North Maluku Fishermen Are Cautious, BMKG Records Sea Wave Height Of 4-6 Meters

JAKARTA - The Meteorology, Kilimatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) of Ternate, North Maluku (Malut) has appealed to sea service users and fishermen to be aware of high sea waves. In Halmahera, the sea wave height is above 6 meters.

"We hope that marine service users will be careful with the conditions of the waters in North Sumatra, because around the waters of South Halmahera, northern West Halmahera, currently high waves reach 4-6 meters," said the weather forecast for BMKG Ternate, Fahmi Bachdar, quoted by Antara Friday, February 18th.

Apart from high waves in the waters of Halmahera Island, Fahmi said, high waves also occurred in the waters of Loloba, Ternate-Batang Dua, Bacan, Obi, Morotai to Weda Bay reaching 2.5 to 4 meters.

In fact, the high sea waves are triggered by synoptic conditions of wind patterns in the northern part of North Maluku which move to the northwest with wind speeds ranging from 5-30 knots.

Meanwhile, the southern part of Malut generally moves from the southwest-northwest at a speed of 5-20 knots and this condition results in an increase in sea wave height.

Meanwhile, due to high sea waves in a number of North Maluku waters, the Ternate Harbormaster and Port Authority (KSOP) closed shipping activities to and from Ternate, especially using small motor boats and speedboats, due to the high sea wave conditions.

Previously, the Ternate City Basarnas Search and Relief Office searched for a motorboat named PM Lintas Tonate with 20 passengers on the Ternate-Moti Island route which had an accident on Thursday, February 18.

Head of Basarnas Ternate, Muhammad Arafah, stated that PM Lintas Tonate with 13 passengers had a leak in the waters of Tidore Island while crossing from Ternate to Moti Island was successfully rescued.

According to him, the Basarnas Ternate Search and Rescue Office received a report from a passenger on the ship. At 09.40 Wit earlier, Basarnas Ternate dispatched a Rescue Team to move to LKP by using Ship Kn. SAR Pandudewanata to carry out the evacuation process.

He noted that during this week, the weather conditions in the waters in various areas in North Sumatra were bumpy with strong winds and seriously endangered shipping safety, especially for small motorboats.

Muhammad Arafah added that the day before, his party and related agencies had succeeded in rescuing two residents in the waters between Sanana Island and Buru Island when using a longboat.