Bantul Needs Fish Ports, Regent Admits Odd Sedimentation But Feasibility Studies Continue

Illustration of fishing boats. (Antarenews)

Bantul Regent Abdul Halim Muslih stated that his area needs a fishing landing port to optimize the fishery potential in the southern sea.

"We have the potential for the sea which so far has not been optimally exploited, even though our marine fish wealth is very abundant, but we have not taken it, so we need infrastructure in the form of fishing landing ports," said Regent Halim in Bantul, Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY), Friday, November 10, confiscated by Antara.

According to him, the potential for fisheries in the southern sea of Bantul includes tuna, heur fish, and babel fish, but so far fishing activities by beach fishermen are still using boats with a capacity of three gross tons.

Therefore, said the Regent, a fishing dock or landing port is needed in the southern coast of Bantul, so that fishing vessels with large capacities can dock.

"To make this happen, a study of technical feasibility is still being carried out, because there is continuous sedimentation, in the Depok Beach area, there is an Opak River estuary, the plan there under the Kretek Bridge can be used for fishing landing ports," he said.

However, said the Regent, to get out of the mouth of the Opak River to the southern sea, you must pass through Sowangan or a kind of small door, where in the area there is silting because there is sedimentation or sand that settles after being carried away by the river.

"So if we build a fish port in the Depok area so that fishing vessels with a capacity of 30 gross tons can go in and out of the sea, they must dredge the sand every day, whether it is worth not compared to the potential profits we will achieve," he said.

He said, therefore, the fish landing port on the southern coast of Bantul is currently under expert review and of course the Governor of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X is committed to realizing this, in order to improve the welfare of fishermen.

"So, it's just a matter of how we deal with daily sedimentation, meaning that before the fishing boat comes out, the sand must be dredged first. So, this is solely to take advantage of our abundant marine potential, which we can use as a source of poverty alleviation and increasing people's welfare," he said.