Professor Of IPB Wanti-wanti Cantrang Can Due To The Extinction Of Marine Biota

Illustration of cantrang. (doc. KKP.go.id)

BOGOR - Professor of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) of the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) Professor Mohammad Imron warned of the dangers of cantrang fishing equipment because it could cause the extinction of other marine biota if used at coastal locations.

Imron said the cantrang fishing gear was not environmentally friendly because it caught fish to the seabed or beach so that the fish that were not yet suitable for harvest were also carried away.

"If left unchecked, it can make marine biota extinct, including certain types of fish. Moreover, there are still many fishermen who use it to catch fish in the coastal area," he said at a press conference for scientific preoration held online by IPB in Bogor, West Java, Thursday, December 8, which was confiscated by Antara.

According to Imron cantrang, which is an active fishing tool by operating to touch the ground of the water by spreading the rope in a circle, followed by lowering the cantrang net, then the two ends of the submarine rope are brought together to damage the marine ecosystem, including the biota-biota in it.

This was driven by the low compliance and ability of Indonesian fishermen and dominated by fishermen, so that the most widely used cantrang was even though the results were less effective.

Comparison between ship crews that are certified with fishermen based on descendants or not through education channels is 20:80 percent.

He said, as many as 20 percent of certified fishermen in Indonesia prefer to be the beginning of fishing vessels in other countries, such as Japan because their fishing tools and methods are more modern.

Therefore, Imron said that the development of effective and environmentally friendly fishing gear is needed to improve the quality and quantity of Indonesian fishery products at this time.

Although effective fishing gear is not necessarily environmentally friendly as well as vice versa. Solutions to fishing gear that are said to be not environmentally friendly can still be operated by improving construction or methods.

"For example, the use of trammeil net fishing gear which is the result of modification and is used to replace trawling fishing gear (fish fishing gear that is traced from a net, in the form of a cone) which is prohibited from being operated," he said.

Trammel net is a type of fishing gear that has a great opportunity to replace cantrang in utilizing demersal resources or basic water fish.

Construction of the bagwet needs to be repaired so that the number of catches increases so that fishermen are interested in using it.

On the other hand, cantrang can also still be operated if there are improvements to construction and methods. This cantrang fishing tool can also be modified as a prevention of catching protected species, garbage or material that should not be involved in the capture of the same species but not included in the category of feasible capture or juvenil.