The Condition Of The Indonesian Sea Is Critical, Commission IV Of The DPR Warns Of Tsunami Threats And Starvation

Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The Indonesian House of Representatives highlighted the discovery of a research vessel OceanXplorer that found a megathrust with the potential for a tsunami and critical condition of the Indonesian sea. Commission IV of the DPR assessed that there must be concrete efforts made to these findings, one of which is strengthening the law on maritime protection.

"I am concerned about the findings of OceanX which states that the Indonesian sea is in critical condition. This must be our common concern," said Member of Commission IV of the DPR, Daniel Johan.

OceanX is a non-profit organization that is conducting exploration and research at the Indonesian sea called OceanXplorer. Throughout the previous three stages of missions, it covered the waters around Batam, Aceh, Padang to Jakarta.

The plan is that there will be 6 stages of exploration missions where in the previous 3 stages, OceanXplorer focused on conducting oceanographic and geophysical research with a number of areas that include biodiversity, climate, paleo-climatology, microplastics, water quality, and geological characteristics such as the Sunda Megathrust zone which has significant implications for mitigating natural disasters in the future.

According to Daniel, the discovery from OceanX could be an important warning for Indonesia to improve marine conditions considering that Indonesia is an archipelagic country whose territory is about 62% sea and waters.

"Our sea is the lungs of the world, and the damage that occurs will have a broad impact not only on the people of Indonesia but also on the global ecosystem," said the legislator from the West Kalimantan I electoral district.

Daniel also proposed a number of things that need to be done to improve the Indonesian sea. The first is to strengthen marine protection laws, including strict supervision so that there is no excessive fishing and protection of marine ecosystems.

"As a legislative institution, we will encourage the strengthening of the law, because strong regulations and strict law enforcement are needed to resolve this issue," explained Daniel.

This is in line with the discovery of OceanX, which shows that the number of biodiversity in the Indonesian sea is lower and the lack of presence of large commercial fish species. In fact, this condition occurs in almost all parts of the world, but because Indonesian food relies more on marine products, this condition will have an impact on food security in the country.

Daniel also considers OceanX's discovery cannot be considered a small thing because it is related to the issue of food security where currently the problem of hunger has also occurred in many countries.

"Not only about the problem of damage to biodiversity which will have an impact on life in the future, but this also involves the country's food security," he said.

"It takes hard work to overcome this problem if we don't want future generations to experience hunger because we don't have food stocks," continued Daniel.

In addition, the House of Representatives Commission in charge of Marine and Food affairs also assessed that it was necessary to increase Indonesia's partnership with the international community to strengthen relations. Daniel said that the step to strengthen this international partnership was aimed at exchanging information and knowledge in an effort to save the Indonesian sea.

"International cooperation is very important, because marine problems are global problems that require a common solution," he said.

Daniel stated that the DPR is ready to cooperate with OceanX to carry out further research so that there is a transfer of technology and knowledge for Indonesia. After that, it is also necessary to have an educational program to increase public awareness about the importance of keeping the sea beautiful and clean.

"It is also important to collaborate with inter-institutional research, which must prioritize technology transfer and the involvement of the younger generation," said Daniel.

The exploration of OceanXplorer's research vessel in the Indonesian sea is also in collaboration with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). Based on OceanX's experience of sailing and researching the seas of various countries, marine problems related to coral reef damage, eroded mangrove forests, coastal regional resilience, and others actually do not only occur in Indonesia but throughout the world.

This condition is also exacerbated by climate change and heating up the Earth's temperature. However, findings from research like this can encourage disaster mitigation of the policy makers of a country.

"We also know that damage to the sea is not new. We have been screaming in the DPR for a long time so how the conservation policy is really optimized for our sea for the safety and sustainability of the people," explained Daniel.

"We have to make sure that the policies made are not only beautiful on paper but also effective in the field," he added.

Daniel hopes that the findings of the OceanXplorer ship can be taken seriously by the Government in a sustainable manner. According to him, overcoming marine problems also requires joint cooperation and collaboration from all components of the nation, including the community.

"So we hope that the Government will respond to these findings by immediately taking steps that must be taken. Don't just start it, but be consistent," said Daniel.

"Involve related parties, embrace science, community groups, the international community, volunteers and local communities who usually live in the sea. Our sea improvement efforts will be successful if there is good synergy and collaboration," concluded Daniel.