West Sumatra Maninjau Lake Polluted, Drastic Reduced Fish Capture

One of the fishermen in Lake Maninjau is repairing fishing gear, Sunday (9/9/2023). (ANTARA)

LUBUK BASUNG - The catch of fishermen in Lake Maninjau, Agam Regency, West Sumatra has decreased since December 2022, the impact of the pollution of the volcanic lake. One of the catch fishermen in Lake Maninjau Andi Putra (43) said the catch has decreased from 30 kilograms per day to five kilograms per day. "The catch in the form of tilapia has decreased drastically by about 25 kilograms every day," said Andi, quoted by ANTARA, Monday, September 25. He said, for therinuk fish currently does not exist, so that fishermen do not catch the endemic fish of the lake. With that condition, the price of fish is quite high in the lake waters. For the price of tilapung fish from Rp. 15 thousand per kilogram to Rp. 18,000 per kilogram. "The catch of the fish has decreased since December 2022, after the mass death of fish," he said. Meanwhile, the Head of the Food Security and Fisheries Service, Agam Rosva Deswira, added that the catch results decreased after the reversal of water to the surface. "With that condition the oxygen in the lake waters decreased so that the floating fish died and included endemic fish," he admitted, the Agam Regency Government received fish conservation areas in Jorong Pandan and Jorong Sigiran Tanjung Sani District, Tanjungraya District in 2022. The conservation area was in order to preserve endemic fish in Lake Maninjau which is threatened with extinction.

This location should not have exploitation, fishing activities and fish cultivation locations.

In this way, the native lake fish in the area will be large and breed in that location. "The fish can be sustainable and non-vanishing, such as some native lake fish, batok, cide-cide and others. Currently, the skinuak fish have started to exist in Lake Maninjau," he said.