port, small scale landing sites managed and operated by private companies or
local communities are also present.
Further east covering the provinces of Nusa Tenggara Barat and Nusa Tenggara Timur,
the fishing ports available for the fishers operating in FMA-IX are mostly small scale in
operation managed by the local communities or privately owned by the fishing
companies.
Finished products of the
ray skin. Note the beautiful
stones that were once part
of the skin of the ray.

CHAPTER 9
FMA-IX: INDIAN OCEAN
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Notes on the economics of fishing
The area of FMA-IX is a bit expansive and thus the costs or prices of one area may not
necessarily hold true for the others even when found within the same fisheries
management area.
Danish Seine
Danish seines though not necessarily targets tuna, in some of the sites such as in
Jawa Barat Province, the catch is mostly composed of the small tuna species and
juveniles of skipjacks that it was why it was also tackled here.
The costs of fishing boat of 5-GT for Danish Seine in 2006 in Jawa Barat was Rp15.00
million and its outboard motor of 40-HP was Rp18.00 million. If both engine and boat
has a working economic lifespan of 10 years, the annual depreciation costs would be
Rp3.30 million. The fishing gear costs about Rp8.00 million which when assigned with
three year effective economic lifespan, the probable cost of depreciation would be
Rp2.67 million. Annual total operational expense ranges from Rp40.44–259.20 million.
Annual sales revenue ranges from Rp243.87–486.00 million. There were times that
when a boat was not lucky, it would expend the higher end of the annual operational
cost’ range while just having the lower end of the annual sales revenue’ range, in
which case the fishing venture is actually losing, which is happening more often now
according to the fishers interviewed.
Drift Gillnet
The drift gillnets in FMA-IX targeting mostly skipjacks are found in the provinces of
Jawa Tengah, Jawa Barat, and Nusa Tenggara Barat. The investment for a boat of 10-
GT and powered with two outboard 150-HP motors was Rp1.00 billion in the province
of Nusa Tenggara Barat. While a 30-GT fishing boat powered with an inboard engine in
the province of Jawa Tengah was Rp200.00 million. The differences in the costs of
investments might be due to the distance of the provinces from the commercial center
of the country (Nusa Tenggara Barat is more remote than Jawa Tengah). The costs
also depend on the size of the gear and the year of acquisition. Investment for the drift
gillnet fishing gear ranges from Rp70.00–141.00 million.
Annual operation costs ranges from Rp103.97–296.23 million in the east Indian Ocean
or FMA-IXb (Jawa Island going east to Nusa Tenggara Timur). Revenue from sales of
catch in a year of drift gillnets operation targeting skipjacks and the small tuna species
is estimated at Rp19.38–369.34 million. There are cases when some of the fishing
fleets are gaining but a lot are also on losing. A probable sign that the fishery is already
showing signs of abused.
Handline
Investment on the fishing boat of <3-GT and 5-HP outboard motor in the handline
fishery of FMA-IXb was more or less Rp8.00 million. Investment in the fishing gear
ranges from Rp18.00 to Rp100.00 thousands, the differences is mainly due to the
existing prices of the materials in the different localities and the sizes the fishers preferred
for. Operational expense for a year was more or less Rp40.46 million. While the annual
estimated revenue from sales of caught fish is about Rp66.67 million. From this simple
presentation of handline fisheries economics, this particular fishery for tuna in FMA-
IXb is still earning profit from the venture.
Pole and Line
The investments of the pole and line fisheries in FMA-IXb on fishing boats, of gross
tonnages 17-30 and powered with engines of 120-HP to 12-HP, ranges from Rp240.00
to Rp350.00 million. With about 10 years of economic lifespan, the annual depreciation
cost ranged from Rp24.00 to Rp45.00 million. The cost of pole and line fishing gear, for

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a boat of about 20 fishers, ranges from Rp500.00 to Rp800.00 thousands. Since the
fishing gear is easily destroyed, it usually is renewed every fishing trip or as often as
necessary that sometimes it would be more appropriate to put the costs as part of the
running expenses. Annual operational costs ranges from Rp87.00-870.00 million for
about 67 to 180 trips. The estimated gross revenue from sales ranges from Rp374.00
million to Rp1.41 billion.
From this simplified economic view of the pole and line fisheries in FMA-IXb, the fisheries
is profiting most of the time however, as most fishing ventures are experiencing, there
were times when the fisheries is losing due to various causes and that is also true with
this fisheries. The losing pole and line ventures are experienced by those in Nusa
Tenggara Timur and Sulawesi Tenggara. The fishers however are still finding ways to
circumnavigate the situation by creating special arrangement for baits, and staying
longer at sea to save fuel.
Troll Line
In Jawa Barat, investment for a troll line fishing boat of <3GT powered with a 5-HP
outboard motor was more or less Rp7.70 million. In Sulawesi Tenggara, the fishing
boats of 15-GT powered with two units of 150-HP outboard motors was approximately
within Rp70.00 million. All the fishing gears used by a boat including 5 sets of troll lines,
2 sets of coping and all spare accessories costs more or less Rp3.00 million; this is
only true for Sulawesi Tenggara fishers because they are carrying two types of the
hand lines, the ordinary vertical single hook and line and the troll line.
Operational annual costs reach approximately Rp502.26 million for the troll liners of
Padang, Sumatera Barat because of the distance they are traveling from and to the
fishing ground. Annual operational cost of troll lining based in Sulawesi Tenggara is
around Rp48.00 million.
The troll line fishers in FMA-IX are just on the breaking even point of their fishing
ventures with roughly Rp48.30 million annual gross sales. This is because of the high
input on fuel as the operation demands continues movement of the boat amidst the
soaring fuel prices.
Longline
The sources of data presented here were culled from the term papers of the students
who boarded the tuna longliners operating in FMA-IX.
Because the longline fisheries is relatively a large-scale business venture, the financial
systems more or less follows the classic setup, such as making use of the fixed and
variable costs to describe the economic aspect of fishing operation. The parameters
usually included in the fixed cost of long line fishing operation are depreciation costs,
wages, medicines, overhead cost, and administrative costs. For the depreciation costs
computation, the companies assigned five to ten years lifespan for the fishing boat and
one to five years for all the other initial expenses incurred in starting the fishing venture.
Just to have a glimpse of the initial investments in the longline fisheries operating in
FMA-IX, a wooden-hulled fishing boat of 136-GT with its diesel fed engine of 380-HP
and the longline fishing gear costs Rp800.00 million in 1994. With an economic lifespan
of 8 years, annual depreciation cost is Rp100.00 million. The initial cost of other
accessories for a fleet of 40 fishing boats was about Rp800.00 annually. In 1992, the
cost of a longliner with wooden-hulled fishing boat (of 36-GT with engine and fishing
gear) was Rp100.00 million. With an economic life of 5 years, the yearly depreciation
cost is Rp20.00 million. The cost of the other fishing accessories annually is Rp600.00
thousands. These expenses are included as part of the fixed costs of fishing. In addition
to the depreciation costs of the fishing fleet and accessories, the fixed cost of longline
fishing also include the wages of the fishing boat officers (captain, engineer, etc.) and
fishers, wages of the land-based personnel, fishing fleet maintenance, overhead cost,
credit facility interest, and administrative expenses.

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Variable cost includes everything needed for every fishing operation such as fuel and
lubricant, food provisions, ice, baits for the hook and lines fisheries, medicine, bonuses,
and others which may be needed for a safe and successful fishing trip. The amount
spent usually depends on the distance and length of stay at sea. Other costs are taxes
and fees on the use of fishing port facilities.
According to oral accounts of most fishers, and as observed during our study, the
longline fishery in FMA-IX is hardly surviving. The fishing boats are staying on ports
after catching relatively nothing for several fishing operations. Such is observed in the
major ports covering FMA-IX such as PPS Bungus in Sumatera Barat, PPS Nizam
Zachman in Jakarta, PPS Benoa in Bali and PPS Cilacap in Jawa Tengah
Even in the mid-nineties, some companies have experienced losses brought about by
decline catch and increasing operational cost (Figure 9.21). Losses from poor quality
of fish contributed to the dilemma.
Issues and Recommendations
1. Official catch records do not agree. There is an urgent need to
strengthen data collection, record keeping and reporting. Using total
catch as an example, the records of provincial data do not add up to
the national figures, the two national statistics publication (one is
presented by provinces and coastal areas and the new is by fisheries
management areas) and the national figures do not agree with the
Income/ Loses of Longline Vessel
-20,000
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
19911992199319941995199619971998
Year
Profit/Loss (000 Rp)
Figure 21. Profitability of tuna longline operation in Indian Ocean.
Source: Saepudin 1997. Data from Eraska Nova Company.
data available at the database of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.
Proctor et al. (2003 and 2007), have identified ways to strengthen data
collection system and to standardize data entry protocols. Detailed
recommendations are presented in Chapter 14.
2. Low level of adult tuna population. Using longline fleet operating in
Indian Ocean as an example, indicators include declining catch (now
just 28% of the highest level), low catch rates (now just 15.5% ) and
current hook rate is 16.6% of the highest levels in 1977). The solution
to this issue is to reduce drastically fishing intensity. The fuel price
hike is a welcome development that has put to stop fishing operations
in 2006 by almost two-thirds of the 1,600 longline vessels. It may be a
good for the government to consider maintaining the 2006 level of
effort (~500 vessels) by decommissioning wooden-hulled and fuel
inefficient vessels that do not conform to the National and International
maritime standards. Health standards and safety at sea standards
should be implemented.
Another way to implement reduction of longline effort is not to provide
fuel subsidies. The longline fleet enjoys a 19% fuel subsidy that allows
small profit to be made. Removal of subsidies will provide a reprieve
Gills of rays are dried,
processed and sold as
medicines to local and
chinese drugstores.

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for the adult stocks, reduce government expenditures and will not distort
trade.
3. Poor quality of fish. Losses arising from poor quality fish is substantial
as rejects range from 20-70%. As practiced, fishers and traders accept
losses of up to 30%. There are several reasons for this issue:
a. Inefficient storage system onboard. Wooden-hulled vessels
have poorly insulated storage space for fish storage. Similarly,
even steel-hulled boats have non-functional freezers on board
and instead carry ice. Moreover, many of these storage facilities
do not have the capacity to store fish at right temperatures.
b. Poor post harvest practices. Very few fishers and operators
understand processing procedures and requirements to
maintain fresh fish. Fishers to not know the need to lower
temperature of the fish as fast as possible to prevent histamine
formation. They have little idea of the ice requirements needed
to maintain freshness of fish and no idea on the different factors
that affect the quality of fish. To address this shortcoming,
information campaign coupled with capacity building is
necessary. The training should include traders and exporters.
c. Insufficient infrastructure to support post harvest
requirements. While the primary fishing ports (Muara Baru,
Benoa, Cilacap) are located in FMA-IX, these are not
strategically placed to provide sufficient support to where the
tuna fishery is taking place. Tuna fisheries has shifted to the
east that Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) is fast becoming the
center of tuna. Yet, there are no sufficient infrastructure in-
place, not even plans of having ones whether from the province
or national government. To remedy the lack of good fishing
ports, storage facilities are provided by collecting ships well-
equipped with freezers. These ships are however mostly owned
and operated by Japanese nationals. Similarly in Sumatra, the
ports are underutilized, particularly in the processing sector
because transport cost of products for export need to pass by
the three gateways, Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya and Makassar.
d. Shortage and expensive supply of ice. Ice is one of the
keys to maintain quality of fish for chilled and frozen tuna. Price
of ice in villages are expensive and limited as there are many
tuna fishing areas that have no sufficient access to ice supply.
There are collecting ships that supply ice but such is limited to
its members only.
Improper use of containers for ice storage. The choice of
containers for keeping fish will greatly determine the end quality
of the iced-fish. In many areas within FMA –IX and in particular
in Cilacap, Jawa Tengah, the common storage container are
empty polyethylene chemical containers. Fishes are simply
placed inside the container with ice slurry (crushed ice in
seawater). Depending on the distance of the fishing ground,
this storage practice produces a significant volume of rejects
ranging between 30-70% of the catch. It is recommended that
these containers called “blong” no longer be allowed to be
used for storage of fish because:
· These containers are chemical containers that could have
been used for highly toxic substances which could leach into
the fish;

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· These containers have very poor insulating properties thus
wasting so much ice;
· Fish are damaged physically from storage;
· These containers are difficult to handle, fill and empty and
can not be stacked on top of the other, thus requiring lot of
space; and has no provision for drainage of melt-water.
· Handling of these oblong shape containers which weigh
about 100 kg when filled takes three people to lift.
It is highly recommended that fishers use high density
polyethylene containers that has good insulation (though are
extremely expensive). Also a good temporary storage or
transport containers, and as what is used in many parts of the
country, are the polystyrene boxes framed with wooden crates.
Varied sizes of such boxes should also be made available so
as that fishers could buy the appropriate boxes for a certain
fish-size.
e. Cultural reasons. Except for the Sulawesi people belonging
to the “Buginis” and Bajaos, who are fish eaters, the rest of
the country are upland dwellers and are not used to consuming
fresh fish. Most fish that are made available to them are dried
and salted fish. It is highly interesting that despite the poor
quality of fish sold at the wet market which contain high levels
of histamine, people seem not to be affected by it. Perhaps,
their affinity to utilize high amounts of hot capsicum may have
the “curing” effect. This observation is certainly a worthwhile
research health topic worth pursuing.
4. Insufficient coordination between local, provincial and national
government units. Confusion appears to characterize management of
tunas as there is little coordination between and among agencies
responsible for management of tunas and fisheries in general. The
whole FMA should have one set of fisheries policy for tunas, as these
animals are highly migratory. Therefore, licensing of vessels, monitoring
and implementation of policies should be a coordinated effort. But
because of the decentralization law, local government entities have
exercised jurisdiction within their waters which in certain cases
contravenes with national laws. The declaration of provincial waters
by certain provinces, and negotiating fishing access agreements with
foreign entities are two examples of gross misinterpretation of the
decentralization law that needs to be addressed (Djalal, 2007).
5. Rationalize management. The first step is to rationalize management:
by dividing FMA–IX into two distinct fisheries management areas to
make the governance area smaller. Interestingly, based on tuna fishery
considerations, the whole island of Sumatra could be treated as a
separate FMA. The remaining area to the east may probably be treated
as one.
The second step is use ecosystem-based management approach to the
tunas. For FMA–IX, this meant looking at the following aspects to
improve tuna management.
· Manage the sardine (lemuru) bait fisheries of Bali that supports
the tuna longline and livestock-feeds processing industries.
· Manage the liftnet fishery (bagan perahu/ bagan tancap) to
ensure a balance between the requirement of the pole and
line for live baitfishes and the consumption needs of the
populace.
Fish vendor sells pindang in a
local market in Mataram, West
Nusa Tenggara

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· Work towards the reduction of juvenile tuna by-catch by
looking at ways to manage the fishing aggregation devices
(FADs) and utilizing traditional knowledge to identify possible
management handles; juvenile tunas are found in catch of all
fishing gears but the gravity of its contamination depends on
the fishing gears. Large volume of juveniles are taken by the
stationary liftnets followed by boat liftnet, drift gillnet, pelagic
Danish seine, troll line and purse seine. The first step is to
estimate the volume of juvenile tuna take of each of these
gears and identify which months are the juveniles vulnerable
to which gear.
· Promote reduction of by-catch of turtles through improved
coverage of use of circle hooks.
· Use precautionary measures to ensure shark by-catch will
not worsen. First consideration is to find ways to discourage
directed fishery for sharks such as the shark longline that is
attached to the drift gillnet.
· Study the impacts of large purse seining operation in the
Indian Ocean as these could generate conflicts between large-
and small-scale fisheries and conflict between longline and
purse seine through the use of anchored FADs.
· Undertake measures to immediately prevent further increases
in fishing effort. Mass migrations of fishing fleets from other
areas are happening in the coastal areas of Indian Ocean on
the Sumatra side and Eastern Indonesia near Sawu Sea. Fleets
by the hundreds migrate from Northern Java to as far as
Sulawesi Tenggara, Sulawesi Selatan, Sulawesi Barat and
Kalimantan. The government should act on these immediately
so as not to shift threat of overfishing from one FMA to the
next. Further, there are troll fishers in Padang who are
contemplating on shifting to longline. This simply means that
fishers are not well informed of the status of stocks and these
fishers should be informed, if only to prevent these fishers
from suffering from the same fate as the larger tuna longline
fleet. Government advice is needed to help fishers choose a
better livelihood.
6. Resource managers empowerment. It may also be appropriate to
conduct information training on the existing fisheries managers and
even top local government officials on their role and responsibilities as
custodians of the resources within their jurisdiction. This include the
legal “teach in” where local officials learn the legal framework of
fisheries, environment and jurisdictional matters. This prevents the mis-
interprettion of existing national laws as well as binding international
laws that the government has signed into.
7. Allot sufficient funds for research and monitoring of the tuna stocks.
This is a more general recommendation applicable to the whole country.
The government revenues from tuna is enormous and ways must be
found on how to plough back certain portion of tuna benefits to support
long term management of the tunas.

Brief background
There are three major tuna fisheries that require baitfishes, the pole and line that needed
live baitfishes, the tuna longline and handline. Whether for live or frozen baitfish, Indonesia
needs to manage these stocks in order to ensure their sustainability and the tuna fishing
they supports. The fact that these species are also exploited for human consumption
adds complexity in managing this specific fishery.
Part I: Livebait Fishery for Pole and Line
The main sources of live baitfish are lift nets which accounts for 70-90% and beach
seines for the 10-20%, the rest are landed by small scale purse seines (mini-purse
seines) and encircling gillnets which account for less than 3%.
The liftnets have two general types, the fixed type called “bagan tancap” which is the
traditional one and the mobile liftnet called “bagan perahu” which is set atop a raft or
boat and could move anytime, anywhere. There are several variations of the mobile
liftnets which is attributed to the unique characteristic of the area where it operates
(Table 10.1). The first modification is the raft liftnet (“bagan rakit”) where the floating
platform is a raft made of bamboos. The whole structure is towed very slowly by a boat
to a nearby fishing ground. Because of the problems with stability, this model could not
reach far fishing grounds and could only be set in highly sheltered areas. An improvement
over the bagan rakit is the use of two boats as floatation support and is locally known as
“bagan perahu.” This model is more stable and hydrodynamically constructed, and thus,
could be towed to farther offshore. Presently, there are two models that exist; one that
uses a square frame for the net called the Morotai (named after an island in north
Halmahera) and the other called the Bouke-ami where the net is set by ropes and stone
sinker mechanisms.
Trends indicate that the fishing ground for anchovies is moving farther offshore and
that to reach the fishing ground faster, the platform of the liftnets have been modified
into large boats. There are also places wherein the boat is also used as the light boat.
Easy to identify, liftnet boats have very conspicuous outriggers and the boats are
bedecked with lamp which are powered with a separate generator. These boat liftnets
are already popular all over the country and different versions may be observed in
different places (Table 10.1).
It is important to note that live bait fishery exist only in eastern Indonesia where all the
pole and line fleet operates. The source of live baitfish is usually near the fishing grounds
of the pole and line fleet.
Bait Fisheries for Tuna

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Factors affecting catch and supply of live baitfish
According to Subani (1982), the factors that affect the availability of live baitfish are:
1. season – anchovies and sardines, the two most common source of
baitfish are highly seasonal
2. phase of the moon – dark phase of the moon have higher catch than
the bright phase.
3. oceanographic factors such as tidal phase that creates currents caused
by flood and ebb affecting operation of net as well as transparency of
the water affects the schooling behavior of the baitfish;
4. presence of large predators such as whales and dolphins that drive
away or eaten away by these mammals.
Literature survey reveals that while published studies on baitfish abounds (Blaber 1998),
the focus was more on discovering new fishing grounds to address the chronic problem
of live baitfish shortage (Rawung, 1971, 1972; Gafa and Subani, 1987, 1991, Andamani
et al, 1987, Rumarupute et al, 1987, Wahyuono & Rusmaji 1987. Subani (1982) listed
surveys undertaken by the research institute (BPL/LPPL) between 1967-1973. Series
of six studies were recently undertaken by Indonesia-ACIAR collaboration and these
were compiled in a special issue of the Indonesia fisheries research journal (Naamin
and Gafa, 1998, Rawlinson et al, 1998, Andamari et al, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c, Milton et
al, 1998).
Despite the surveys undertaken to identify new fishing grounds for live-baitfish, the
shortage problem continues to plague the fishery even until today. This is the most
commonly mentioned reason for the 40% reduction of pole and line operations. This
means that the results of all these studies were not translated into the establishment of
policies. There were no comprehensive attempts to estimate the stocks and look entirely
status of the whole resource aside from the work of Milton et al. in 1998. This study
made a good attempt to estimate the stocks independent of catch and effort data.
With this situation, it is first recommended that a research program must be developed
to accurately determine the status of the baitfish stocks and to develop monitoring
schemes for the baitfish fisheries.
The second course of action is for the government to set guidelines/ policies on the use
of these resources, whether it be for human consumption and/or for fishbaits. Anchovies
(genus Stolephorus) are the preferred livebait species as it is hardy and represent one
of the natural diet of skipjack (Merta and Suhendrata, 1987) - the target species of the
pole and line fishery. Anchovies are also preferred for dried fish, which are even exported
to other countries and had even been an important local and export commodity even in
the 17th century (Bailey, et al. 1982)
Area of Operation
Boat size
(GT)
Target Species Uses of Catch
Waegio Is, Sorong 50 Anchovies, Scads
mainly for baits, dead
ones are dried
Kupang, NTT 10 Anchovies, Scads
for baits & human
consumption
Bone Bay, South
Sulawesi
20
anchovies, sardines,
roundscads, Indian
mackerels
for human
consumption only
Padang, Sumatra 30
bullet & frigate tunas;
anchovies nearshore only
during season
for human
consumption only
Table 10.1. Types of boat lifnets operating in the different parts of Indonesia.
First generation design of
mobile liftnets mounted on rafts
and towed to the fishing ground.

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It is very important that studies be conducted to determine the efficiency of using these
different types of baits, in terms of energy lost, prices and ecosystem effects. For pole
and line fishery, anchovies may rank poorly in terms of cost due to its high price but in
terms of efficiency as baitfish may be high as it forms a natural diet of skipjack tunas. Its
ecosystem impact is probably lower compared to substitutes now used such as small-
sized roundscads and sardines which are immature and thus contribute to growth
overfishing.
A way of viewing energy efficiency is in ecosystem context. Pole and line uses a lot of
live baits to catch fish. This practice is analogous to the culture of carnivore fishes that
requires more volume of fishfeeds to produce less volume of the cultured fish. The ratio
on the volume of bait used to catch a kilogram of skipjack vary significantly between
studies but with values ranging from 0.58 kg to 1.27 kg of skipjack (Gafa & Subani,
1987) and 1.28 kg to 15.6 kg of skipjack to a kilogram of bait (Salim Moch Nur, 2000).
Such large discrepancies could be an effect of the size of fish schools. An attempt to
prove this is described below.
A figure drawn out of Salim’s (2000) data could provide insights on how efficiency ratio
of bait to skipjack catch may be looked at. A plot of the bait used on catch per kg of bait
showed a parabolic relationship which pinpoints to a highest efficiency ratio of catch to
bait at around 45 buckets (~1.8 tons in weight) and use of more baits generate lower
catch (Figure 10.1). It is probable that the shape (height and breadth) of the parabola
depends on the size of fish school. This is one aspect that needs to be determined.
Bait Efficiency Ratio
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
0 20 40 60 80
Number of buckets)
tuna catch/kg bait
Figure 10.1. Bait to catch efficiency ratio (above) and plot of catch against
catch/kg of baits used. Source of data from Salim (2000).
As fishing progresses, the quantity of fish decreases, changing the size of the parabola
downwards. In practical application, the bait thrower therefore must ensure that the
ratio of fish to bait be maintained at that level. Putting more baits actually decreases
efficiency as the chance of fish meeting the lure gets smaller.
Using available statistics from North Sulawesi Province as an example, Figure 10.2
shows how the supply (production of anchovies) and the demand (number of pole and
line vessels) trends have evolved over the years. A decline in supply was accompanied
by the rise in the number of pole and line vessels.
Another possible effect of using livebaits in the ecosystem which has not been
investigated is the impacts of introductions of species that could possibly trigger
introduction of invasive species. Had there been assessments undertaken to look into
the impacts of such introductions (in areas far from where these were caught)? Had
there been analysis and identification of the baitfish populations and what possible
implications will the mixing of these sub-populations bring about. While small pelagics,
because of their highly migratory nature, may be not pose as much risk, use of species
A liftnet boat docked in Bungus,
Padang, North Sumatra with its
140 lamps.

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that have restricted distribution like the fusiliers may have ecological consequences
we know little about.
The declining trend of landed baitfishes is a serious threat to the tuna fishery. The
scale of the problem is not limited to North Sulawesi, Moluccas, Tomini, and Flores
Seas but appeared to be happening in a lot of places as well (Figure 10.3). Between
1985-1989, the catch rates has declined by 60% and the volume of landings by 30%.
The data presented here is twenty years old but somehow the baitfish fishery has not
collapsed, thanks to the vast fishing grounds of Indonesia that expansion of the liftnet’s
operations were made possible.
Figure 10.2. Trends in anchovy catch and the growth pole and line
fleet in north Sulawesi province. Source: provincial DKP statistics.
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
Production (t)
0
200
400
600
No. of Units
Anchovy Production
Pole & Line Units
As Table 10.2 suggests, landings of anchovies in Flores Sea, Moluccas and adjacent
Seas from year 2000-2004 increased while overall drop was observed for Banda Sea,
North Sulawesi Sea and Pacific Ocean, as well as Arafura Sea.
This chronic shortage of baitfish is evident on the amount used by the fleets. As shown
in Figure 10.4 is a significant 373% drop in the number of total baitfish volume used by
Pt. Usaha Mina between 1990-1997. These occurred at a time when the number of
fishing vessels has remained the same.
Could the baitfish resources supply the demand for live baitfish? A classic study on
estimating biomass of anchovies was undertaken by Milton et al (1998) using egg
production method where the biomass of anchovies were estimated in Bacan, Central
Moluccas. The study concluded that the demand of the pole and line fleet operating in
the area at the time of the study represent between 5-150% of the estimated biomass.
This means that during the peak anchovies production, its population could support the
Figure 10.3. Landings and mean catch trends of the lift net fishery for baitfish
in Sikka, Flores Sea from 1985-1989. Redrawn from Widodo (1990).
Liftnet Fishery: Flores Sea
0
250
500
750
1000
19851986 198719881989
Year
Production (tons)
0
50
100
150
200
catch (kg/trip)
Catch
kg/trip
Stern view of a liftnet boat
getting ready to leave port.

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Table 10.2. Catches of anchovies (tons) from areas with pole and line fleet. Source:
DKP statistics by management areas (2006).
Fisheries Area 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Flores & Makassar 2572925966 238992200128002
Moluccas, Seram,
Tomini Seas
950115602 146381401920169
Banda Sea 7553 5798 4633 8721 3206
Sulawesi Sea &
Pacific Ocean
557614093 1077114108 7919
Arafura Sea 2945 1940 3748 2428 815
Figure 10.4. Decline in baitfish volume consumption of state fishing enterprise,
PT. Usaha Mina. Data redrawn from Naamin and Gafa, 1998).
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
909192939495969798
Year
no of buckets (x 10
3
)
demand of the pole and line. But during low productivity season, over-extraction could
significantly reduce anchovy population to critical levels that could undermine anchovies’
sustainability.
One of the key ecosystem impacts of the pole and line fishery is the use of juveniles and
immature individuals of economically important species as alternative to anchovies.
Subani (1982) listed 41 species/groups that is used as baits in eastern Indonesia (Table
10.3). Of these, only 8 species used as baits of preferred sizes have total lengths equal
or longer than the reported maturity lengths. These include two species of anchovies
(Stolephorus), two species of sardines (Clupeidae), one species of fusilier (Caesionidae),
two species of silversides (Atherinidae). The rest are immature of highly important species
such as scads, jacks and Indian mackerel. The adult individuals of these species support
major fisheries not just for human consumption but for baitfish (roundscads) of tuna
longline. The pole and line therefore, through its use of live baitfishes with commercial
importance could undermine the sustainability of these fisheries.
Of the 8 baitfish species that do not contribute to growth overfishing, only two will pass
the criteria of an ideal live bait. These are hardiness (low mortality during transport in
high density fish holds, highly reflective color or shining characteristics, scales do not
peel off during catching and transport, and ability to last long in holding tanks.
There is therefore a need to search for other bait substitutes. This study recommends a
research to determine the feasibility of using “stunted” milkfish as bait for pole and line
given the following advantages:
Anchovies ready for delivery to
the local market.

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Families/ Species
Bait
Size range
(cm)
Maturity
size
(cm)*
Rating
Engraulidae
Stolephorus commersonii 7.5 - 12.5 7.4
S. indicus 7.5 - 12.5 11.4
Encrasicholina heteroloba
(S. heterolobus) 7.5 - 12.5 6.4
Engraulis japonicus
(S. celebicus) 7.5 - 12.5 12.2
Thryssa baelama 7.5 - 12.5 10.0
Clupeidae
Sardinella fimbriata 10.0 - 12.5 8.90
Amblygaster sirm (S. sirm) 10.0 - 12.5 15.1
Sardinella aurita 10.0 - 12.5 14.5
S. longiceps 10.0 - 12.5 16.1
Dussumiera acuta 10.0 - 12.5 14.2
Spratelloides delicatulus 10.0 - 12.5 5.5
Carangidae
Decapterus kuroides 10.0 - 12.5 21.2
D. russelli 10.0 - 12.5 21.6
D. macrosoma 10.0 - 12.5 19.3
Alepes melanoptera
(Caranx malam) 10.0 - 12.5 17.0
Selaroides (Caranx) leptolepis
10.0 - 12.5 13.2
Atule (Caranx) mate 10.0 - 12.5 19.5
Alepes djedaba
(Caranx kalla) 10.0 - 12.5 23.8
Selar (Caranx) boops 10.0 - 12.5 17.2
Scomberoides (Chironemus)
tol 10.0 - 12.5 34.1
Caesionidae
Pteroceasio (Caesio) pisang10.0 - 12.5 10.9
C. caerulaurea (coerulareus)10.0 - 12.5 21.2
Pterocaesio chrysozona
(C. chryrosona) 10.0 - 12.5 13.5
C. lunaris 10.0 - 12.5 23.8
C. (erythrogaster) cuning 10.0 - 12.5 34.1
Scombridae
R. kanagurta 10.0 - 12.5 15.3
R. (neglectus) sema 10.0 - 12.5 15.5
R. brachysoma 10.0 - 12.5
Atherinidae
Atherina forskalii 10.0 - 12.5 10
Atherinomorus lacunosus
(Atherina duodecimalis) 10.0 - 12.5 10
Leiognathidae
Leiognathus splendens 3.0 - 4.0 10.7
L. daura 3.0 - 4.0 9.4
Secutor (Leiognathus)
insidiator 3.0 - 4.0 6.7
L. brevirostris 3.0 - 4.0 9.4
Gazza (Gaza) minuta 3.0 - 4.0 13.6
Mullidae
U. sundaicus 10.0 - 12.5 14.1
U. (luzonicus) luzonius 10.0 - 12.5 3.1
U. tragula 10.0 - 12.5 18.5
Sphyraenidae
Sphyraena.. spp. 10.0 - 12.5
S. (picuda) picudilla (?) 10.0 - 12.5 29
Lolliginidae
Loligo spp. 5.0 - 7.5
Table 10.3. Live baitfish species and corresponding lengths as required by the pole and
line fisheries in eastern Indonesia. Data of species and sizes were taken from Subani
(1987). Maturity sizes taken from Fishbase (2004).Names in parenthesis were those
mentioned in the paper which were corrected. Color codes: red- high ecosystem
impact; green- low ecosystem impact, yellow- medium impact.

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a. milkfish is an herbivore and will not require fish to grow fish making
this an energy efficient bait;
b. milkfish grows very fast in salt, brackish and freshwater environment
and could attain the preferred bait sizes in a matter of several weeks;
c. wild fry are very abundant in Indonesia all year round and it is barely
exploited;
d. fry collection could be introduced as a small-scale livelihood operation
(or as fishing cooperatives) as well as its using small fishpond area
(~1000 m
2
)
e. the hatchery technology for milkfish has been perfected and there are
milkfish hatcheries established in Indonesia;
f. the technology for stunting milkfish fry developed in the Philippines in
the 1980's could be used to ensure ample supply of live baitfishes with
the sizes needed by the users all year round;
g. milkfish is a hardy species when small and could be transported even
in oxygenated plastic bags. This could eliminate the need for large
holding tanks of pole and line vessels.
h. Most importantly, milkfish is a natural species in the area and will pose
no problem of introductions.
To address key concerns on the baitfish for pole and line, the following are recommended
courses of action:
1. Undertake a thorough assessment of the stocks of baitfish, particularly
for the anchovies (Stolephorus) and determine, based on current
population levels, how much may be taken out both for human
consumption and for baits. Indirect methods to estimate stocks (e.g.
egg production method, larval surveys) to complement use of catch
statistics and acoustic methods, are highly recommended. Egg surveys
are particularly easy to undertake because anchovy eggs are easily
identifiable due to their spherical shape.
2. Set a government policy on the use of baitfish species, by identifying
which species may be allowed for baits taking into consideration the
social, economic and ecological impacts on the continued use of
immature and juveniles of the highly commercially important species.
3. Set policies/ guidelines on how anchovies may be divided for human
consumption and for bait.
4. Issuance/ renewal of fishing licenses for pole and line must consider
not just the status of the skipjack stocks but the status of the baitfish
resources as well. This is an example of ecosystem based fisheries
management applied to tunas - by ensuring that the number of licensed
pole and line boat will have sufficient live bait supply and that the pole
and line fishery will not jeopardize the sustainability of the baitfish
resources.
5. Undertake studies on the use of milkfish as an alternative bait to sardines
and roundscads. Given its advantages (as stated above), use of a fast
growing, herbivorous species with technologies perfected to a full-cycle
culture is the likely answer to the chronic shortage of live baitfish supply.
Most importantly, it would reduce current fishing pressure on baitfish
stocks and may allow recovery.
6. Undertake more focused research on the search of other bait substitutes,
taking into consideration ecosystem impacts on the size and species
used. The aspect of species introductions should also be looked into to
avoid possible problem with “invasive species.”
Juvenile of the fusilier that is used
as an alternate livebait for pole
& line fishing in Bone Bay.

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Part II: Sardine Bait Fishery for Tuna Longline
Brief Overview
The operation of the Tuna longline fleets is dependent on baits. In the early days of the
longline fisheries, in 1970’s, imported Pacific saury (Cololabis saira) was mainly use as
bait but its unavailability for the whole-year-round (partly due to import restrictions) and
its ver high price prompted the fleets to the locally sourced baits such as roundscads,
squids, cultured milkfishes, and sardines.
Roundscads and squids are good bait substitutes but are used sparingly, only during
the lean months of the sardines, because of their prohibitive price. Roundscads are
expensive because of their high domestic market value and at the same time exported
as baits to other countries. That leaves the sardines as the most affordable and available
baitfish. The sardines comprises about 50% to 70% of the total bait consumption of
longlines. Especially for the longline fleets operating in Indian Ocean which requires
more volume of sardines than the fleets operating in the Pacific Ocean where the milkfish
and squids are commonly used as baits.
Sardine Fishery for Baits
Sardines are considered less ideal baits for the longline fishery as compared to squids,
roundscads, mackerels and milkfish. This is because its scales easily peels off rendering
it less visible underwater, its hook retention is lower and more susceptible to damage
than other species (Rahardjo 1988). Among the baits used by tuna longlines, sardines
showed the highest damage, highest loses and the least intact during a fishing operation
(Table 10.4). It also needs to be hooked while halfly thawed for easier handling because
of its body form - highly compressed laterally.
Table 10.4. Result of a comparative study of use of different species of baits
for tuna longline. Source: Adapted from Table 10.2 of Rahardjo (1988).
Baitfish Type
Damaged
(%)
Lost
(%)
Intact
(%)
Squids 5.0 5.0 90.0
Roundscads 24.1 26.7 49.2
Indian Mackerel 24.1 36.5 40.0
Sardines 32.5 48.4 19.1
Milkfish 5.8 15.9 78.3
But because of its cheaper price and its availability all-year round, sardines became
the most popular baitfish species for the Indonesian tuna longline fleet. This is even
enhanced by the accessibility of the sardines fishing grounds to the main fishing ports
used by the longline fleets. These made sardines the cheaper bait substitute to the
Pacific saury and even to roundscads and squids.
Among the species of sardines in Indonesia, Sardinella lemuru, an endemic species in
Bali Strait, is the main species for baits. Other sardines species have been mentioned
in some of the published documents include such as Sardinella longiceps, Herklotsichthys
sp., Sardinella sirm, and Sardinella aurita. Whether these are separate species or not,
remains to be verified since misidentification of species have been propagated in the
Indonesian fisheries literature. Analyzing the chronology of the sardines publications in
Bali Strait, it appears that Sardinella lemuru had been misidentified as Sardinella longiceps
in the early days, this error was propagated in all publications prior to 1991. The work of
Uktolseja (1992) comparing use of baitfish species was the first to mention Sardinella
lemuru in Indonesian literature and subsequent publications followed suit.
Sardine vessel fleet in
Kedonganan village, Denpasar,
Bali

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Trends in Catches
Over the last 35 years, total landings of lemuru and fringescale sardines in Indonesia
showed gradual increases. From just 18,000 tons in 1970, landings of these two species
of sardines has grown five-folds to over 100,000 tons in 2004. The highest landings
was in 1998 with 154 thousand tons. (Figure 10.5).
Bali Strait is the center of the lemuru sardine fisheries which is under the political
jurisdiction of the provinces of Jawa Timur and Bali. The landing centers in Jawa Timur
are in Muncar and Banyuwangi while the landings centers in Bali, is in Pengembali and
Kedonganan. Using available data from DKP (2006), landings of sardines from Jawa
Timur increased by three-fold with over 30,000 tons between 2000 and 2004. Landings
of sardines from Bali Strait reached its peak in 2002 with over 36,000 tons but hence
had been on the declining trend reaching a loss of 60% in 2004 (Figure 10.6).
Indonesia's Sardines Production
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
Landings (000 tons)
S. fimbriata
S. lemuru
Total
Figure 10.5. Trend of landings for the two species of sardines in Indonesia.
Source: DKP National Statistics (various years).
Sardinella lemuru
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
1976198019851990199520002005
Year
Production (tons)
Figure 10.6. Trends in Bali sardines (Sardinella lemuru) land-
ings from Jawa Timur and Bali. Source: WPP (2006).
The increasing trend for Jawa Timur is quite contrary to the results of interview we
conducted. So we segregated the lemuru landings from the district of Banyuwangi and
Muncar, Jawa Timur. Figure 10.7 confirmed the results of interviews that there has
been decline of S. lemuru from Bali Strait since 1976 (our earliest available statistics)
except a high spike of landings in 1990. The cause of such high landings is not known.
Rattan baskets for sardines
brought to fishing boats

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Fishing Gears and Number of fishers
Dwipongo and Subani (1972) listed five types of gears targeting sardines. These are:
medium and large pelagic Danish seines (payang uras) with 440 units, cast nets operated
with boats (Jala tebar dengan perahu) with 50 units, stationary lift nets (Bagan tetap)
with 250 units, large traps (sero) 13 units and gillnets (jaring eder). There was no data
on the number of gillnets.
Significant changes have occurred since this classic work of Dwipongo and Subani
(1972) where major changes in fishing gear types were observed. Purse seine became
the dominant gear overtaking the pelagic Danish seine, stationary liftnets and beach
seine declined in number and drift gillnet is increasing (Figure 10.8a-10.8e).
Lemuru production
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Production (tons)
East Java
Bali
Total
Figure 10.7. Trend of lemuru landings from the regency of Banyuwangi
(including Muncar). Source: Provincial statistics of Jawa Timur (vari-
ous years).
Figure 10.8. Trends in the number of
fishing gears targeting the sardines in
Muncar and Bunyuwangi, Jawa
Timur. Source: Jawa Timur Provincial
Statistics (various years).
Stationary Liftnets
0
100
200
300
1976198019851990199520002005
Year
Gear Number
Pelagic Danish Seine
0
200
400
600
800
1976198019851990199520002005
Year
Gear Number
Drift Gillnet
0
500
1000
1500
1976198019851990199520002005
Year
Gear Number
Purse Seine
0
100
200
300
1976198019851990199520002005
Year
Gear Number
Beach seine
0
50
100
150
1976198019851990199520002005
Year
Gear Number

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The changes in the number of fishing gears consequently affects their correspondings
shares of catch (Table 10.5). The number of fishing gear types catching Bali sardines
has decreased from 11 in 1976 to just 6 in 2005. Many of the gears that ceased to
contribute to sardine landings were demersal fishing gears such as the “dogol” or
demersal Danish seine and bottom trawl (Table 10.5). The fact that demersal gears,
cast nets and large traps were able to catch sardines may suggest that before sardines
are still abundant.
At present (this study) the number of fishers was 11,780, of which the number of full
time fishers (nelayan tetap) is 7,280 and the rest (4,500) are part time (nelayan
pendatang) fishers.
Table 10.5. Percentage share of fishing gear type to the total landings of the
sardine, Sardinella lemuru, every ten years beginning 1976. Source: DGF
National Statistics (various years).
Gear Type 1976 1985 1995 2005
Purse Seine 38.0 61.9 49.1 71.8
Pelagic Danish Seine 34.2 22.5 37.4 21.9
Mobile Liftnets 9.90 2.17 0.025 2.91
Demersal Danish Seine 4.46 0.28 0.14 0
Beach Seine 4.29 0.61 3.72 0.46
Drift Gillnet 3.47 9.44 3.7 0.84
Set Gillnet 2.67 0.94 0.41 0.78
Other Hook and Line 0.13 0 1.9 0
Other Liftnets 0.04 0 0.07 0
Scoop Net 0.03 0 0 0
Trawl 0.01 0 0 0
Others 2.76 0.99 0.017 3.33
Size Structure and Recruitment
Lemuru sardines are spawned in the middle of Bali Strait within the upwelling vicinities.
The resulting cohort first move to their nursery grounds - northwards along the coastal
areas of east Java and west Bali. According to Dwipongo and Subani (1972), and Subani
(1987), recruits first appear in the inner, shallower part of the Bali Strait around July with
length sizes of not >7.5 cm. These are first caught by stationary liftnets in Pangpang
Bay. Between August-September, the sardines grow to about 10 cm long (7-9 grams
weight) and are locally called “seminit or sempinit”. Liftnets, scoop nets and boat-operated
cast nets exploit these small sardines.
Apparently, the sardines start to move southwards as they grow. They reach the “protolan”
stage by October with an average length of 11.2 cm and about 10-12 g in weight. The
sardines grow bigger to become “lemuru” which size is around 13.5 cm and weights of
about 35 grams. Around these sizes, the sexes become more distinct. Once they reach
the size of 15-17 cm long and have reached 45-60 grams will they be called “lemuru
kucing”. It is at these sizes that are required by the tuna longline for baits.
Seasonality of Sardines
There are two seasons for sardines in Bali strait: the peak season from November to
March (west season or “musim barat”) and the east “musim timur” season from April to
October. The sardines are described by fishers using different names pertaining to
different length sizes as described above.
Sardines being sun-dried along
the beach in Kedonganan Village
is processed into animal feeds.

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Status of Bali Sardine Resources
Two comprehensive surveys in Bali Strait were conducted. First was the research made
in 1972-1976 on board the research vessel R/V Lemuru which results are summarized
in the work of Venema (1996). The second survey was done by R/V Bawal Putih from
1976-1977.
Using acoustic methods, the 1972-1976 pelagic resources survey in Bali Strait showed
that at the time of sampling in July 1975, large aggregations of pelagic fish schools
were observed more on the entrance of Bali Strait and along the eastern seaboard of
Java facing Bali Strait. Low abundance of sardines were observed along the northern
part of the Strait (Venema 1996).
This survey made several cruises in Bali Strait including two acoustic surveys in order
to estimate standing stock but data proved incomplete and thus simply made a rough
estimate of 50,000 tons based on sonar contacts. Subani (1987) and Gede (1992)
mentioned stock abundance estimates (biomass, potential stock, standing stock) by
various authors and are summarized in Table 10.6. Considering methods and various
estimates, Subani (1987) suggested the average value of MSY for the lemuru sardines
to be about 36,000 tons. The 2004 landings of lemuru (66 thousand tons) appear more
to be the biomass rather than the MSY, assuming that the 36,000 is accurate.
Method Used Biomass MSY Year Sources
Sonar contacts 50000* 25,000 1973-1974
R/V Lemuru: 1973-
75; Venema 1996
Acoustic Survey 220,00045,000 - 66,0001976-1977
R/V Bawal Putih 1976-
1977;
Acoustic Survey 55,000 1976-1977Buzeta et al.,1979
Surplus Production Model 35,000 - 55,000 Sujastani, 1982
Surplus Production Model 62,000 - 66,000
Martosubroto et al.,
1986
Cohort Analysis 19625**
*/ Subani (1987) cites Bjarnassen estimate of 88,000 tons using the same set of data
**/ total of biomass estimated per length class
Table 10.6. Various estimates of lemuru sardines biomass from different
studies and methods.
Trends in Catch, Effort and Catch per effort
Interview results made in Kedonganan in May 2007, yielded the following information
about the sardine fishery:
1. There are currently 100-200 boats fishing for sardines during the west
season from October to March. The fishing gears include purse seines,
drift gillnets using both multi and monofilament nets.
2. The trend in the number of small motorized vessels operating out of
Kedonganan was estimated to be 1970’s = 50 boats, 1980’s = 100
units, 1990’s = 200 units and 2007 = 300 boats.
3. Catch per boat (<3 GT) of drift gillnet using a 640 meter gillnet averages
1.5-2.5 quintal (100-200 kg) per night. In 1990, average catch was 5
quintal (half ton) or a 50% decrease in catch per night operation during
the peak season.
4. Fishing commences only if there is a demand for sardines, in most
cases is during fall season when the fishes are spawning and have
reached the desired bait sizes of 15-20 cm in length. Otherwise, during
the rest of the year, fishers switch to catching skipjack (K. pelamis),

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bonitos (E. affinis) and roundscads (Decapterus spp.) which fetch
higher prices.
5. The fishing ground has become much farther and takes two-hour travel
time (15 nm) to reach fishing grounds.
6. There appears to be a general separation of target species between
small and large vessels. The estimated 300 large boats, mostly purse
seine and pelagic Danish seine target the roundscads while the small
boats the small tunas. During the spawning run of the Bali sardines
and when there is high demand, all the fleet go after the sardines.
The interview results held in May 2007 confirm the current condition of the Bali Strait
sardine fisheries: declining total productivity, decreasing catch and hence income amidst
increasing fishing effort. But because of the multi-species characteristic of the Bali Strait
fisheries, fishers are able to fish for other small pelagic resources, thus providing relief
to the otherwise very high fishing pressure on the sardines on a seasonal basis.
The low prices is a development that saved the sardine fisheries from imminent collapse
as fishers switch to other higher values species as roundscads, mackerels and small
tunas. Before, lemuru sardines of all sizes are exploited by various fishing gears. Today,
only the small ones (seminit) and the very large size classes (lemuru kucing) are exploited
and only on a seasonal basis.
Undersized sardines have very little value and therefore a disincentive that works for
the advantage of the resource. This is why gears like purse seine, pelagic Danish seine
and gillnets have made the switch to target other small pelagics during off-season and
fished for sardines only when there is demand. However, catching of undersized fish
(by stationary liftnets) continues because there is still a market for dried fish, both for
food (in limited scale) and for fishmeal.
Recommendations for Management action for the Bali Sardines
Based on several studies conducted on the lemuru fishery, several authors have provided
significant results and simulation studies that served as foundations for policies to
manage the Bali sardine resources.
1. The first is to continue to develop and improve the methods to have an
accurate estimate of the population. While S. lemuru is widely distributed
on the western Indonesia’s Indian Ocean coast (Venema 1996), the
species is highly concentrated in Bali Strait providing some advantages
of managing a resource in a fairly limited area. The current production
of lemuru sardines is about 47,000 tons which is either over or within
the various estimates of MSY. A new study to determine current biomass
and standing stock is necessary.
2. The second most important issue is to address the catching of the
juveniles and young adults. Of the four major gears operating, only
gillnet (Jaring eder) catch the least amount of immature sardines (Table
10.7). Motorized castnet and the stationary liftnet operating in Pangpang
Bay catch mainly the recruits entering the fishery.
While some input controls are already in place such as mesh size
regulation for purse seines to 1 inch (DGF regulation 1975), this has to
be combined with other measures to be more effective. One suggestion
is to combine a spatial-temporal regulation with minimum size. Since
the demand for bait requires sizes between 15-17 cm long, locally called
“lemuru kucing” and its spawning area is well defined (Ritterbush 1975,
Subani (1982), the fishing area on certain seasons could be regulated,
allowing only at times when the right sizes are available. A minimum
size policy that goes with spatio-temporal closure is easily
implementable.

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We see no reason for wide-spread arguments against such a move as
smaller sized fish do not fetch a good price and are converted to feeds.
Such a move will protect the recruits to grow and reach maturity size
and probably spawn before being caught. Except for the stationary
liftnets which would be harshly hit by this policy, active fishing gears in
fact have switched to more profitable target species such as roundscads
and Indian mackerels and small tunas.
Table 10.7. Shares of immature lemuru catch by the different types of
fishing gears operating in Bali Strait in 1967-1971. Data on Danish
seine, cast net and gillnet from Dwiponggo and Subani (1972), purse
seine* data from Budihardjo et al, 1990 are based on raised data.
Gear Type % ImmatureNo. samples
Pelagic Danish Seine 75.0 400
Motorized Cast Net 100.0 200
Gillnet 32.3 300
Purse seine 3.84 13905269
3. There appears to be a high influence of the El Nino Southern Oscillations
(ENSO) on the abundance, and therefore catch of lemuru sardines
(Ghofar & Matthews 1996). Several studies made correlations of
landings and amount of rainfall (Subani, 1982, Ritterbush 1975,
Dwipongo and Subani 1972) but it took Ghofar and Matthews (1996) to
discover the probable reason behind the good correlation of rainfall
and catch - the reason being actually triggered by the ENSO.
There is an urgent need to continue the work of Ghofar and Matthews
(1996) to study the impacts of high fishing pressure on the sardine
populations and how the combination of both fishing pressure and ENSO
events could contribute to the dynamics of the fishery. They argued
that leaving not enough spawning stock as a result of intense fishing
may lead to the collapse of the population following an intense ENSO
event. With the threat of the impacts of rising global temperatures
triggering severe climate changes, more intense and highly irregular
weather disturbances are expected and these may have serious
consequences on the stocks of the Bali sardines whose strength of
recruitment are influenced by the ENSO.
4. The size of baits used in tuna longline is between 15-20 cm in length.
These sizes are over the length-at-maturity of lemuru sardines at 12.9
cm (Fishbase 2002). This means that the tuna fishery does not
contribute to any growth overfishing. It could however, with its demand
for large sizes, contribute to reduced population of the spawning biomass
(recruitment overfishing). As practiced presently, the boats go after
sardines only during the times when the large sizes are abundant and
the prices are right. But such practices, when not regulated, may
generate enough fishing pressure in a given season that may decimate
the parental stock below critical level with which the next cohort would
be coming from.
How much is the domestic demand of the tuna longline for sardines? A
simple calculation in Table 10.8 below show that estimated demand for
sardines of sizes between 15-20 cm long is about 23,831 tons. Using
the length frequency structure of sardines caught by purse seines in
Bali Strait, about 99.64% represents those the 15 to 20 cm sizes for
baits. The catch of purse seine based on the 2005 statistics is 25,508
tons and taking 99.64% of this is 25,405 tons which is more than the
Still gilled to the net, these sardines
are classified into sizes, the large
ones are frozen, packed and sold
as baits for tuna longline. Small
ones are dried for fish meal.

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total demand demands for baits (23,831). The sardine catch alone of
purse seine from Bali Strait is sufficient to supply the domestic demand
of the whole tuna longline fleet of Indonesia.
It is good management practice to note that tuna demand could reduce
the parental population. The population has declined by an unknown
quantity and the threat of El Nino generated by warming of SST may
trigger population collapse (Ghofar and Matthews 1996). The
government should start managing the sardine resources by building
up the resiliency of the population against natural and man-made events.
With the global warming threats which is changing existing weather
patterns, this suggestion is essential.
Further suggestion is to reduce fishing pressure through the use of
other alternate baits such as roundscads, particularly paying attention
to the sourcing of bait materials from different fishing grounds. This
way the baits sourcing is evenly spread throught the archipelago and
the lemuru sardines inhabiting Bali Strait would have a reprieve thereby
conserving the populations of the lemuru sardines endemic in the Strait.
This scheme has to be worked out with the bait suppliers. Note that
there are generally two seasons for peak catches per year and these
differ between areas.
5. Government should provide guidelines on the use of the sardine
resources, by allocating quantities for human consumption and for
baitfish supply. Study the demand of the fishery in terms of baits required
and matches this demand with the current level of baitfish resources.
6. One of the key issues that when solved will have a positive impact on
the sardine management is to reduce the volume of juveniles taken by
the fishery. And one of the suggested actions is for the government to
think of a way to eliminate the trade and put zero market value to the
undersized sardines. This is also considered as the right time because
fishers made the voluntary switch to fish for other species of greater
value. The only ones to be affected with this move are the stationary/
mobile liftnet and scoop net operating in Pangpang Bay and nearshore
areas.
7. Undertake an in-depth study on the efficiency (energy, carbon footprint)
of using different baitfish species.
8. The use of sardines as baits could probably raise some technical difficulty
on the current campaign to use circle hooks in order to reduce the
amount of turtle by–catch. The circle hooks being promoted have thicker
diameter and this necessitates that experiments be undertaken to
address this concern.
Table 10.8. Estimate of the total bait demand (in tons) of the tuna longline fleets in
Indonesia.
Vessel
size
No. Vessel
Annual
fishing
days
kg
baits/d
Total baits
(tons)
Sardines
(94%)
Scads
(3.8%)
Squid
(2.3%)
> 40GT 1568 150 68 15,994 15034 608 368
<40 Gt 1045 150 50 7,838 7367 298 180
Total 2613 23,831 22401 906 548
Notes:
Vessel size and total vessels from DKP 2005 data (DKP National 2006) but used only half to account for double reporting
Annual Fishing Days from Merta et al, 2003 (BRPT 2003)
Kg Baits/day from Interview with Pt. PSB (Pt. Perikanan Nusantara)
Proportion of Baits taken from Observer program of WWF from boats based in Benoa, Bitung and Pelabuhan Ratu 2006.
When baits used in one setting is a combination, the weight of each species is equally divided.

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Part III: Baitfish fishery of Roundscads for tuna longline
Brief background
This section will summarize existing information on the species in relation to its use as
bait of the tuna longline. Status of the stocks and its possible impacts on the tuna sector
is presented under recommendations.
Catches
The roundscads known locally as “layang” in Indonesia belong to the genus Decapterus
and are represented by five species. These are Decapterus macarellus, D. macrosoma,
D. tabl, D. russelli and D. kurroides. It is not clear from the literature which species are
used as baits for tuna longline, as use of local names persist not just in statistical
yearbooks but in scientific publications as well. Based on interviews, red-tailed scad
species (D. kurroides) are not used as bait which leaves four species possible for baitfish.
Historically, the “payang” or boat seine has been in use since the start of large-scale
fishing in Indonesia where the fishery has been described (Verloop 1904, Rosendaal
1910 as cited by Nugroho 2006). Production since 1970’s has been on a steep increase
and has increased 10-fold to 325,000 tons (Figure 10.9).
Four major fishery management areas (fishing grounds) are the main sources of
roundscads in Indonesia.These are Java Sea (FMA-III), Flores Sea (FMA-IV), Moluccas,
Tomini and Seram Seas (FMA-VI) and Sulawesi Sea (FMA-VII). The aggregate
production of roundscads from these areas represents 67% in 2000 to 78% in 2004 of
the countries’ scad output (Table 10.9).
Roundscad Production of Indonesia
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
197019751980*19851990199520002005
Year
Production (t)
Figure 10.9. Landings of roundscads, “layang,” from major fishing
grounds. Values in thousand tons. Source: DKP Statistics by fisheries
management areas (2006).
Table 10.9. Landings of roundscads “layang” from major fishing grounds.
Values in thousand tons. Source: DKP Statistics by fisheries management
areas (2006).
Year FMA 3 FMA 4 FMA 6 FMA 7Sub total
2000 49.2 74.8 28.4 15.3 167.6
2001 54.8 73.7 26.8 19.4 174.8
2002 77 75.6 55.2 20.4 228.2
2003 62 96.9 32.7 42.5 234.2
2004 93.4 80.1 51.7 30.9 256.1

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Fishing Gears and Fishers
Roundscads is one of the most economically important small pelagic fish, in general,
and the most important fish resource of Java Sea, in particular. This species are used
mainly as food and baitfish for the domestic markets. It is exported to Korea and Japan
mainly for baits of tuna longlines.
At least 11 types of fishing gear catch roundscads but purse seine and pelagic Danish
seine are the major gear types that target these species. These two gears account over
76% of the landings in Jawa Timur (Table 10.10) while the rest of the fishing gears
(gillnets, longlines, hook and lines) take layang (roundscads) as by-catch, mainly during
the peak season.
Table 10.10. Percent share of fishing gears to roundscads and total landings in
the province of Jawa Timur in 2005. Source: Provincial Fisheries Statistics,
Jawa Timur, 2005.
Gear Type Total Prod. (t)
Roundscads
(t)
Share of
scads (%)
Purse seine 110746 15003 13.5
Danish Seine Pelagic 70427 11910 16.9
Set gillnet 15160 1979 13.1
Hook and Line 11926 1467 12.3
Trammel Net 12232 1212 9.9
Shrimp gillnet 14402 1201 8.3
Drift gillnet 21997 1169 5.3
Danish Seine Demersal 11556 522 4.5
Stationary Liftnet 8242 292 3.5
Longlines 279 4 1.4
Beach seine 781 4 0.5
Others 18651 194 1.0
Total 296399 34957 11.8
Seasons and factors affecting availability
The migration pattern of roundscads in Java Sea is related to the monsoons and has
been described by Hardenberg (1937, 1938) and subsequent works by Soemarto (1958),
Bailey (1987) and Potier and Boely (1990). Hardenberg (1937) as cited by Nugroho
(2006) identified three groups of scads with distinct migration patterns as follows: 1)
East, layang population enters Java sea with the incoming oceanic water from Flores
Sea during the northeast monsoon from May to September; 2) West, layang comes
with the oceanic waters from the Indian Ocean through Sunda Strait during the west
monsoon that blows from November to March, and 3) layang enters Java Sea from
South China Sea through the Straits of Gaspar and Karimata during the west monsoon
season.
Abundance is governed by monsoon and largest catch is observed from October to
December and a minor peak from March to April. Interestingly, Figure 10.10 shows a
marked decline of catch during the peak season that progress until 1999.
Oceanographic factors such as salinity (Hardenberg, 1937, 1938), amount of rainfall
(Salasah 2000) as well as lunar moon phase (Atmaja and Nugroho 1999) affect the
distribution, abundance and availability of the roundscads.
Interspecies interaction
Two species dominate the catch of roundscads in Java Sea, Decapterus russelli locally
called “layang biasa” and D. macrosoma or “layang deles”. While both species mingle
Roundscads are the main bait
used by the tuna longline of
Indonesia but is also an
important food fish.

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Figure 10.10. Seasonality of roundscads taken from Tomini Bay from
1995-1999. Figure drawn from Table 15 of Salasah (2000).
Roundscads
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Jan-95 Jan-96 Jan-97 Jan-98 Jan-99 Jan-00
Month
Catch (t)
and are caught together, there appears to be sites where one species dominate the
other. For instance, D. macrosoma appears to be abundant on the eastern part and D.
russelli on the western part (Suwarso et al, 1987) probably because the former has
more oceanic characteristic than the latter (Nugroho 2006).
The share of this two species appears to be changing over the last 30 years wherein
the share of D. russelli to the total scad landings from Java Sea declined from a
high of 83% in the mid-1970’s to just 50% in 1995. Similarly over the same time
span, the share of D. macrosoma grew proportionally (Figure 10.11). The biological
and ecological reason for this is unknown and research to determine its causative
factors is important for the management of this fishery properly.
Figure 10.11. Changes in the percentage share of Decapterus russelli
and D. macrosoma from Java Sea. Source: The figure is drawn from
data in Appendix 1 of Nugroho (2006).
0
0.5
1
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Year
% Share
D. russelli
D. macrosoma
Status and Trend of the fishery
The current trend of catches and fishing intensity for roundscads in Java Sea is fully
represented by an example from Pekalongan and Juwana in Figure 10.12. Nugroho
(2006) made an assessment of the status of the stocks in Java Sea and concluded the
following:
1. The fishing effort (total annual fishing days of purse seine) doubles
every 13 years and has reached its highest level in 120,000 fishing
days (Figure 10.12).

CHAPTER 10
TUNA BAITFISHERIES
183Page
Figure 10.12. Trends on landings and fishing efforts of the purse seine fish-
ery in Pekalongan and Juwana. Source. Appendix 1 of Nugroho (2006).
Roundscads: Java Sea
0
50
100
150
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
Production (x10
3
)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Fishing Days (x10
3
)
Decapterus spp.
Effort (000 days)
2. The production peaked in 1994 with 82.6 thousand tons and has been
declining since until 2001 when apparent increases in landings over
the next three years were observed.
3. Using Gompertz and Logistic Curve methods and weighing the Fmsy
by incorporating F=qE (catchability coefficient* Exploitation rate), the
stock actually was declining and not recovering as what the data on the
last three years suggested.
4. Relative biomass expressed in percent and using 1975 as base point
(100%) has declined to just 15% suggesting a very serious and
dangerously low biomass level (Figure 10.13).
The steady trend of increase in production is the confluence of the unabated increase in
fishing intensity and technological improvements in fishing gears and crafts. The
technological improvements over the last 50 years of purse seines include motorization,
use of navigational equipments (GPS, fish finder), better and larger boat sizes, use of
larger and lighter nets and embracing better and cost saving technology (e.g. FADs)
made fishing highly efficient. The lack of policies for the regulation of such innovations
facilitated the pathway of the fishery to self-destruction.
Figure 10.13. Relative biomass (%) of roundscads (D. russelli and D.
macrosoma) for Java Sea redrawn from Nugroho (2006). Values used were
read off from the graph and redrawn.
Roundscad Biomass: Java Sea
0
25
50
75
100
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
Relative Biomass (%)
Purse seines, mainly the small
vessels are partly responsible for
the overexploitation of
roundscads from Java Sea.

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List of Issues and Recommended management actions
1. The most pressing issue to address is the very low status of stocks of
roundscads. The solution is to reduce fishing mortality. A combination
of both input (regulate boats, fishing days, closed season) and output
control (minimum size law for the different species) may be necessary.
2. With the current overfished condition of the fishery, baitfish sourcing
should come from other areas where stocks remain healthy and where
management of the stocks are in place. The tuna sector could contribute
greatly to the recovery of the population of roundscads by not getting
their supply of baitfishes from Java Sea and other depleted areas and
by allowing only exports of this fish species that are sourced from
healthy, well managed stocks.
3. About 80% of roundscads catch by purse seine are immature fish
(Atmaja & Nugroho 1995). To address the issue of juvenile catch,
research needs to be conducted to develop technological innovations
to minimize the capture of juvenile roundscads. Research in this
direction needs to be undertaken.
4. The status of resources of roundscads are so serious that conservation
actions should be immediately initiated to conserve the resources and
to compliment this with actions on market and trade aspects (e.g. # 2
recommendation above). An example is a policy that allows exports of
baitfishes sourced only from areas where stocks are well managed
and remain healthy.

Fisheries Trade
Indonesia is a net exporter of fisheries products. The volume of exports expanded to
over 0.9 million tons valued at US$1.78 billion while import volume is at 136 thousand
tons with US$154 million value. The country enjoys a healthy positive balance of trade
(BOT) of US$1.63 billion in 2004, upped from 1.53 billion in 2002 (DKP Statistik
Pengolahan dan Pemasaran hasil perikanan 2005). Because of this performance, in
2005, the fisheries sector contributes to abut 16.3% of the Gross Domestic Product of
the subsector of agriculture and about 2.18% of the national GDP.
Indonesia is the world’s fourth largest fishing nation. It is also the third largest producer
of tunas after Japan and Taiwan with 342 thousand tons landed in 2004 (Figure 11.1).
The county's tuna output has increased by 173% over the past two decades. Its recorded
landings, relative to the total global output has increased from 5.28% in 1995, reached
its peak in 2001 with almost 10% and declined slightly to 8.23% in 2004 (Figure 11.2).
Note that the percentage share of Indonesian tuna relative to the global catch dropped
to less than 6% from 1995 to 1997.
Tuna Trade
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004
Year
Tuna Catch (x10
3
t)
Japan Taiwan Ind.
Phil. Korea Spain
Others
Figure 11.1. Trend of tuna catch by the world’s biggest tuna producing coun-
tries. Source: Globefish 2005.

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In the last 10 years, the tuna exports of Indonesia grew from 82 thousand tons in 1997
to 92 thousand tons in 2006 but reach its peak in 2003 with volume of 119 thousand
tons (Figure 11.3). The trend showed by Indonesian tuna catch is similar to the global
where the peak landings were realized in 2003. Although the export volume fluctuated
greatly, its value over the last 10 years are steadily on an increasing trend.
While large tuna production grew by 87% from 1999 to 2005, the share of exported
tunas relative to the total tuna production fell by 30% over the same period, with a huge
drop of 40% between 2003 and 2004 (Figure 11.3b). This is probably due to a
0
100
200
300
400
500
1986198819901992199419961998200020022004
Year
Production (000 tons)
5
6
7
8
9
10
Percent share
Ind.
% share
Figure 11.2. Indonesia tuna landings and its share to the global tuna catches.
Source: Globefish 2005
Figure 11.3. Above: Volume (in mt) and value (million US$) of tuna exports of Indone-
sia in the last 10 years. Below: Tuna landings (large tunas only) and percentage of
exported tunas. Source: A: Globefish 2007; B: DKP Export Statistics, 2006.
80
100
120
140
1997199819992000200120022003200420052006
Year
Volume (000 tons)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Value (million US$)
Volume (000 tons)
Value (million US$)
0
100
200
300
400
1997 2000 2003 2006
Year
Volume (000 t)
0
25
50
75
100
% export share
Export (mt)
large tunas (mt
% share of export

CHAPTER 11
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187Page
combination of factors that include 1) contraction of export volume due to challenges
arising from food safety considerations and, 2) difficulty of the industry in overcoming
both tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTB). The data used in Figure 11.3b came from DKP
national capture fisheries statistics and refer only to the landings of large tuna species.
Note the large discrepancy of tuna landing figures from Globefish (2007) and DKP
(2006).
The export products consist of fresh/ chilled, frozen and processed tunas. Fresh or
chilled are exported as a gutted whole fish, frozen whole or frozen as loin, or tuna
steaks. Processed products comes in two categories, those in airtight containers, mainly
canned tuna, and not airtight containers such as the smoked skipjack (katsuoboshi).
The processed products are mostly the large tuna species (such as yellowfin, bigeye,
bluefin, albacore) and skipjacks.
Indonesia exports tunas to five of the seven continents, with over half (57%) of exports
going to Asia, 24% to the USA and 12% to Europe (Figure 11.4). The traditional export
destinations of Indonesian tuna products are Japan, Europen Union (11 countries) and
USA while the Asian countries are emerging markets including China, Hongkong, Korea,
Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam. The new markets
being developed include the middle east (Saudi Arabia), India, Sri Lanka, Australia
and Canada.
Figure 11.4. Market destination of Indonesian tuna exports for 2006 by continents
(Pie graph) and by country (bar graph). Source: DKP export statistics 2006. Others
include Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia.
57%
12%
1%
6%
24%
Asia
Africa
Australia
USA
Europe
0 10000200003000040000
Japan
USA
EU
Thailand
Singapore
Hongkong
China
Philippines
Vietnam
Australia
Malaysia
Taiwan
Korea
Others*
Export Volume (t)
Country
Indonesia's main market of fresh and chilled tunas is Japan. Fresh and chilled tuna
import records of Japan from Indonesia fluctuated from 15,250 tons in 2000 to about
10,685 tons in 2005 (Figure 11.5). Despite its decreasing volume of imports, Indonesia's
share to Japan's market has increased from 22% to 28% over the same period.
Over the last seven years (2000-2007), exports of canned tunas to the European market,
mainly to UK and Germany, have remained at the same volume level. However, there
were marked changes in trade with these countries where Indonesia's share of UK
market dropped from 6% in 2000 to just below 2% in 2007( based on first quarter only).
Its German market however expanded wherein the market share of canned tunas
increased from 2% in 2000 to a high of almost 9% in 2005 and declined to about 6%
based on first quarter figures in 2007 (Figure 11.6).

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Issues and Recommendations
Below are list of identified issues that beset the export of tunas.
1. Current global outlook show that supply of tunas is low resulting in the lower
international trade of tunas. This situation is similar in Indonesia where exports
are down due to low landings of the domestic tuna longline fleet fishing in
Indian Ocean and the pole and line fleet fishing in the archipelagic waters.
Overfishing is most likely the main reason.
2. The fresh/chilled tuna export is the biggest tuna product of Indonesia. Before
the year 1995, the main supply were from the longline fleet but over the last 10
years, the simple tuna handline and troll fisheries are the main suppliers of
raw materials for fresh/chilled tuna. Records provided by the tuna association
ASTUIN members showed that longline catch represent just 32% in 2005 and
42% in 2006 of the handline catch of 2,984 tons in 2005 and 1,894 (Jan-Oct
data only) in 2006 (Figure 11.7).
3. Indonesia could improve its quantity of exported tunas by simply addressing
the issue of poor fish quality thus increasing the proportion of exportable tunas.
As Figure 11.7 shows, only 60% of tunas caught by longline and 19.6% (2005-
2006 average) were exported fresh/ chilled, which suggest that 40% of longline
and 80% of handline catch were of lower quality. These lower quality fish were
Figure 11.5. Volume of fresh and chilled tuna from Indonesia to Ja-
pan for 2001-2005 and Indonesia's share to this market. Source:
Josupeit, H. (2006)
Japan's Fresh/Chilled Imports
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Year
quantity (tons)
20
22
24
26
28
30
% share
volume % share
f
Figure11.6. Exports of canned tuna by Indonesia to UK and Germany
and the share of the canned tuna market. Data for 2007 refers to first
quarter volume only. Source: Globefish 2007.
Canned Tuna Exports
0
2
4
6
8
10
20002001200220032004200520062007
Year
Volume (000
tons)
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
% market share
UK
Germany
%UK
%Germany

CHAPTER 11
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either processed into loins for canning or tuna steaks (Grade B), or sold and
traded at the local market (Grade C and D). Using actual landings of the ASTUIN
members, improving the quality by just one-half of the current low quality
percentages, would translates to an additional 2,332 tons of exportable sashimi
grade tunas. At current values, this mean an additional price difference of about
US$2.49 million (using base price of Grade C tunas).
Improving the quality of tunas also benefits the health of the local populace
consuming the lower grade tunas. The downside is that tuna availability in the
local market will be scarce as the high prices of Grade A would probably limit
the buying capacity of ordinary consumers.
4. Development of new products and value-adding are essential to expanding
export market share. The traditional types of products dominate the tuna exports.
Tunas are exported as fresh (gutted & gilled whole fish, loins and bellies), as
frozen (gutted & gilled whole fish, loins, chunks, fillet, steaks), smoked (smoked
loin, katsuoboshi) and canned (in oil, brine solution, tomoto sauce). While tuna
pouches from Thailand and Philippines have penetrated and monopolized the
US markets. Also, new products such as the combination of rice and tuna in
separate sachets but packed together and sold as one is developed in Thailand
and are proving to be smash hit particularly to the Asian consumers spread all
over the globe. Yet, product development of new tuna products in Indonesia
have lagged behind. The government should encourage the private sector to
venture in research and development of new tuna products.
5. Tuna prices in 2007 at the international market remain high as a result of
scarce supply. Prices for fresh and chilled tunas will probably increase but
canned tuna will probably go back to the 2005-2006 levels as canned tuna
consumers will wait for lower prices. The demand outlook for canned tunas in
the US looked damped as indicated by the skipjacks prices of Thailand and
Africa at the international market shown in Figure 11.8 (Josephuit, 2007). Note
that the skipjacks are the main species used for canned tuna products.
6. Demand for sashimi raw materials will likely continue to grow because of two
factors: first, there is the growing number of sashimi consumers outside Japan;
and second, Japan is possibly making good of its threat to ban Mediterranean
bluefin tunas in entering its market unless concerned governments act on issue
of sustainability. The Japanese market has braced for expected shortage of
whole fresh and chilled fish by allowing more volume of chilled loins for their
sashimis while the restaurants are testing new substitutes for tunas for their
sashimis (New York Times, 2007).
Figure 11.7. Records of the landings volume (tons) of longline and handline
and respective percentage share to fresh tuna exports; data from members of
the Tuna Association of Indonesia (Assosasi Tuna Indonesia or ASTUIN).
Source: Tjandrason (2006)
0
100
200
300
400
500
Jan'05 Jul Jan'06 Jul
Month
Tuna Landings (t)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
% fresh tuna export
longline landings handline landings
fresh longline fresh handline

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Presently, the large rejection rates of handline and troll line caught tunas are
due to inadequate facilities in small boats for cleaning, gutting and immediate
lowering of the whole fish temperature to the desired levels. By opening the
Skipjack Tuna Prices
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
J©87 J©90 J©93 J©96 J©99 J©02 J©05
Year
Price (US$/ton)
Thailand Africa
Figure 11.8. Skipjack prices of Thailand and African products at the international mar-
kets years 1987-2006 (June06). Source: Josephuit 2007.
market of loined fish for sashimi, fishers could land loined tunas instead of the
whole fish and still be able to get sashimi grade prices for their fish. Loining at
sea is a very good strategy in improving fish quality but is not popular among
troll liners and handliners because the Japanese market don’t accept loins for
sashimi. A ray of hope is however seen for the fishers loining their catch at sea
because the sashimi market has started accepting loined tunas. Hopefully, the
Japanese market will continue to accept with equal preference the loined tuna
to supply their sashimi markets.
7. The gap between landing and export prices needs to be narrowed. Prices
mentioned by exporters for 2007 are around US$1,450 per ton for skipjack
and close to US$2,100 per ton for yellowfin tuna. Comparatively, based on our
interviews, local prices at landing areas for a whole fish ranges from US$450
to US$750 per ton for skipjack, and US$700 to US$1,500 per ton for yellowfin.
Average prices of skipjack and yellowfin tuna for the whole country between
2000 and 2004 is US$556/ton and US$722/ton, respectively (DKP Statistik
Perikanan Tangkap, 2006).1 As a rule, highest buying rates for tunas at the
landing areas never exceeds half of the prices dictated in the international
market.
The most common source complaint of tuna fishers during the course of the
survey, aside from high fuel prices, is the low buying prices of tuna. Some
suggested solutions to address this issue and reduce if not prevent the alleged
price manipulations of the tuna merchants are to:
a. empower the fishers to determine the quality of their tunas. Presently,
the grading of tunas are dictated by quality controllers employed by
buyers. Fishers have no training nor know how to question the
assessment of the quality of their tunas, thus at the mercy of the traders.
b. enable fishers to know current buying prices at the international, regional
and national markets. This will inform the fishers and will reduce price
manipulations by the traders.
c. Identify ways to wean fishers from securing credits through the tuna
buyers and promote using formal credit facilities.
d. Reduce if not eliminate the incidental cost of trading tunas from
corruption. Along the domestic supply chain, tuna merchants are forced

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to shell out grease money to facilitate business, from transport to
securing support documents. To ensure profit, these added costs of
doing business are passed on to the fishers through lower buying
prices.
8. There is a serious cause for concern on two recent developments that affected
the tuna exports. First is the decision of the European Union to ban export of
tuna from Indonesia due to sanitary and phytosanitary shortcomings (Table
11.1). This came after the recommendation of the EU mission which came to
Indonesia in mid 2007. The second is the ban of Indonesia’s national flag
carrier to fly into Europe mainly to pressure the Government to strengthen its
security provisions in its airport and to improve maintenance of its planes.
How the stoppage of flight to Europe by Garuda impacted the tuna exports
could not be determined quantitatively but is assumed to be significant as
exporters will utilize foreign airlines which is probably more expensive. Similarly,
the automatic retention of all tuna exports into European Union places an added
cost of doing business as additional US$ 500 per container is charged for
storage and mandatory laboratory testing of samples of its tuna products.
The ban by EU has long been in coming. Records of histamine contamination
(>50 parts per million or ppm) averaged 4% for samples analyzed between
January 2005 to October 2006 (Tjanrason 2006). In some months,
contamination rates even go as high as 18% (Table 11.1).
Such situation results from the inability of the government to provide sufficient
and well equipped laboratory services. In late 2006, two of the four laboratory
facilities that issue health certificates required for export are not functioning.
This placed the burden on the two other remaining facilities. Driven to work on
overcapcity, health certificates were issued without the benefit of any random
samples being analyzed.
The health hazard issue for Indonesian tuna product has severe economic
consequences. First, its market share will suffer as consumers in destination
markets will shy away from products tainted with records of poor food safety
procedures. The "loss of brand" will continue to hound Indonesian tuna products
as long as the issue of health remains. Second, Indonesia runs the risk of
losing its EU quota with reduced tariff in favor of Thailand and the Philippines
if it fails to deliver on its quota. Indonesia gets a smaller quota compared to the
two other countries and yet it takes longer time to fill up the quota. Third, the
program of the government to encourage tuna investments will not prosper as
planned because tuna products with Indonesia as point of origin will have
automatic retention into the EU market, a condition that is not conducive for
prospective investors.
Despite trade restrictions to the EU, tuna exports to Europe continue through
bilateral trade agreements. Thus Indonesian tunas still find their way in
European markets through the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
While latest figures suggest that tuna exports to Europe are on the decline,
exports to USA show an upward trend (Globefish 2007).
2005 J F M A M J J A SON D
Contaminated
samples
6 2 12 1 042 4 1 0340 0
Total samples
analyzed
141109139125133228166115812436788
Contaminated
samples
2 2 0 0 5 1 0 0 1 0 1nd
Total samples
analyzed
8115376 8316115965658714864nd
2006
Table 11.1. Monthly number of tuna products found containing significant his-
tamine levels(>50ppm) for years 2005-2006. Source: Tjandrason (2007).

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9. International trade of tunas needs to be competitive. To do this, the government
needs to address the following issues:
a. The inadequate infrastructure facilities for tunas particularly in eastern
Indonesia where the tuna fishing industry is hastily developing. The
existing facilities in Muara Baru, Jakarta and in Benoa, Bali servicing
the once longline fisheries in Indian Ocean are now too far from the
newly emerging fishing ground of east Indonesia. The distance of thes
e ports is therefore not conducive to the industry anymore as
transportation costs of going there would be a tremendous burden.
Storage facilities, ice plants and processing plants are better developed
near fishing grounds.
b. Increase the number of international gateways for tuna and other
seafood exports. Presently, the main tuna exports could pass through
in only four airports (Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya and Makassar. This is
because the four support facilities for export requirements such as
laboratory testing and health certificates are present in these cities.
Manado in North Sulawesi and Ambon are good candidates with good
airports but support infrastructure are lacking.
A tuna gateway in the province of Papua would be strategic as it could
serve not just the domestic but also international needs of the fleet
operating in the western Pacific, the area being within four hours of air
travel to leading markets of Australia, Japan, Korea and China.
c. High cost of freight makes Indonesian tuna more expensive. Tjandrason
(2006) found that cost of air freight with other tuna exporters in the
region (Thailand and Philippines) is more expensive by as much 30-
60% (Table 11.2). The situation is similar for shipping freight costs.
Point of Origin TokyoLos AngelesNew York
Manado, Indonesia 2.25 4.3 4.45
General Santos, Phil. 1.85 3 3.5
Bitung, Indonesia 5,400 7,800 8,250
General Santos, Phil. 4,500 5,250 6,000
Sea Freight USD/40 ft. container
Air freight USD/kg
Table 11.2. Comparison air and sea freight cost between Indonesia and
Philippines. Source: Tjandrason (2007).

Introduction
By-catch is one of the most significant issues affecting fisheries management today
(Hall et al 2000). Tuna fishing gears take a variety of species while on the process
of catching the tunas. These include long-lived, low reproductive rates such as
turtles, swordfish, seabirds, sharks and rays to the juveniles of their own co-specifics.
By-catch impacts biodiversity through incidental mortalities. Economically, it is an
issue of waste through discards (e.g. seabirds, turtles, carcass of sharks) or through
potential loses generated by catching of the juveniles of commercially important
species, undermining both sustainability of the resource and the livelihood of the
peoples that depend on it.
This section seeks to presents two aspects of the by-catch of the tuna fisheries,
the issue of juvenile catch of tunas by purse seine and pole and line gears and the
by-catch taken by the domestic longline fishery.
Part I: Juvenile Tuna Issue
Defining the Juvenile Tuna problem
Tunas, like many pelagic fishes form schools and aggregations. This behavior is a
response to improve feeding efficiencies, improve reproductive success and reduce
predation mortality. Schools are formed at the surface level making the school-
forming fishes highly vulnerable to surface fisheries. But the schools formed are
not made of one species. Very often, juvenile tunas of yellowfin and big eye tunas
swim with skipjack school. This explains why fishing gears like the purse seine,
pole and line small-scale handline and troll fishing that targets the skipjack often
have significant by-catch of juvenile yellow fin and big eye tunas. Why juvenile
yellowfin and bigeye tunas often mix with skipjack schools of similar sizes is unclear
but is the subject of extensive research.
The catching of juveniles has long been recognized as a potential problem that
undermines tuna sustainability (Floyed and Pauly 1980) but it was only in the last
five years that it was raised as an issue at the regional level (PREPCOM-WCPFC).
This is because the volume of juvenile by catch has significantly increased due to
the proliferation on the use of fish aggregating devices.
The increased popularity of FADs (both anchored and drifting) is attributed to the
ability of these structures to effectively herd pelagic fishes but with the recent price
By-Catch

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increase of fuel, many fisheries within Indonesia including purse seine, pole and
line and troll line fisheries have adapted the FAD technology as part of its fishing
strategy (see also Chapter 13 on impacts of fuel price increase).
Catching tuna before they grow to mature sizes contributes to growth over-fishing,
a situation where fish are caught before they could grow to an optimal size (highest
yield per recruit), i.e. where the combination of growth potential and mortalities are
taken into consideration.
The issue of juveniles has long been recognized as an issue but never prompted
serious management attention; evident by lack of any precautionary management
measure in place such a minimum size law for tunas despite the higher percentage
of contamination. The main reasons for such inaction are because:
1. in the early days of purse seine development, the volume of juveniles
is small, driven mainly by domestic fisheries with smaller vessels and
with lower efficiencies;
2. the number of purse seine vessels utilizing FADs are limited as
catch are mainly taken from free-swimming associated and
unassociated schools;
3. the other tuna fishing sectors of longline and the pole and line are
not complaining as catch rates remain profitable and there were no
conflict of fishing grounds and target species;
4. there is no wastage because all juvenile tunas taken by the fishery
are either processed or consumed.
The current fully exploited status of the yellowfin- and the overfished state of the
bigeye tunas in the western and central Pacific Ocean brought by increased fishing
pressure on all the life stages of tunas has brought the juvenile tuna issue in the
forefront.
Scale of the Juvenile Tuna Issue
The contamination of catch by juvenile tunas differs between fishing gears (Table
12.1). For purse seine, the range of values could be between 18-90% depending
on the area and probably season. In Indian Ocean, the values observed were
between 18 to 32% but with samples limited to the first fours months of the year.
This observation was made in 1997-1998 before purse seine were eventually banned
from fishing in Indian Ocean.
Pole and line likewise take substantial amount of yellowfin and bigeye tunas with
range of 1.2% to 77% (Figure 12.1). Tuna longline likewise take juvenile tunas
although the degree of contamination is very low both by weight (1%) and by number
of fish caught (3.6%). Troll lines catch substantial amount of juvenile tunas up to
10-50% in Padang West Sumatra, 10-20% in Sorong, West Papua. Tuna handline
Figure 12.1 Catch composition (%) of pole and line from Sulawesi sea
in June 2004 (Left) and from Halmahera Sea in October 2004. Source:
Redrawn from Wudianto 2006.
2.91
13.6
6.79
76.7
SKJ
Mixed tuna
others
YFT
18.66
2.99
73.13
5.22
SKJ
Mixed tuna
others
YFT

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would appear to be catching only the large tunas because it targets the large
individuals that are found between 150-300 meters. However, handline-caught tunas
in Pelabuhan Ratu, West Java in 2005 show predominantly juvenile tunas (98-
100%) for the months of March-May 2005 (Gede et al, 2006). This is in total contrast
with tuna handline catch in Sulawesi Sea, Moluccas sea where the only juvenile
tunas caught are the ones used as bait.
The difference in juvenile catch is striking. A very experienced tuna handline fisher
from the Philippines succinctly explained that … “ the proliferation of juvenile tunas
on handline catch is the result of two conditions:- the behavior of the juveniles, the
experience of handline fisher and the status of stocks. In areas where tuna stocks
are still abundant, it is difficult to target the large mature ones if fisher is inexperience
because the young tunas that dwell at the surface level get to the bait first before
the hook sink to the desired fishing depth.” The preponderance therefore of such
juveniles in the catch is a proxy indicator of tuna resource status.
The issue of juvenile catch is not limited to the yellowfin and bigeye but to skipjack
as well. Pole and line catch (Table 12.2) showed 92% of skipjack and 86% of
YFT+BET tunas caught are juveniles using length at first capture values of 45 cm
and 55 cm, respectively (Wudianto 2006). The value of length at maturity used for
yellowfin is on the lower range for the Philippines (Collette and Nauen 1983) but
more recent studies show that the range of length at maturity for the yellowfin is
between 100-120 (Wild, 1994, Collette and Nauen 1993, Fishbase 2005). As a
rule, 100 cm fork length is used as the rule of thumb in the WPFC convention area,
thus making all the yellowfin+bigeye catch of pole and line juveniles.
Gear
% YFT &
BET
area year sources
number
of sets
Purse seine (>100 GT) 89.47North Sulawesi Dec-05PRPT 2006 n=1
17.9Indian Ocean Jan-Apr 1997Granadeiro, 1997 n=38
32.12Indian Ocean Feb-Apr 1998Supiyan, 1998 n=52
Pole and Line (30GT) 7.71Sawu Sea May-01Nugroho 2001
76.7 Jun-04 n=11
Jul-04
18.66Halmahera Sea Oct-04
13.6 Mar-02
8.89 Apr-02
10.64 May-02
21.22Sawu Sea Mar-99 n=22
1.19Sawu Sea Apr-99
Pole and Line 17.0Tomini Bay Wudianto 2006
Tuna Handline 99.0Pelabuhan Ratu Mar-May 05Gede et al 2006
Tuna Handline 1.0Sulawesi Sea;
Pacific Ocean
Jan-07This study
Longline (% by number) 3.6 n=18
Longline (% by weight) 1.0
North Moluccas
Sea
Sulawesi Sea
Purwoko, 20042004Indian Ocean
Purse seine (443 GT)
Da Costa Sousa
2001
Pole and Line
Pole and Line
Pole and Line (29GT)
PRPT 2006
Salim Moch Nur
2002
Table 12.1. Percentage yield of juvenile tunas from catches of different tuna fishing
gears.
Sexual
Maturity
Stage
Skj
Lm= 45cm
%
YFT+BET
Lm= 55cm
%
Juvenile 383 77.5 343 86.6
Mature 111 22.5 53 13.4
Total 494 396
Table 12.2. Proportion of juveniles on catch of pole and line from
Sulawesi and Halmahera Seas. Note that use of current length at ma-
turity for yellowfin will make all the catch juveniles. Source: Wudianto
2006.

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Just how large (or small the tunas caught) is shown by the length frequency
histogram in Figure 12.2. This study undertaken by the PRPT (2006) show that
most of the skipjack and half of the yellowfin measured are juveniles. This is based
on the length at maturity used in the analysis. But if the value of 100 cm is used for
the yellowfin, then all the fish measured are juveniles. More recent estimates of
length at maturity show the values around 1 meter in fork length (Wild, 1994, Barut
2002).
How big is the volume of catch?
This section estimates the juvenile take of the Indonesian domestic fleet. Using the
data available at the SPC and published in Lawson (2006), the total historical volume
were estimated.
For 2006 alone, about 168.7 thousand tons out of the 277.7 thousand tons are
juvenile tunas (Table 12.3) or 60.8% of the whole tuna catch from the domestic
fleet have not reached the size at maturity. On catch by species, 56.6% for skipjack
tuna, 70.8% percent for yellowfin and 75% for the bigeye tuna are immature
individuals.
Historically the fleet has been contaminated by juveniles as shown by the three
graphs below. Over the last three years, there has been a drastic decline in juvenile
volume frm the domestic fishery, probably an artifact created by improved
documentation of catch where entries to statistical books are now up to species
level. There was no attempt to estimate volume but as the volumes have high degree
of uncertainty but the volume is probably bigger than what these graphs show.
Pole & Line: North Sulawesi
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
20-25
25-30
30-35
35-40
40-45
45-50
50-55
55-60
60-65
65-70
70-75
75-80
80-85
85-90
90-95
95-100
100-105
Length Class (cm)
Frequency (n)
SKJ = 161
YFT+BET=192
Lm=YFT
Lm=SKJ
Lm=102 cm
Figure 12.2. Length frequency histrogram of skipjack and yellowfin (+big-
eye?) of catches of pole and line. Data redrawn from Wudianto 2006.
Species
Est. Juvenile
catch
Total Catch
%
Juveniles
Skipjack tuna 115880 204710 56.6
Yellowfin tuna 31484 44450 70.8
Bigeye tuna 21430 28580 75.0
TOTAL 168794 277740 60.8
Table 12.3. Total tuna catch of the domestic fleet of Indonesia and
theproportion of juvenile yellowfin+bigeye. See footnotes for per-
centages used to estimate juveniles. Legend: PS-purse seine, LL-
longline, PL-pole & line, HL- handline Source: Lawson 2006.
YFT: PS(100%), LL (3%), Handline (10%),
PL(100%),Unclas: (80%)
BET: PS(100%), LL(0.5%),PL (100%), Unclass (100%)
SKJ: PS(60%), PL(40%), Unclass (50%)

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Blaming the FADs
Most of the blame on juvenile issue is put on these floating structures. This is
because most of the juvenile take of tunas are from the FADs, mainly by purse
seine and pole and line fleet. The handline contributes a small amount while the
contribution of gillnets is no known. The number of FADs currently in place is
unknown, but it is in the hundred of thousands. These structure lifespan range
between 2 months to 3 years (average is 6 months), depending on the material
used, sea conditions in the area.
Juvenile Yellow Fin Tuna
0
40000
80000
120000
160000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Catch (t)
Total Catch
Unclassified
PS
P&L
Juvenile Bigeye Tuna
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Catch (t)
Total
Unclassified
PS
PL
Juvenile Skipjack
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Catch (t)
Total
Unclassified
PS
PL
Figure 12.3. Historical catches of juvenile tunas for the domestic fleet of
Indonesia for skipjack (upper), yellowfin (middle) and bigeye (lower) tu-
nas for the different tuna fishing gears. See footnote of Table 3 for percent-
ages used in the estimation of juvenile catch. Source: Lawson 2006.

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No government agency regulate the FADs. There is no regulation as to who could
establish a FAD and how many. Currently, FADs are deployed by purse seine and
pole and line, and handline operating under cooperative system. The companies of
“plasma system”, buyers of tunas also funds and deploys FADs for use of its fishers.
In certain areas such as North Moluccas, local government subsidizes FADs for
use of its small-scale fishers. In West Sumatra and in Manado, North Sulawesi,
FAD companies supply and sell parts of FADs and is a lucrative business.
Recommendations
The largest volume of juveniles is taken by the pole and line and purse seine.
These fleets account for 142.2 thousand tons or 84.3% of total take of juveniles in
2006 (Table 12.4). This is because these fleets are surface fisheries and fish mainly
on the fish aggregating devices (FADs).
Interestingly, the main issue on juveniles are on the yellowfin and bigeye species
yet over two thirds (68.6%) of the juvenile take of Indonesian fishing fleet are
skipjack. The resources of skipjack, based on current biomass are still in healthy
conditions (Sievert et al, 2004) but localized overfishing are happening. Key
indicators are already happening such as declining catch (number and size of
skipjack schools) and reduced sizes of fish.
Proper management and monitoring coupled with national and local policies could
reduce the juvenile take particularly of the yellowfin and bigeye tunas whose
estimated biomass in the Western and Central Pacific ocean has reach (as in the
case of yellowfin and below the MSY level. The highly migratory character of these
oceanic species makes it doubly difficult to manage these tunas at the regional
level and concrete, immediate and effective measures need to be in place to help
the population to recover above the MSY levels.
1. National policies need to be in place to address the issue of juvenile
tunas. First is to have a minimum size law to catch specific tunas. The
length (size) needs to be based on solid science. The sizes at maturity
currently used by the government are 45 cm for skipjack and 55 cm for
yellowfin. The values for yellowfin tuna needs to be reviewed as recent
estimates place the length at maturity to be around 100 cm.
Second is to review and update the current policy on fish aggregating
devices (Pemasangan dan Pemanfaatan Rumpon, Nomor 251/Kpts/
IK, 250/1/97) to address specific issues of the juvenile take of the fishing
gears that operate at these structures. Regulating number and distance
of FADs, promote sharing of FADs use between tuna fishing sectors
and ban on FAD use in highly overfished areas are critical policies that
will reduce the juvenile contamination of tuna catch.
Moreover, a system to regulate and monitor the FAD deployment,
number, distribution as well a way to incorporate catch made at these
structure must be in place. It is admitted that a lot of research needs to
be done to address the issues. But while waiting for science to become
available, precautionary measures needs to be in place.
Gear Type YFT BET SKJ TOTAL% by gear
Pole & Line 9779 5056 14036 2887117.1
Hand line 89 0 0 890.05
Longline 280 35.9 0 3160.19
Purse Seine 8890 266110177211332367.2
Unclassified 12446 13677 0 2612315.5
TOTAL 31484 21430115808168721
% by species 18.7 12.7 68.6
Table12. 4 Catch of juveniles (in metric tons) for 2006. Source: Lawson 2006.

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2. Utilize traditional knowledge and harness the experiences of the
fishers who have long used FADs to aid in the development of policies.
For instance, tuna handliners in Padang, West Sumatra need to
enhance fishing skills to be able to fish the larger tunas in the deeper
waters by learning from their North Sulawesi counterparts or learn from
Filipino tuna handliners that utilize drop stone method.
A policy that regulate the harvest of fish schools that contain
predominantly juvenile tunas under the FADs by purse seine is easily
implemented because a diver checks out the species, sizes and
quantities of school before the decision to set net is made.
A policy to regulate fishing in FADs at times when juveniles predominate
in the area could easily be promulgated at different sites. Such
information are well known to the handline and purse seine fishers
operating in FADs. A graph presented in Figure 3 is easily extracted
out of records of a boat owners records would confirm the exact months
when juveniles dominate the catch. Regulating catch from FADs even
for two months in a year will have significant contribution to the reduction
of juveniles catch (Figure 12.4).
3. Spawning, nursery areas and migratory corridors need to be
protected. The government should start identification of important
spawning and nursery areas for the tunas. Better still is to establish
with neighboring countries, a joint protected area to protect critical life
stages of the tunas. Three important critical areas are recommended,
% YFT + BET
0
10
20
30
JFMA MJJASOND
Month
Catch (tons)
0
5
10
15
20
% YFT & BET
total
% YFT&BET
Figure 12.4. Seasonality of catch and % of juvenile yellowfin and big-
eye tunas from catch of pole & line from Sawu Sea. % juvenile line
is a moving average of three months. Source: Mozes 1999
the bluefin spawning area in the Indian Ocean between Australia and
Indonesia and the yellowfin spawning area in Sulawesi Sea between
Indonesia and the Philippines. Similar areas could be established Timor
Leste to protect migratory pathways while Arafura Sea with Australia could
be promoted as a tuna-free fishing area for a number of years.
4. Work canneries to improve implementation of policies designed to
reduce juvenile take of yellowfin and bigeye tunas. Since most of the
skipjack and yellowfin tunas end up in cans for export, the best place to
implement the policy is at the processing plants and canneries.
5. Declare areas that will protect the specific life stages of the tunas.
Establishment FAD-free zones to protect spawning, nursery areas as
well as migration routes from fishing. Sufficiently large areas are needed
which could be achieved through transboundary protected areas that
are far from nearshore fisheries that could create social and economic
dislocations among the many poor people.

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6. Advocacy campaign to change consumption behavior of juvenile
tunas which are preferred over their adult counterparts for cultural as
well as health reasons.
7. Undertake research on addressing by-catch. This is done by looking
at the two levers of by-catch solution, by working on the effort of the
fishery and by addressing the catch per effort of by-catch. Hall et al.
(2000) lists the management interventions for Effort as regulatory bans,
regulatory limits, trade sanctions, consumer boycotts and gear changes.
Addressing by-catch per effort include technological interventions,
changes in fishing techniques, training and management actions.
8. The government should also look at other aspects of FADs. Ingles
(2005) enumerates issues arising from FADs use as:
a) a marine debris, where after the raft is destroyed, the anchor and its rope
made of synthetic materials will remain at sea for prolonged period of time;
b) a hazard to navigation. FAD location should be zone and nautical
highways should be designated andshould be free of these structures.
c) source of conflict with other fishers. Indiscriminate deployment will lead
to sectoral conflicts between FAD and non-FAD users. The conflict is already
there between purse seine and longline and between FAD fishers and drift
gillnet and drift longline fishers.
Summarizing, the issue of juvenile tunas has reached a level where urgent
interventions is required given the biomass levels have reach MSY: for yellow fin
have reached the MSY and for big eye tuna has exceed the MSY level. The impact
of taking the juveniles is not just limited of the resource sustainability of the tunas,
but also translates to social, economic and ecological perturbations that the potential
losses of the bycatch of juveniles far outweighs the gains made from sales of
juveniles.

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Introduction
As a maritime country with abundant fisheries resources and supports one of the
largest global fisheries suppliers, Indonesia’s management and exploitation of its
fisheries resources are of international concern. The status of Indonesia’s fisheries
management will determine the country’s bargaining position of its fisheries products
in the global market.
Indonesian waters especially in the eastern parts of Indonesia, serve as an important
migratory route for over 30 species of marine mammals. In this region, six of the
worlds seven turtle species including Leatherback turtle, Green Turtle, Hawskbill
Turtle, Olive Ridley turtle, Loggerhead turtle and Flatback turtle are found. With its
numerous islands, extensive coastline, vast areas of sea grass beds and coral
reefs, Indonesia provides habitats important support critical life stages of the turtles:
nesting and foraging grounds. Presently, Indonesia hosts the largest rookeries for
Green Turtles and for Leatherback turtles in South East Asia. These are located in
Berau Islands, East Kalimantan, and along the Northern Coast of Papua,
respectively. Each season between 1865 to 3601 nests of leatherbacks are recorded
at Jamursba-Medi and about 2881 nests at Wermon (Hitipeuw at al, 2007). Satellite
tracking data and tracing records of flipper tags indicates that from their nesting
grounds these green and leatherbacks migrate very large distances over open water
to get to their feeding and mating grounds.
These marine species are recognized as being p articularly vulnerable to
overexploitation due to their complex life-cycles and biology. Only a few offsprings
survive that reach sexual maturity. Once mature, these turtles live very long,
spending different parts of their life-cycle in a wide range of habitats. They are also
highly migratory, their home range often spanning the waters of several nations
and the high seas. As such, every part of their lifecycle is critical to their conservation.
Given the complexity of those species niches and life cycle stages, these charismatic
species are vulnerable to a wide range of threats that include being taken as by-
catch of tuna fishing gears, stranding, poaching, and the destruction of their marine
habitat.
Wide spectrum of commercial fishing such as trawl, purse seine, long line, driftnet
or gillnet take marine mammals as by-catch. They drown while trapped in demersal
gillnets, trawls, purse seines or get hooked in long lines, or entangled in fishing
lines, buoys, and other fishing gears. These animals are caught by fishing gears
operating in different types of habitats, from the shallow coastal to the deep waters
of the exclusive economic zone waters of the country to the high seas.
Indonesia, being a country with its large tuna fleet, particularly the longline, takes
substantial amount of by-catch and is a cause for global concern. This section
presents partial results of WWF’s observer program to monitor by-catch performance
of its circle hooks to select longline collaborators.
Policy Framework and On-going Activities
Set of regulations and policies are already in place to protect endangered species
and help conserve the biodiversity resources of the country. The policies listed in
Table 1 shows Indonesia’s desire to contribute to the regional and global effort to
conserve and protect the rich biodiversity resource of this country.
Part II: By-Catch of Tuna Longline Fleet

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For instance, the Indonesian government signed on to IOSEA in March 2005 in
Bangkok, formalized the Sulu Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion tri-national agreement in
March 2006 in East Kalimantan, and signed the Bismarck Solomon Seas Ecoregion
MOU on leatherback conservation in September 2006 in Bali.
Likewise in the fisheries conservation and management, Indonesia has recently
signed as full member of the IOTC and intends to do the same for the CSBT and
the WCPFC. Signing up to these international commitments meant the country’s
desire to comply with requirements and responsibilities of being a member to these
organizations.
Similarly, activities are also being implemented to manage these charismatic
species, focusing mainly on capacity building to rescue stranded marine mammals,
addressing the poaching and the destruction of their marine habitat issues through
advocacy and improved implementation of policies. The issue of by-catch from
fishing did not merit as much attention due to lack of quantitative information as to
the degree of by-catch and ecosystem impacts it generated. In short, the by-catch
issue has long been recognized but how large the problem was not clear. Such
issue has been addressed when a national consultation was held to discuss the
by-catch issue of the Indonesian tuna long line fishery. This consultation resulted
in a joint declaration to address tuna by-catch through the development of a national
plan of action to be implemented by the Research Center for Capture Fisheries of
the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and the collaboration of the Indonesian
stakeholders particularly by the tuna associations of Indonesia.
Methods
To validate information from the consultation and to collect the necessary by-catch
related information as well as to identify the strategy to initiate a by-catch project,
review of relevant studies conducted independently by government institutions such
as PRPT and LIPI or in collaboration with WWF-Indonesia were undertaken. Based
on results of these studies, three sets of activities were undertaken: conduct of
interviews with fishers, design observer program through actual field trials and
undertake sea trial experiments with C-hooks. The first activity help identify key
hotspots and parameters in order to contribute to the design of the second activity:
the field testing of the on-board observer program from May to December 2006 to
collect initial field data on by-catch and polish the data template to be used. The
Relevant National
Decrees
Year Remarks
Presidential Decree No.
43
1978Ratification of the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and
Fauna (CITES)
Ministerial Decree
agriculture No. 327
1978Determination of several types of wild animal to
be protected (whales, Dolphin, Crocodiles,
Leatherback Turtle)
Ministerial Decree
agriculture No. 716
1980Determination of several types of wild animal to
be protected (whales, Gray, Olive and
Loggerhead Turtles)
Act No. 4 1982Basic provision for management of the living
environment
Presidential Decree No.
26
1986Ratification of ASEAN agreement on the
conservation of nature and natural resources
Act No. 5 1990Conservation of living natural resources and
their ecosystem
Presidential Decree No.
32
1990Management of protected areas
Act no. 5 1994Ratification of the Convention on Biodiversity
Government Regulation
No. 7
1999Protection of all turtle species including green
turtle
Government Regulation
No. 60 2007
Fisheries Resources Conservation
Table 12.5 Relevant regulations for marine endangered species conserva-
tion in Indonesia

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third activity is to conduct field trials on the use of circles with some tuna longliners
cooperators to determine its effectiveness in reducing turtle by-catch.
Results
Fisher interviews
Interviews were conducted at four sites (Fig. 12.5): 292 respondents in Java, 163
in Sulawesi, 95 in Bali, 77 in Kei Islands, Moluccas and 236 in Papua. Highlights of
interview results are:
1. The survey found that there was interaction between marine
endangered species and several types of fishing gears. The fishermen
often spotted sea turtles during their fishing activities alluding to overlap
with migratory routes for sea turtle and others endangered marine
species.
2. Most respondents (%) admitted that they caught sea turtles during
fishing operations and caught at least one animal from their most recent
trip.
3. Respondents believe the scale of the problem is small. But
considering the large number of longline vessels (+ 1600) total annual
turtle take is estimated between 6.400-19.200/year (LIPI, 2005). This
figure agrees well with the estimate of a government study of 4,950
turtles per year (Wiadnyana et al 2006).
4. From the survey results, it was also clear that all respondents save
for the Tanimbar Kei and Papua respondents, are willing to release
the turtles back to the sea. This result enabled us to develop and
conduct trainings on proper handling methods of entangled and hooked
sea turtles.
5. Respondents from the Tanimbar Kei island and from Papua admitted
to consume the sea turtles caught. Fishers from Papua also actively
hunt turtles for consumption.
Figure 12.5 Locations of interview sites. Inset show relative areas in
Papua and Kei Islands.

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Data from On-board observers
To validate information from the interviews, WWF also implemented trial run of
putting observers in the tuna long-line fleet. The aim is for WWF to learn and
understand how to best implement onboard observer activities and developed the
method and simple protocols. Volunteers from a fisheries academy in Sorong were
trained on the methods and data collection using the developed template. WWF
collaborates with the Research Centre for Capture Fisheries (PRPT) of the MMFA
and the observers were deployed on the vessels belonging t the two associations,
the Indonesian Tuna Longline Association (ATLI), the Indonesian Tuna Association
(ASTUIN) as well as on other individual tuna long-line Industry members
The observers collected and filled up the forms developed relating to tuna and their
interaction with protected and endangered marine species such as sea turtle, marine
mammals, sea birds and shark. A lot of information was collected in this first year
and in May 2006 WWF started the formal onboard observer program.
From the period May to December 2006, 8 observers were deployed and covered
the operation of 10 vessels. Observers boarded the longline vessels in Bitung,
North Sulawesi with two observers covering the Pacific Ocean, two observers
boarded in Pelabuhan Ratu, West Java and 4 others including two boat captains of
longline vessels from Benoa, Bali. Vessels from Pelabuhan Ratu and Bali operated
in Indian Ocean and internal waters of Banda and Flores Seas.
By end of 2007, 12 observers boarded 18 tuna longline vessels that made a total of
50 fishing trips and 1,092 settings. Longline vessels in Indonesia undertakes three
different fishing operations: short trip lasting 14 days to 20 days, medium trip lasting
1-3 months and long trips each lasting 3-6 months.
Table 12.6 Information study on Sea turtle interaction in various fishing gears in Indo-
nesia (result from interview with fishermen)
SourcesFishing GearsTurtel By-Catch Sea turtle species No. of
respon-
dents
Survey Location
Takaenden
gan et al,
2005 (LIPI)
Tuna longline
and Non tuna
(gillnet, purse
seine)
Avarage turtles per trip 0 =
2.8%, 1-5 = 80.4%, 6-
10=10.3%, >10=6.5%
IO & PO: loggerhead turtles &
Leatherback turtles but more in
PO. Green turtles are the least
frequent, mainly from Indonesian
internal waters. Sea turtles sizes
bigger in IO & PO compared with
those caught in internal waters
(<50 cm).
163 Bitung (North Sulawesi),
Muara Baru (Jakarta),
Cilacap (central Java),
Kendari/Bau-Bau (South
East Sulawesi), and
Makassar/Bone (South
Sulawesi
Musthofa
zainudin,
2005
(WWF)
Tuna LonglineAverages (per month):
• Sea turtles sightings: 5 times
• Sea turtle by-catch: 2.7 times
• Sea turtle by-catch from last
trip: 2.3 animals
• Number of sea turtle species
from last trip: 1.8 species
Green and leatherback turtles 95Benoa-Bali
Habibi et al,
2006
(TAKA)
Tuna longline,
mini purse
seine, purse
seine, Seine
Nets (payang,
Cantrang,
Pukat), Gill net,
Longline
(coastal
Fishery),Others
Gears (Hand
line, Trap etc)
No. of turtles caught from last
trip.
The category are: a=0-10
turtles, b=11-20 turtles, c=21-30
turtles
• Tuna longline (b=81%,
a=19%, c=0%)
• mini purse seine (a=69%,
b=31%, c=0%)
• purse seine (a=68%, b=33%,
c=0%)
• Seine Nets (a=56%, b=44%,
c=0%)
• Gill net (b=85%, a=15%,
c=0%)
• Longline (coastal Fishery)
(b=58%, a=42%, c=0%)
• Others Gears (b=75.6 %,
a=22%, c=2.4%)
Java (Pekalongan,
Cilacap, Pati, Pelabuhan
Ratu, Rembang, Tegal,
Cirebon, Lamongan)

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The type of data and information collected by observers including the general
information (departure time and date, fishing gears, number of hooks, type of bait
etc), fishing ground (setting and hauling positions), species taken as by-catch as
well as observed/sighted species during fishing operations. The species covered
include the sea turtles, marine mammals, sea birds and sharks. They also bring
de-hooker to facilitate removal of hooks from turtles.
One hundred thirty two 132 sea turtles were caught from a total of 1,669,757 hooks
that were deployed resulting on a hook rate of 0.329 (per 1000 hooks). On a per
area of operation, longline based in Bitung, North Sulawesi showed the highest
hook rate of 0.265 compared with 0.034 for Pelabuhan Ratu-West Java 0.03 for
Benoa-Bali based vessels. With this result, the problem of turtle by-catch appears
more serious in the Pacific Ocean than in the Indian Ocean and internal waters of
Banda and Flores Seas.
Figure 12.6 Home bases (boat icon) of tuna longline fleet participating
in the observer program.
Figure 12.7. On-board observer activities on handling of turtle by-catch. Left upper:
removal of hook, upper right: size measurements, lower left: use of dehooker: lower
right: releasing.

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All six species of turtles are vulnerable to the tuna longline gear in varying degrees.
Olive ridley account for over three fourths (77.3%) of the total turtle by-catch, followed
by the green turtle with 6.8%, loggerhead and hawksbill with 4.5% each, leatherback
with 3% and flatback turtles with 1.5%. Three turtles were not identified as these
were let loose by fishers before being brought on deck by cutting the lines.
Overall mortality associated with turtle by-catch appears low (5.30%) with only 7
turtles dead by the time these are brought on deck. Six of the seven dead turtles
are olive ridleys and this result is probably influenced by the numbers of the
individuals caught. Turtles differ on the way these are caught. Leatherbacks become
entangled on the lines, others are hooked in the mouth while larger-sized turtles
swallow the bait and hooks that get lodged in their stomachs (Figure 12.5).
Swallowing of hooks occur mainly with the use of smaller J-hooks.
All turtles captured were adults as indicated by their size measurements (Figure
12.9). Gender bias appears to influence by-catch where males also appear more
vulnerable with female:male ratio of 1:3.45 (Table 12.7).
Other Species
Part of the data collected include noting down by-catch of whales, sea birds, dolphins
and sharks during the fishing cruises. During the study, 1 whale, 2 dolphins, 3
seabirds and 798 sharks were caught by the longline gear (table 12.4). The whales,
dolphins and seabirds were caught in the Indian Ocean and none from the Pacific
Ocean indicating that the by-catch issue for these animals is limited to the Indian
Ocean side or to vessels operating in the southern hemisphere. Both the whale
and the dolphins became entangled in the branch lines. All three seabirds got hooked
while sharks are regularly caught along side the tunas.
Mortalities related to these other by-catch differ with species. The caught whale
(3.5 m fork length, species not identified) was released after removing the lines.
This is made possible by pouring diesel fuel to make the whale unconscious to
facilitate removal of entangled lines. Whether the diesel fuel will affect the animal is
not clear. Two of the three seabirds were alive and released soon after de-hooking
while only one of the dolphins could be saved.
Shark catch during the whole study period total 798 individuals which is equivalent
to a hook rate of 2.26 per 1000 hooks set. The catchability of sharks differ with area
where 73.1% were caught by vessels operating in Indian Ocean, mostly by vessels
based in Pelabuhan Ratu where the highest hook rates for shark with 1.33 was
observed. Using the plot of areas for shark take (Figure 12.12), it appears that the
highest shark take are those vessels operating west of 100 E longitude, just south
of the EEZ border south of South Sumatra.
Turtle By-Catch
0
30
60
90
120
O l i v e r i d e l y
G r e e n
L o g g e r h e a d
H a w k s b i l l
L e a t h e r b a c k
F l a t b a c k
U n i d e n t i f i e d
Number of turtles
Figure 12.8. Number of turtles by species taken as by-catch during the observer
sampling period (2006-2007).

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Based on size measurements, almost half (46.1%) of sharks caught have lengths
greater than 1.5 meters with only 1.3% with lengths less than half meter. Likewise,
there is no significant difference in catch between sexes and the result appears to
follow a 1:1 ratio.
Discussion
The results of data collected during the observer program confirmed the presence
of and provided the scale of the by-catch of other species from the tuna longline.
The results provided first insights on possible management handles how to tackle
the conservation aspects on a per species or per group basis.
Clearly, by-catch data showed that there is an overlap of areas where fishing
activities are conducted and where these animals occur. For turtles and whales,
fishing are conducted along their migratory paths, increasing the probability of
interaction between the fishing gear and the animals.
Mapping of more areas of interaction will provide a clearer picture of what
conservation measures to take. Even if current data is limited to fishing areas, data
provided by Figures 12.6 and 12.10 suggest clearly the differences in by-catch
Figure 12.9. Sizes of turtle by-catch caught by the tuna longline gear. Length given
as carapace curve length or CCL.
11
13
7
2
1
5
4
1 1 1
3
1 1
0
5
10
15
20
20-4040-60 60-8080-100100-120120-140140-160>160
Carapace Curve Length (cm)
Number of turtles
Olive ridely
Green
Hawksbill
Loggerhead
Leatherback
Flatback
78
80
Figure 12.10. Location of occurrence of sea turtle by-catch during
observation period.

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rates between areas. Mapping of interaction areas to include also areas where
fishing is not conducted and identification possible hotspots could the government
craft the appropriate conservation measures.
The results also provided that by-catch of turtles becomes even more complicated
because the fishing gear tends to be biased against the males. Ways (e.g., use of
better lines) on how to minimize entanglement of cetaceans will greatly reduce if
not eliminate cetacean by catch.
While all these are on-going, capacity building of fishers on how to handle by-catch
on board is highly important step that will reduce by-catch associated mortalities.
Perhaps, training on by-catch handling could become a requirement to acquire or
renew licenses for fishers for tuna longline. With proper training and supply of a
de-hooker device, handling by-catch for turtles is less time consuming.
Table 12.7. Summary data on by-catch of sea turtle based on observer program.
General Information
Benoa-
Bali
Pelabuhan
Ratu-West
Java
Bitung-
North
Sulawesi
Total
amount
No. of Vessels 12 3 3 18
No. Sets 768 135 189 1092
No. Fishing trip 35 4 11 50
Total No. Hooks
(in thousands)
1,174 149 347 1670
Hooks rate (1000 hooks) 0.030 0.034 0.265 0.110
Olive ridley 27 2 73 102
Male 17 0 63 80
Female 10 2 10 22
Green 3 0 6 9
Male 2 0 6 8
Female 1 0 0 1
Loggerhead 1 0 5 6
Male 1 0 5 6
Female 0 0 0 0
Hawksbill 1 0 5 6
Male 0 0 2 2
Female 1 0 3 4
Leatherback 1 0 3 4
Male 1 0 2 3
Female 0 0 1 1
Flatback 2 0 0 2
Male 1 0 0 1
Female 1 0 0 1
Unidentified 0 3 0 3
Total Turtles 35 5 92 132
Male 22 0 78 100
Female 13 2 14 29
Table 12.8 Summary data on bycatch shark, whale, dolphin and seabird from
observers 2006-2007
InformationBenoa-Bali
Pelabuhan
Ratu, W. Java
Bitung-North
Sulawesi
Total
amount
No. longline
vessels
12 3 3 18
Setting 768 135 189 1092
Fishing trip 35 4 11 50
Total Hooks Set 1,174,151 148,680 346,926 1669757
Tuna HR 0.33 1.31 0.62 2.26
Shark HR 388 195 215 798
whale HR 0 1 o 1
Dolphin HR 2 0 0 2
Sea bird HR 3 0 0 3
Leatherback entagled by
tuna longlines.

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Most of the turtle by-catch was observed in the Pacific Ocean where known migration
routes based satellite tagging experiments were observed. Here, the most probable
solution is a change of fishing techniques from two fronts:
1. Study a possible shift from the current practice of a shallow set to
deeper sets. This is a difficult issue to propose much more to become
a policy because a shift to deeper set would exacerbate the already
overfished bigeye tuna population (Lack, 2006, Siebert et al 2004).
2. A change in use of baits from live-baits to dead baits. Use of live
baits of milkfish enhances fishing efficiency not just for tunas but also
for sharks and turtles. The type of baits used such as squid, scads and
milkfish increases catching efficiency compared with sardines which
are predominantly used by longline vessels operating in Indian Ocean.
The technologies adopted by the Bitung-based tuna longline fleet came from the
Taiwanese fishing technology. This is because many of the Indonesian longline
vessels operating in the Pacific employ Taiwanese for boat captains.
The size of hook appears to contribute also to the by-catch problem in Indonesia.
In particular, it probably produces higher mortalities as hooks end up in the stomachs
and therefore fatal. Smaller hooks also contribute to the undetermined mortality
from escapement. The hook sizes currently in use are much smaller than their
counterparts around the world. This is because longline boats have to use a cheaper
Shark By-Catch
0
100
200
300
400
0-5051-100101-150151-200>200No Info
Size Classes (cm)
Numbers Caught
Figure 12.11. Size frequency of sharks caught by the tuna long-line gear.
Figure 12.12. Location of the different species of by-catch.

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substitute for the scads, the normal baits due to price considerations. Similarly, use
of small hooks for live baits is preferred to lengthen the life of the bait.
Tuna is highly migratory and transboundary species and Indonesia, as one if not
the biggest tuna producing country in the world, needs to work in the international
and global arena to address the tuna and the by-catch issues simultaneously. It
needs to cooperate and collaborate with the appropriate regional fisheries
management organizations to solicit logistical and technical support. Thus, it is a
welcome development when Indonesia finally became officially a member of the
Indian Ocean Tuna commission (IOTC) and intends to become a regular member
as well of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and
the Commission for the Conservation of Bluefin Tunas (CCSBT).
Sea birds as a by-catch issue appear to be limited to the Indian Ocean and on a
limited scale. Notable sea birds were observed only along the common border with
Australian. Sightings of sea birds even during fishing operations appear to be few
and scattered.
Sharks appears as the most serious by-catch issue of the longline. Its hook rate is
quite high, in fact even higher that the average tuna take. Shark by-catch is also a
difficult issue to address for the following reasons:
1. sharks have high economic value from shark fins that fetch high
prices. The market demand is currently unsatiable;
2. shark fin (size>1 m) is part of the incentive package of the crew;
3. shark carcass is also landed and sold if space is still available,
hence additional income for the operator;
4. other non-fin shark parts are utilized and traded such as liver for
shark oil (sizes >50 cm) used in pharmaceuticals and hard parts (teeth,
jaws) sold as curios.
As long as sharks have economic value and is treated as an incentive for the crew,
it would be difficult to put a policy in place. Policy considerations must take into
consideration both the value of sharks and incentive system in place.
Although still with insufficient data, it appears that use of circles hooks which is
discussed in more detail below, take more sharks as by-catch but highly reduced
turtle by-catch.
Figure 12.13. Locations of turtles, whales, dolphins and sea birds sighted
during the study.

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Circle hooks Trials
After a long try of finding a collaborator to pilot test the circle hooks, a boat captain
finally agreed to undertake the experiment in December 2006. Using 1000 circle
hooks randomly combined with their usual J-hooks also numbering 1000, the first
fishing tripped proved to be a rousing success. The results of the first 10 sets
showed that the C-hooks caught more tunas and no turtles compared to the J-
hooks that caught 1 olive ridley. The results were immediately relayed to other
members of the fleet and members of the tuna association. That became the tipping
point. Today, more vessels want to join the circle hooks program but lack of available
circle hooks became a limiting factor.
Betwee the period December 2006 to September 2007, 8 vessels joined the circle
hooks trial program. It was came from 4 fishing companies (PT. Sari Segara Utama,
PT. MAS, PT Damarina and PT. Perikanan Samodra Besar), all the vessels based
in Benoa Bali. Those vessels are KM. Sari Segara 02, KM. Sari Segara 07, KM.
Samodra 36, KM. Samodra 37, KM. Samodra 44, KM. Samodra 47, KM. Mas 7
and KM. Damarina 203. These vessels undertook a total of 22 fishing trips in Indian
Ocean making a total of 434 settings. Most of these vessels operated in outside of
Indonesia’s EEZ.
Results
Based on results of 22 fishing trips, the C-hooks outperformed the traditional J-
hooks in terms of tuna catch and by-catch of turtles. C-hooks predominantly caught
more (in terms of numbers) and bigger sizes of bigeye, yellowfin and blue fin (Table
12.9). In instances where C-hooks caught less fish, their sizes remain bigger than
those landed by J-hooks that result in higher incomes. In terms of non-tuna by-
catch, C-hooks generally showed higher catch of about 8% by weight.
The C-hooks lodged more in the mouth area compared with the smaller J-hooks
where many of the hooks are swallowed. This allows easy removal of hooks resulting
in better quality tunas.
Circle hooks appear to be very effective in reducing turtle by-catch where none
were caught compared with 8 turtles using J-hooks. The species of sea turtles
caught include 6 olive ridleys, 1 each of the flatback and leatherback species.
Entanglement with branch lines was also observed in two instances, 1 for olive
ridley and another for leatherback.
But C-hooks catch 18.2% more sharks than J-hooks. Unfortunately, the species of
sharks were never determined. No by-catch of whales, dolphins and sea birds were
observed during this circle hook trial.
Discards of other fishes are undertaken when storage space becomes limited. Most
of the discarded fish are the rays. During this trial, C-hooks account for 49.3% and
J-hooks 50.7% of discards. Using data from this experiment, C-hooks could
decrease discarded fish up to 1.3 -41.4%.
Discussions
The success of circle hooks in getting more and bigger-sized tunas, more sharks
and less turtles appear to be associated with the increase in hook size. The sizes
of C-hooks promoted are much bigger than the current J-hooks commonly used by
the longline fleet. Moreover, the C-hook is bent with an angle that could probably
account for the high retention rate (less escapement) after taking the bait that results
in more catch. This is confirmed by the lesser number of lost C-hooks compared
with J-hooks.
More data will be needed to undertake a statistically significant value and to possibly identify
details which may be used to carefully select pre-conditions for circle hook use.

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Using current data from this experiment, circle hooks could be promoted in areas
with high turtle interaction with fisheries and low shark catch such as the case for
the Pacific Ocean based tuna longline fleet. Caution however should be used before
promoting these in areas with high shark by-catch such as those fleets based in
Pelabuhan Ratu and operating south of Sumatra where shark by-catch appear to
be highest.
The observer program proved to be critical in promoting awareness among the
tuna longline fishers, a condition that could not be replicated on land. The actual
training of the fishers by the observers is a bonus of this program and proved to be
a better strategy than doing the training and outreach onshore when most crews
members want to spent time with their families when back on land.
The observer program must be expanded and could be formally adopted by the
Indonesian government. Students from fisheries academies throughout Indonesia
could be very suitable observers as they need on-the-job training as a prerequisite
for graduation.
The better practices on reducing by-catch should be developed and advocated.
The experiences and lessons learned from this observer program include use of
appropriate bait (no squids and live baits), by-catch handling techniques, promotion
of circle hooks (large hooks rather than small hooks) for specific fishing grounds
and identifying which hotspot areas to avoid. Identification of better practices has
to be expanded to other fisheries as well
To promote the use of C-hooks among the tuna longline fleet of Indonesia, the
following suggestions are put forward:
1. Communicate the results of the C-hook trial experiment to other
members of the tuna longline fleet for advocacy on by-catch issue and
inform them of the results of the C-hook trials.
2. Facilitate discussions among fishers who have used C-hooks to
share their experiences and solicit suggestions on how best to address
some of the issues identified with C-hooks.
3. Expand the program to cover at least 20% or around 320 of the
1600 tuna longline vessels. The strategy is to promote this to the Pacific
Table 12.9.Comparison of tuna catch between C-hooks and J-hooks. Bold num-
bers are significant at 0.05 level.
Hook TypeBig eyeYellow finAlbacoreBlue fin
C-Hooks 1114 181 97 10
J-Hooks 899 129 89 5
Table 12.10. The comparison of tuna catch by size classes caught by C-
hooks and J- hooks.
Length
Class (cm)
Hook
Type
BigeyeYellowfinAlbacoreBluefinBillfish
Dolphinf
ish
C-hook 11 1 1 0 9 0
J-hook 170 2 0 0 4 3
C-hook 240 64 56 0 25 10
J-hook 53 46 56 0 22 11
C-hook 855 115 41 1 24 6
J-hook 709 90 36 1 6 3
C-hook 15 1 0 11 20 0
J-hook 12 3 0 5 13 0
0 - 50
51-100
101-150
>151

CHAPTER 12
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213Page
Ocean tuna longliners where turtle take is largest and where shark by-
catch is not as serious.
4. Immediately analyze data as it comes to see possible modifications
of the C-hook program as it affects by-catch of other species as well.
5. Undertake research that will help identify management policies that
could reduce by-catch take of the longline. These could include trials
for shallow sets using different baits, seasonality of C-hook use, etc.
6. Utilize existing traditional knowledge to help identify possible
solutions to by-catch issues in the tuna fisheries. Fishers have long
been exposed to by-catch and probably knows a lot about behavior,
and interaction between target and by-catch species.
The current information so far is not sufficient to justify promulgation of policies to
address the by-catch problem but preliminary results could allow the government
now to undertake precautionary measures that will help ease and not aggrevate
the current situation.
Based on data available, it is best to prioritize C-hook deployment and promotion
with the Bali-based and Bitung-based longline vessels. This is based on the
significant low take of turtles by the C-hooks operating in the Pacific Ocean and
low take of sharks as well by the Bali-based fleet. We should defer promotion of C-
hooks for the Pelabuhan Ratu-based longline whose shark hook rate is twice as
high as the Bitung-based fleet and four times higher than the Bali-based fleet.
The cooperation showed by the tuna longline fishers and owners is the pillar of this
project. Without them, the observer program and the C-hook trial would not have
taken off. WWF looks forward to work with them until solutions to reduce by-catch.
The cooperative, solution-oriented work with fishermen to reduce by-catch through
this project has helped us establish a useful foundation for work on other issues of
fisheries sustainability. It is encumbent upon us to publish the experiences and
lessons learned of this circle hook experiment for others to emulate and learn from
it.
Hook Type SharkSea turtleWhale
C-hook 143 0 0
J-hook 99 6 0
Entangled 2
Table 12.12 Comparison of by-catch take of shark, sea turtle and
whales between C-hooks and J-hooks.

Indonesia is one, if not the most important sources of tuna in the world. It owes this
natural productivity to its strategic location where the South China Sea, the Pacific and
Indian Oceans converge, providing the most ideal natural conditions for the tunas to
proliferate, along with the over 500 coral species and over 2,000 species of coral reef-
fish species and many other organisms that provide and support the natural capital
resource base of the area.
The tunas are natural resources that continue to provide food and jobs to people. The
tuna exports generate industries along the supply chain that provides job opportunities,
even to women, and the benefits that help provide the much needed foreign revenues
of the country.
But the tuna industry faces an array of shortcomings (here expressed positively as key
results), that if addressed on time, could ensure sustainability of these resources and
consequently economic sustainability. Details of the recommendations listed below is
found at the end of each chapter.
Key Result # 1: Key fisheries information available is not sufficient to allow
accurate assessment of the status of tuna stocks and serve as the basis for
policy decisions.
Enumerated below are list of recommendations to make tuna fisheries stock
assessment-ready.
A. The shortcomings of the current data information collection system
and the recommendations to improve it have been detailed in the study
by Proctor, et al. (2007). The said report suggests expansion of fisheries
data collection sites, improvement of the current data collection system
allowing forms to accomodate new sets of information. The
recommendations also call for collecting information up to species level
and disaggregating the catch by specific fishing gear types, among
others.
B. Capacity of those involved in the data collection, storage and retrieval
needs to be improved through intensive training coupled by the
additional hiring of qualified personnel.
C. Infrastructure support should accompany the improvement of data
collection system, by providing web-based support for fast and efficient
exchange of information starting from the collection sites to the data
centers in the provinces, to the national statistics office in Jakarta and
back.
Summary and Recommendations

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D. Collection of fishing operation info such as catch, effort, location, and
measurements of fish caught for major gears should be part of the
data collection system. The observer programs (both for distant water
and domestic fisheries) should be further developed. This observer
program could be further developed by harnessing the “on-the-job
training course” of fisheries graduates as a requirement for the
completion of their degrees. It could be started first with the Sekolah
Tinggi Perikanan, being a state university where most of the students
are on scholarship grants from the government. Assuming a good
collection system is in place, this scheme could provide the data base
of fishing operations important in the assessment of the resources at
a very minimal cost as well as providing the necessary experience
and background of the students, who will probably be next pool of
resource managers and business operators.
E. On a long-term basis, develop a critical mass of fisheries science
practitioners who will provide the scientific information and advice on
the policies required to manage Indonesia’s fisheries resources.
Currently, there are less than 100 Ph.Ds working on pelagic fisheries
and less than 10 who are directly involved in the assessment of tuna
fisheries of the country (Dr. Subhat, pers. comm.). On a short-term
basis, the country could harness the technical support of the RFMOs
once Indonesia becomes a full member.
F. Research on tuna fisheries are few and sporadic and this is reflective
on the amount of research funds made available. Policies need to be
founded on solid science and Indonesia needs to invest heavily into
tuna research. Ways may be explored on how to allocate some of the
tuna revenues into research.
Key Result #2: The Indonesian tuna fisheries are currently undergoing major
structural changes, changes which have important management, investments
and policy considerations. These are:
a. Changing production patterns;
b. Changing tuna sectoral roles; and
c. Changing fleet structure
Key result 2a: Changing production patterns.
The share of large tunas vis a vis the small tunas has continuously showed changing
trends, with the share of large tunas relative to the total tuna production increasing by
Fishery
Management
Area (FMA)
Official Tuna
Catches
1
(MT)
Estimated Tuna
Catches
2
(MT)
I 12,612 12,989
II 54,344 49,745
III 50,255 87,092
IV 123,811 297,369
V 12,078 129,179
VI 123,303 131,982
VII 106,685 455,546
IX 214,140 777,410
TOTAL 697,228 1,941,312
1
/ Source: DKP-Wilahya Pengelolahan Perikanan, data refer
to 2004 figures
2
/ Estimated tuna catches using operational fishing data for
2006, includes also small tunas. Details are presented at
each particular chapters.
Table 14.1. Comparison of recorded tuna catch and estimate of tuna catch
made by this study for each of the fishery management areas. Refer to
appropriate Chapters for explanations on estimates.

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as much as three times from 1970s levels (Figure 14.1). A proportionate decrease for
the small tunas over the same period was observed where its percentage share dropped
from its highest of 60% in 1977 to just 28% in 2005. The proportion of skipjack tuna
remained stable between 30-40% .
Given the development support for the higher exports of the tunas with high market
value, the catches of these tunas (large tuna species) are expected to grow. It is
noteworthy that since 2004, the share of large tunas exceeded that of the small tunas,
a trend which would probably continue in the coming years. This is brought about by
the growing importance of the small scale sector in catching the large tunas in Indonesia.
The details is discussed below.
Key result 2b: Changing roles of the two tuna fishing sectors
The small scale tuna fishing sector has become the major supplier of large tunas.
Depending on the fishing ground, the proportion of tuna supplied by the small scale
sector range from 34% in FMA-VI to 79% in FMA-V (Table 14.2). This surprising
observation was based from our estimated tuna catch figures.
But an even more surprising is that the bulk of large tunas for export was caught and
supplied by the small-scale sector. The estimated catches of small scale sector for
large tunas exceed the estimated catch of the large fishing sector in FMA-IV, FMA-V,
Figure 14.1. Changes of percentage share of each tuna category over time.
Source: National Capture Fisheries Statistics, DKP (1970-2005).
Table 14.2. Share of tuna sectors (small vs. large scale) and between tuna cat-
egory (large vs. skipjack+small tunas) to total tuna catches. Data based on
estimated tuna catch (mt) made by this study.
Sector
skipjack &
small tunas
%
Large
tunas
% Total %
Small Scale 8331149.2 13839794.322170870.2
Large Scale 8591850.8 83635.7 9428229.8
Total 169230 146760 315990
% 53.6 46.4
Small Scale 5262166.4 4745998.710008078.6
Large scale 2658133.6 6301.31 2721121.4
Total 79202 48089 127291
% 62.2 37.8
Small Scale 1332917.9 3212355.9 4545234.4
Large scale 6120282.1 2532844.1 8653065.6
Total 74531 57451 131982
% 56.5 43.5
small scale 8938736.6 13053462.221992148.4
large scale 15513763.4 7947837.823461551.6
Total 244524 210012 454536
% 53.8 46.2
small scale 14493726.5 13110057.027603735.5
large scale 40233173.5 9904243.050137364.5
total 547268 230142 777410
% 70.4 29.6
FMA-IXFMA-IV FMA-V FMA-VI FMA-VII
0
20
40
60
19701975198019851990199520002005
Year
Percent share
% large tunas
% SKJ
% small tunas

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FMA-VI, FMA-VII and FMA-IX. The share varies considerably between areas and range
from 56% in Sulawesi Sea and Pacific (FMA-VII) to a high of 99% in Banda Sea (FMA-
V). The main reason is the bulk in supply of large tunas by hook and line and troll line
which filled up the decline in catches of longline, the traditional source of exported
large tunas.
Key result 2c: Changing fleet structure
Within the tuna fisheries of Indonesia, there are large scale changes in the type of tuna
fishing operation brought about by three major developments that triggered these
changes.
1. First is the increasing export demand of fresh and chilled tuna, mainly
by Japan. This new market caused the shift of longlines fishing in Indian
Ocean and Pacific Ocean to shift from frozen to fresh tuna. Yet, the
supply could still not cope up with the demand partly because of the
declining tuna catch. Filling-in the open niched are the small scale
fishing ventures such as the handlines and the troll lines.
2. Second is the declining profitability of tuna longline and tuna pole and
line fishing, which is mainly due to the depletion of the tuna stocks that
is further aggravated by the increasing fuel prices. These developments
forced the tuna longline industry to use smaller vessels (15-30 GT) to
minimize costs of operations. Furthermore for the pole and line fishing
industry, the shortage of live baitfishes adds to the problems already
presented.
As a response to these negative developments, the large pole and
line vessels are now being converted into mother boats of tuna handline.
Riding on the profitability of small-scale tuna handline, pole and line
companies have entered into partnership agreements (mitra kolaborasi)
with small-scale tuna organizations/ individuals by using their large
pole and line vessels as mother ships: acting as storage facility and
providing access to fish aggregation devices (FADs). It is expected
that more pole and line fishing vessels will be transformed into mother
ships for tuna handline fishers.
Note that between 1990-2004, pole and line fleet underwent an
expansion of vessel tonnage to accommodate more live baits, a move
designed to address the acute live bait shortage. Such move apparently
did not succeed.
3. Third, owing to the fuel price increases since 2004, the number of
operational tuna longline vessels has declined to about a third of its
high of 1,600 boats. An undetermined number transferred based to
West Africa (Maldives) and Sri Lanka while about six (6) vessels availed
of the Malaysian government fuel subsidy offer in exchange for fishing
and landing in Malaysia. Others, (about 10 vessels) have retrofitted
their vessels for squid jigging and/ snapper longline fishing.
Allowing for the establishment of FADs in the Indonesian EEZ of Indian
Ocean promotes shift of all FAD-based fishing methods into the area,
triggering the mass transfer of fishing effort and the accompanying
threats. We observed the beginning of troll line fleets migration from
Sulawesi Tenggara to Indian Ocean, competing with the existing fleet
from West Sumatra, this signals the advent of more pole and line fleets
finding their way into the EEZ of the Indian Ocean. Also, the small-
scale tuna handline are becoming even more popular. Furthermore,
fishing companies have started investing in large purse seining, that
construction of nets and FAD anchors already in progress in Benoa,
Bali, a port used to be exclusive for tuna longline operations.

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These developments only add up to the marked increase of fishing
intensity in Indian Ocean and the growing sectoral conflicts between
these different fishing industries. Government should now initiate a
plan to regulate these activities before it eventually gets out of control.
Key Result #3: Indonesian tuna and tuna products needs to improve in order
to become competitive in the global markets.
This section lists three major activities in order to achieve the level of competitiveness
which translates to larger tuna catches and improved market access.
1. Removal of harmful subsidies and redirection of funds for tuna
management;
2. Addressing huge post harvest losses;
3. Rationalizing tuna exports
Eliminating Harmful Subsidies
Almost all types of pervasive subsidies could be found in the fisheries sector of
Indonesia. Direct grants are in the form of free fishing accessories to fishers, discounts
in fuel prices, and dole-outs of fish containers to merchants and traders. Capital
investments are also granted which were intially given out in the form of cash to fishers
or traders, and managed by certain agencies or cooperative, but interviews revealed
that no payback system has been successful so far. There are also the indirect subsidies
mainly consisting of infrastructure support to development of and maintenance fishing
ports and storage facilities. While the indirect subsidies are mainly good subsidies,
poor planning and implementation have turned them into bad subsidies. Construction
of auction halls (TPIs) in many landing areas that remain un-utilized is one of the cases
of mismanaged subsidies.
This report did not estimate the amount of pervasive subsidies but it is presumed to be
substantial given the extent of its use and the regular budget allocation annually. Some
of the subsidies for the capture fishing sector such as providing free boats and support
for FAD constructions exacerbate the already high levels of fishing intensity. The initial
activities needed to address the issue of subsidies are the following:
1. Quantify amount of subsidies within the tuna sector and identify which
are good and which are bad subsidies. These subsidies may be
classified which are economically and socially harmful, and measures
on how to minimize, if not totally eliminate these, should be developed.
2. Characterize and value these harmful subsidies and identify how the
savings (from removal of these harmful subsidies) may be re-channeled
to the management of the tuna resources, such as for research.
3. This information, when properly collected and synthesized, would fully
arm the government to put a strong position in the current negotiations
on new rules for fisheries under the WTO agreement.
Addressing post harvest loses
Reducing post harvest losses will address social, economic and ecological concerns
of the tuna sector and will likely put Indonesia to a position of global significance.
Post harvest losses, defined as the percentage of catch that is below the standards, is
very high. For the tunas of “sashimi grade”, the average post harvest losses is 68.8%
(range: 40% for longline and 80% for handline). With this volume of “rejects” the quantity
far exceeds the volume accepted. For skipjacks targeted for canning, the average loss
is 35% (range 15%-60% depending on fishing gear and location).

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The social impacts associated with high post harvest loses include loss of income for
fishers and traders because income are proportional to the volume traded. Governments
lose directly as a consequence of lesser tariff revenues and indirectly from potential
investments. The ecological consequence of poor quality is that fishers tend to catch
more than what is necessary in order to generate sufficient daily income. Most of the
“rejects” end up being consumed locally, in many instances, putting the local populace
at a higher health risk. While no statistics are available, people are at constant risk
from possible histamine poisoning, diarrhea and other forms of illnesses.
Below are key recommendations on addressing this issue:
1. Set a health standard for fishing and trade that requires minimum set
of post harvest equipment and required minimum training to maintain
quality. Indonesia may aspire to use HACCP as its standard. Use of
carbon monoxide (CO) to make the color of flesh fresh is widespread
in the country and should be stopped.
2. Undertake massive training of fishers, traders and processors on post
harvest handling. Undergoing training could be used as a prerequisite
for securing or renewal of fishing license.
3. Provide post harvest facilities (storage facility, ice plants, ice boxes) in
key centers of tuna fishing and ensure that the distance between fishing
grounds and the support for post harvest facilities are kept at a
minimum.
4. Promote loined instead of whole fish for sashimi. Here the government
needs to work with the traders and importing countries to allow export
of loins for sashimi. This will reduce the large rejection rates from
handline and troll line fisheries, which are due to inadequate facilities
in the small boats for cleaning and gutting, as well as immediate coolling
of the whole fish. Doing this will greatly improve fish quality that is also
translated to higher market value of the fish and thus higher income
for fishers.
5. Poor screening at the borders of the exporting country leads more
likely leads to high volume of rejection by the importing countries, which
are strictly imposing international health standards. High volume of
rejection equates to bad reputation of the exporting country which is
the case for the exported tuna products of Indonesia. Issuance of health
certificates should follow strict compliance because rejections are not
just loss of money but loss of face for Indonesia as well.
Rationalizing Tuna Exports
Much of the export revenues generated from tuna are fresh and chilled products with
Japan, US and the EU as the major markets. The volume of Indonesia’s tuna exports
depends on two factors: the volume and quality of tunas caught.
There are several major actions by which Indonesia, even without the benefit of
increasing its current catch quantity, could improve its tuna export performance by
undertaking the following:
1. Improve the quality by following the recommendations above.
2. Develop new processed products because value-adding are essential
to expanding export market share. While tuna products of Thailand
and Philippines cater to different market and use new packaging
techniques (e.g. pouches), products from Indonesia have lagged
behind.
3. Undertake policy actions to narrow prices between landed prices and
export prices. This is particularly true for fresh, chilled and frozen tunas.

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4. Address the mismatch of infrastructure support vis a vis the tuna fishing
areas. The current tuna facilities in Muara Baru and in Benoa are
already too far from the centers of tuna fishing located in eastern
Indonesia. Addressing this issue will help reduce overhead costs, higher
profits for fishers and reduces health risks.
5. Increase the number of international gateways for tuna and other
seafood exports. Presently, main tuna exports are passing through
four airports only, in Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya and Makassar. Manado in
North Sulawesi and Ambon are good candidates due to their proximity
to the tuna fishing grounds. However, support infrastructure within the
airports need to be established first such as laboratory testing facility
and storage as well as quarantine facilities. A tuna gateway in Papua
would also be strategic as it could serve not just the domestic but also
international needs of the fleets operating in the western Pacific, the
area being within four hours of air travel to leading markets of Australia,
Japan, Korea and China.
6. Facilitate the documentation process involved in the export of tunas by
creating “One-Stop Shops” strategically located all over the country.
This, hopefully, will eliminate the issue of corruption and additional
costs of going from one place after another just chasing papers.
7. Strengthen the support facilities particularly in developing and providing
sufficient manpower and laboratories to cater to the needs of the
industry.
8. Find ways to lower the cost of freight. Currently, freight (air and sea)
cost in Indonesia is more expensive by as much as 30-60% compared
with Philippines and Thailand.
9. Strive to improve facilities in order to meet the health standards required
by importing countries. Requiring tuna processing companies to be
ISO or HACCP certified is a move in the right direction.
Key Result #4: Tuna fisheries undermine ecological integrity through unregu-
lated by-catch of non-target species, unmanaged bait fisheries and unregu-
lated fishing of tuna stocks.
The tuna fishing gears extract various species while catching the tunas. These include
long-lived, low reproductive rates species such as turtles, swordfish, seabirds, sharks,
rays and even the juveniles of their co-specifics. These species are usually refered to
as by-catch. By-catch impacts biodiversity, whether utilized or not, through incidental
mortalities. Economically, it is an issue of waste through discards (e.g. seabirds, turtles,
carcass of sharks) or through potential loses generated by catching the juveniles of
commercially important species, undermining both sustainability of the resource and
the livelihood of the peoples that depend on it.
Recommended actions to address issues on baitfishes:
1. Undertake thorough assessment of the baitfishes stocks, particularly
for the anchovies (Stolephorus) and determine, based on current
population levels, how much may be taken out for both human
consumption and baits. The use of indirect methods in estimating stocks
(e.g. egg production method, larval surveys) to complement catch
statistics and acoustic methods, are highly recommended. Egg surveys
are particularly easy to undertake because anchovy eggs are easily
identifiable due to their spherical shape.
2. Set a government policy on the use of baitfish species, by identifying
which species is allowed for baits; taking into consideration the social,
economic and ecological impacts on the continued of use of immature
and juveniles of highly commercially important species.

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3. Set a policy/ guidelines on how anchovies are appropriated for human
consumption and for live baitfish.
4. Issuance/ renewal of fishing licenses for pole and line must consider
not just the status of the skipjacks but the status of the baitfish resources
as well. This is an application of ecosystem based fisheries
management to tunas by ensuring that the number of licensed pole
and line boat will have sufficient live baitfish supply and that the fishery
will not jeopardize the sustainability of the baitfish resources.
5. Undertake a study on the use of milkfish as an alternative source of
baits. Given its advantages as a fast growing, herbivorous species
with technologies perfected to a full-cycle culture, is the likely answer
to the chronic shortage of live baitfish. Most importantly, it would reduce
current fishing pressure on baitfish stocks, providing an affordable live
baitfish source that naturally occurs in the fishing ground, thus avoiding
the problem of introductions.
Actions to minimize catch of juvenile tunas of tuna fishing gears
For some unexplained reasons, the juveniles of yellow fin and bigeye tunas form schools
with skipjacks of similar sizes. As a consequence of this behavior, substantial amounts
of juveniles of these species are caught by pole and line, purse seine, liftnets and
gillnets. Even tuna handline preferred to catch juvenile tunas as baits. Based on data
from WCPFC on Indonesia’s domestic fleet catch, the estimated nominal catch of
juveniles of skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye for 2006 amounts to 41.7 thousand tons,
down by 38% from a high of 67.5 thousand tons in 2000. The greatest decline is observed
in yellowfin tuna, probably a consequence of reduced stock abundance.
Much of the juvenile tuna catch is associated by the use of fish aggregation devices or
FADs as a fishing strategy. Fishing fleets of purse seine, pole and line, handline have
adopted this technology to minimize operational cost of searching for schools. With
the sky-high prices of fuel representing between 40%-60% of total operation cost,
fishing in the FADs simply makes business sense.
This study recommends the following actions to address this issue.
1. National policies need to be in place to address the issue of juvenile
tunas. First is to have a minimum size law to catch specific tunas. The
length (size) needs to be based on solid science. The sizes at maturity
currently used by the governmen, 45 cm for skipjack and 55 cm for
yellowfin, need to be re-checked as recent estimates of yellowfin’s
length at maturity is around 100 cm.
2. Review and update the current policy on fish aggregating devices
(Pemasangan dan Pemanfaatan Rumpon, Nomor 251/Kpts/IK, 250/1/
97) to address the issues on juvenile catch. Critical policies that will
reduce the juvenile contamination of tuna catch are: regulating number
and distance of FADs, promote sharing of FADs between tuna fishing
sectors, and ban on the use of FADs in highly overfished areas.
Aside from the abovementioned fisheries issues on FADs, anchored FADs
when detached from its float becomes a part of the marine debris issues
and even pose hazards to navigation. These issues make it very
necessary to have a system which function is to regulate, zone and
monitor FAD deployment, number, and distribution. Admittedly, a lot of
research needs to be done to address these issues. But while waiting
for science to become available, precautionary measures need to be
in place.
3.In the development of policies, traditional knowledge should not be
ovelooked as these are in most cases based on realities and are cost-
efficient.

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4.In aid of capacity building and policy development, the experiences of
the fishers who have long used FADs should be harnessed. For
instance, tuna handliners in Padang, West Sumatra need to enhance
fishing skills to fish the larger tunas in the deeper waters by learning
from their North Sulawesi counterparts or from Filipino tuna handliners
that utilize drop stone method.
5.Enact policies that protect the key life stages of tunas such as spawning
sites, nursery areas and migratory corridors. The government should
start with identifying the important spawning and nursery areas of the
tunas. Better still is to establish with neighboring countries, a joint
protected area to protect critical life stages of the tunas. Three important
critical areas are recommended: the protection of the southern bluefin
tuna spawning area in the Indian Ocean between Australia and
Indonesia, and the yellowfin spawning area in Sulawesi Sea between
Indonesia and the Philippines. Similar moves should be taken with
Timor Leste to protect migratory pathways. Also, Arafura Sea with
Australia could be promoted as a tuna fishing-free zone for a number
of years.
6.Engage the stakeholders to help implement tuna policies. For instance,
implementation of legal size limits for tunas may work well with
canneries or processing plants.
7.The impact of FADs on fishing intensity is not understood but is
presumed very significant. Precautionary measures such as regulating
the use of FADs, and strengthening the monitoring of FADs will help in
better understanding its impact. Research efforts must work with the
global community on how to incorporate FAD effects on existing stock
assessment models.
8.Advocacy campaign to change consumption behavior of consumers
who preferred juvenile tunas over their adult counterparts for cultural
as well as health reasons.
9.Undertake research on addressing by-catch. This is done by looking
at the two levers of by-catch solution, addressing the catch per effort
of by-catch and exploring possible management interventions such
as regulatory bans, regulatory limits, trade sanctions, consumer
boycotts and changes of fishing gears. Addressing by-catch per fishing
effort include technological interventions, changes in fishing techniques,
training and management actions.
Key Result #5: Benefits from tuna fisheries are not equitably distributed among
its fishing sectors.
This section discusses three major causes of skewed benefits arising from tuna fishing:
illegal fishing conducted by both foreign nationals and domestic fishers in the EEZ and
territorial waters; the small benefits that accrue to local tuna fishers arising from current
market and trade practices; and loss of potential revenues arising from the highly
migratory character of tuna resources where most of the benefits accrue to the nations
fishing outside Indonesia.
Illegal Fishing
The costs of illegal fishing to Indonesia is estimated to be about US$2 billion a year
(Djalal 2007), with half of this amount probably related to tuna fishing. Illegal fishing
by foreign nationals occur because the country’s borders are porous, as border
delimitation with neighboring countries have not been settled. As such, rampant
illegal fishing violations occur in every fishery management areas with EEZs (Nugroho
et al., 2007) that includes the South China Sea, Malacca Strait, Sulawesi Sea, Pa-
cific Ocean and in Arafura Sea. Fishers from Thailand are main violators in the
South China Sea and Arafura Sea, Chinese, Taiwanese and Filipinos are main vio-

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lators in the Sulawesi and Pacific EEZ areas. Fishers from PR China are also fish-
ing illegally in Arafura Sea. While there were arrest of fishers and seizure of vessels
made, there were very few convictions. Corruption has mainly propagated the pro-
liferation of many of these illegal fishing activities.
There are several ways to curb illegal fishing. First, is to strengthen the MSC system
of the country; second, is to improve enforcement; and third, is to assign special
courts to litigate illegal fishing cases with dispatch. The current MSC system is in
place but would require large logistical support to operate effectively.
Another cause of “illegal fishing” is the questionable agreement entered into by
some local government units with foreign fishing entities, using the decentralization
law as framework. Such interpretation of the law needs to be clarified because for-
eign boats are seen operating in the territorial waters within the “provincial or re-
gional waters” if such waters legally exists. A legal loophole probably exists be-
cause fishing privileges are given to vessels of less than 30-GT which qualifies
pumpboats from the Philippines under joint venture agreements with locals to be
given licenses, albeit temporary ones.
Collaborative Fishing Arrangements
The development of the Nucleus Estate for Smallholders (NES) System or Mitra
kolaborasi is a highly desirable collaborative agreement between large fishing com-
panies (mainly pole and line) with small scale tuna handline fishers. The company
provides mother ship (a retrofitted pole and line vessel) that carries as many as 20
tuna handline boats to a fish aggregation device. The arrangement is that the com-
pany provides the supply, sometimes the boat, food and storage for the fishers and
buys all the catch. Such arrangement allows small scale fishers access to fishing
ground and storage facility thereby ensuring the quality of catch.
The downside of such agreements however is that small scale fishers are treated
as laborers rather than partners. The prices of fish are dictated by the company.
While some company actually provided financial support, there are many instances
where support for boat construction by small scale fishers are provided for by loans
from the banks that needs to be repaid, the company providing the guarantee to
these loans. In this case, repayments are made through these companies (not to
the bank directly) thus companies get additional profits from additional interests
added to these loans.
There are many variations of this system, the most common ones are called the
“plasma system”, established between a trading company and pole and line boats.
Particularly common in Flores Island, Kupang and lesser Sunda Islands, individual
owners of pole and line boats and liftnet boats could join the system wherein the
plasma or the trading company provides its members the support services such as
ice, FADs to fish and live baitfish and in some instances, even fuel. In return for the
services, members are compelled to deliver all their catch at company dictated prices.
Generally, the buying prices are 20-40% lower than existing prices. There is plenty
of room for improving the system and government should initiate studies on how
best to improve benefits arising from these arrangements.
Skewed benefits due to tuna migratory behavior
Indonesia loses a lot of potential revenues from tuna due to migration outside the
country. This would explain why around 31.5 thousand tons of juvenile yellowfin and
bigeye are taken by various domestic fishing gears in 2006 (WCPFC database). At
current prices of Rp5,000/kg, the total value of these juvenile tunas is US$17.5
million (exchange rate of Rp 9000 per dollar). If these fishes were allowed to grow to
maturity sizes with only natural mortality (0.798/yr) to consider, the potential rev-
enue is US$229.6 million. But Indonesians will barely profit from this because a
large portion will get out of the country’s jurisdiction to the benefit of the Pacific
Island countries and the fishing nations who fish for these tunas when they become

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bigger. The potential loss amounts to around US$212.0 million. Its just fair therefore
that Indonesia (and the Philippines) should be paid of these for them to stop catch-
ing the juveniles. These two countries, being host to the juveniles of the large tuna
species are being forced to protect the young tunas by not catching them at the
loss of their livelihood. WWF is currently working with an academic institution to
develop a model which hopefully will be able to find a win-win solution to this di-
lemma.
Getting Off the Hook:
The Roadmap to Indonesia’s Tuna Trade Sustainability
Stocks of tunas in many areas within the territorial and EEZ waters of the country have
declined, based mainly in the total catch and the decline in catch rates that result in
tuna fishing becoming unprofitable. This is true for tuna longline fishing in Indian Ocean
and Banda Sea while substantial reductions in catch rates are observed in Sulawesi
Sea and the Indonesian EEZ of the Pacific Ocean. Similarly, ominous signs of overfishing
the tuna stocks is apparent as shown by the movement of tuna fishing fleets from the
traditional fishing ground due to unprofitable operations and the increasing distance of
fishing grounds, exacerbating quality of catch.
The key results enumerated above indicate that the current management efforts for
tunas fall short of the minimum required to ensure sustainability and conservation of
other related ventures such as baitfish fisheries, by-catch and others. Fulfilling these
minimum requirements is also necessary for ecosystem-based management approach
for tuna fisheries to be correctly implemented.
The roadmap to sustainable tuna trade as Figure 14.2 depicts is a stepwise set of
short-term and long-term goals designed to achieve the ultimate goal of sustainable
trade in about 10 years or less.
Short-Term Goals
The short-term goals within the period of 1-3 years are: a) to make tuna fisheries EBM
compliant; b) Indonesia actively participating and pushing for reforms in at least three
regional management organizations; c) making tuna and tuna products international
Figure 14.2. Graphic representation of the tuna management goals for Indonesia.
See text for explanation.
Certified Fisheries; eco-labeled products
Tuna Management Goals Stock Assessment
Ready
Data
Collection
System
EBM COMPLIANT
Bait
Fisheries
Capacity
Infra
support
system
Tuna
Resources
By-
catch
FADs
Policy, Research, Information, Enforcement

 
Fishing
Vessels
Post
Harvest
Handling
Trade &
Market
RFMO
member
(IOTC, CCSBT,
WCPFC)
Int’l Trade
Compliant
(e.g. HACCP)
Fishing
Gears
Consumers
 

Invest-
ments
Invest
ments
Consumption
behavioral
change
Certified Fisheries; eco-labeled products
Tuna Management Goals Stock Assessment
Ready
Data
Collection
System
EBM COMPLIANT
Bait
Fisheries
Capacity
Infra
support
system
Tuna
Resources
By-
catch
FADs
Policy, Research, Information, Enforcement

 
Fishing
Vessels
Post
Harvest
Handling
Trade &
Market
RFMO
member
(IOTC, CCSBT,
WCPFC)
Int’l Trade
Compliant
(e.g. HACCP)
Fishing
Gears
Consumers
 

Invest-
ments
Invest
ments
Consumption
behavioral
change

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trade compliant; d) providing conducive investment regime for tuna and tuna products;
and, e) laying the foundation to change consumer consumption behavior.
The initial activities needed to achieve these four short term goals (1-3 years) would be
two-fold: First, is to become stock assessment-ready; and second, to attain an enabling
environment where policy, research, information, enforcement allows a seamless
cooperation among and between the three levels of governance.
To make Indonesia stock assessment ready means improving data collection system,
providing qualified personnel to undertake the job and ensuring infrastructure support
to make this happen. Simultaneously undertaken along the same timeline are policy
actions addressing key issues in regulating fishing capacity, improvement of post harvest
handling capacity of tuna fishers; processors and traders; removing trade, markets
and investment barriers; and advocacy among consumers about the current status of
tuna stocks. This is a formidable task when viewed for the whole fisheries of the country
but when separately developed first for the tuna fisheries only, it may actually become
the model on which the shrimp, sardines and scads fisheries could follow.
The first of the four short-term goals is to make tuna fisheries management EBM-
ready. EBM in simple terms means that tuna management will use the triple bottom
line approach: address the ecological, economic and socio-cultural aspects. The tuna
management equation must be able to strike a balance of all these three aspects.
EBM for tuna likewise means that other fisheries in relation to the management of tuna
resources, needs to be concurrently managed as well. This includes looking into the
baitfish fisheries, the by-catch of turtles, sharks, rays and other non-target species,
and the issue of catching juveniles of the tunas. Small tunas (bullet and frigate tunas,
bonitos) and associated groups such as billfishes and swordfish likewise need to be
included in the management and not simply left out as currently practiced.
The second short-term objective is for Indonesia to work with and harness the full
potential of becoming a full member of the regional management organizations. At
present, Indonesia has recently become a member of the Indian Ocean Tuna
Commission and has expressed intention to join the Commission for the Conservation
of Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) and the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC).
Indonesia is a powerful tuna producing country and it could use these regional
organizations to provide, on a short term, technical and logistical supports to many of
the reforms needed while long-term plan for capacity building and development of
sustainable funding mechanism is being developed.
The third short-term objective is to reform the tuna trade to make tuna exports and its
products competitive internationally. This requires: a) the substantial reduction, if not
the elimination of wastage in tuna fishing as a result of poor post harvest handling; b)
improving services in support of exporting products; and c) encourage research on
development of new tuna products.
Reducing waste for at least 50% will result in doubling the volume of exports, without
increasing the intensity of fishing, translating to more revenues and income. Sadly, in
2007, the exporters could hardly fill-up the 9,000 ton quota given by EU to Indonesia
under reduced tariff rate of 12% while competitors like the Philippines and Thailand
have filled up their 15,000 ton quotas immediately within two-months.
Reforming the bureaucracy for tuna exportation will reduce cost and make exports
competitive. High freight costs, delay in processing of papers, insufficient number of
laboratories that issue health certificates and corruption are among the issues that
require immediate government attention.
Major revenues from tuna mainly come from exports of raw materials (fresh-, chilled-,
frozen-whole fish, and loins, steaks, etc) and minimally from package-processed tunas.
Government should encourage research to develop new processed products and new
packaging techniques that cater to the growing spectrum of consumers with various
tastes and preferences. For example, Indonesia could take the lead in processing

CHAPTER 14
SUMMARY & RECOMMENDA TIONS
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Halal tuna products to cater to the global Muslim consumers. Similarly, processors
should jump into the “organic / healthy or/ nutritious foods” bandwagon that now occupies
one third of supermarket shelves and is growing. Tunas today are just known for sashimi,
sushi or canned tunas designed for sandwiches or food additives. However, new
products from tunas could be developed by looking more into its organic components,
for example the omega-3, fish oils or other anti-oxidants found in thousands other
products. Following the model of corn which extracts such as the High fructose Corn
Syrup (HFCS), a cheaper substitute for sugar, finds its use in thousands of products
for food, cosmetics and industry products. Research in this direction may discover
component products derived from tunas, particularly frigate, bullet and bonitos that
may be developed following the example of corn.
The fourth-short term goal is to provide a conducive investment climate through a well
planned tuna development, an area where the government has started addressing.
One of the most recent government policy in July 2005 is the unilateral cancellation of
fishing access agreements giving way to development-oriented access agreements
that compel fishing nations to invest in the country: fishing companies should establish
processing plants and land their catch in Indonesia, and fishing ships be manned
predominantly by Indonesian crew members.
This is a welcome move to the foreign fishing companies but at the moment are dilly-
dallying until these three things are addressed:
a) improve the “brand name” of Indonesia in the world market;
b) remove or eliminate harmful subsidies that create monopolies and to
level-off the playing field; and
c) address “corruption issues” which have made doing “tuna business”
expensive and difficult.
Landing the tunas and investing in processing plants in Indonesia mean that the origin
of the product would be Indonesia. However, at present most EU countries have policies
of automatically retaining the products from Indonesia at the borders for health
inspection. This causes not just considerable delay but additional expenses as well for
laboratory testing which exporters must shoulder, adding significant cost to the product.
Subsidies directed to capture must be eliminated to reveal the true cost of fishing for
tunas. Subsidies tends to distort prices and costs of investments.
While it is difficult to prove corruption, one may look into the number of divestments in
the tuna sector since 2005 by foreign companies and understand the reason(s) for
closures or transfer of operations elsewhere.
The fifth short-term goal is to lay down the foundation for consumers to be informed of
what is going-on in the tuna fisheries, issues that consumers need to know. This requires
transparency in the way tunas are managed. Advocacy and communications campaign
should address this goal and rally consumers to help implement some of the key polices.
Mid-term Goals: Better Practices & Certified Tuna Fisheries
The mid-term goals (3-5 years) is an elaboration of the short term goals where better
practices are documented and implemented on a per fishery management area.
Implementation of better practices is a continuing process, utilizing adaptive
management, and whenever possible, scaling up successes in small fishing grounds
to larger management units. For the EBM, this means, continuous research so that the
decision making process is always founded on solid science. For the RFMO,
experiences on the domestic front should be shared to the region. Indonesia must
become a major decision maker in these organizations as it is both a resource and a
fishing nation. It could form independent coalition “blocks” with its neighbors to influence
reforms which these regional organizations badly need. The strength of the RFMO
depends on the strength of its individual members and Indonesia could show that a
“bottoms up” approach is a logical way to enforce and manage a transboundary and

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migratory resource such as tunas.
Should Indonesia succeed in reforming its international trade and address the attendant
issues besetting it, then this country could utilize its trade and market influence in order
to complement the resource management of other countries in the region. Indonesia,
with its sheer volume of exports backed by a good “brand name”, could become a
global leader in tuna, looking to the EU, Japan and USA more as partners and not
simply as an exporter.
A gauge to evaluate how good tuna management has started to take roots in the country
is for a tuna fishery or several fisheries to become certified, preferably by MSC. This
could only happen if the short and medium-term goals have been sufficiently achieved.
Becoming certified will take time but foundations need to be set within the short term
period. It takes a lot of pain and sacrifice to become certified and incentives must be
high enough to convince stakeholders to proceed with the process.
However, there are two underlying assumptions that should be fulfilled within the short
term period which will determine the success of the enumerated activities above. First,
is the issue of governance framework where all these tuna activities will be undertaken.
The roles of each of the three levels of governance: national, regional/ provincial and
district, under the regime of managing tunas on a fishery management area basis
needs to be clearly defined and understood. Many of the jurisdictional issues arise
from the maritime boundaries of the country which have yet to be defined. For instance,
the boundaries of the internal waters within its archipelagic waters, territorial seas and
exclusive economic zones needs to be settled and roles of each of the governance
units clearly defined (Djalal 2006). How do these maritime categories be incorporated
into the fishery management areas of the country? How does the flow of information,
enforcement of rules, enactment of implementing guidelines, resolutions of conflicting
policies between and among the three levels of governance be resolved? These sets
of questions need to be answered well if the recommendations given above are to
succeed.
The second less controversial but equally daunting question is where to source funds
needed to support all these recommendations. There are possible sources that include
redirection of some of the GAA developmental funds, removal of and redirection of
government subsidies and, development of new scheme to raise funds from revenues
generated from tuna sector.
In summary, the status of tuna stocks in Indonesia is at level where correct interventions
using the ecosystem-based management approach, when done very soon, could
translate into a sustainable tuna trade in the near future. The data and the sets of
recommendations contained in this report could provide the basis for the development
of a comprehensive tuna plan that will provide a long lasting food, jobs and livelihood
to the stakeholders alongs its product chain.

WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to
build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:
• conserving the world’s biological diversity
• ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
• promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
For More Information:
Dr. Lida Pet-Soede
Initiative Leader, WWF-Coral Triangle
[email protected]
Dr. Jose Ingles
Strategy Leader, Tuna Strategy, WWF Coral Triangle Initiative
[email protected]