The Fate Of The Ringkiah Traditional Fisherman Being Hit By Extreme Weather, The Government Is ASKed To Strengthen Its Social Protection Scheme

Illustration of fishermen looking for fish in the middle of the sea. (Doc of the Ministry of KKP)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Traditional Fishermen's Association (KNTI) asks the government to pay attention to the fate of small and traditional fishermen who are dealing with climate change such as uncertain extreme weather by strengthening social protection schemes.

This was conveyed by the General Chairperson of KNTI Dani Setiawan in a public discussion "Nelayan Facing Climate Crisis: Quo Vadis Fisherman Protection and Small-Scale Fish Cultivation" online in Jakarta, Thursday, January 12.

Dani said KNTI had received a number of reports related to cultivators and fishing fishermen who had accidents and even died in recent months.

"Not a few of our fishermen who faced accidents and some even died due to erratic weather changes at sea. I think this is part of the risks faced by our fishermen," he said, confiscated by Antara.

Dani admits that fishermen basically adapt very quickly to the situation. For example, when fuel prices increase, fishermen continue to go to sea by getting the size of the ship smaller in order to save fuel.

Although he said it was also related to the economic urgency faced by small and traditional fishermen.

Unfortunately, continued Dani, KNTI as a fishing organization has not seen the solution offered by the government to deal with the existing situation.

In fact, according to him, providing insurance premium subsidies for fishermen throughout Indonesia should be considered because of the contribution of fishermen as community nutrition providers and supporters of the national marine and fisheries product trade performance.

"We see that the solution offered by the government is not yet visible. We calculate, for example, with the BPJS scheme, for example, all fishermen in Indonesia are around 2.3 million protected by the government in the form of providing BPJS Employment premium subsidies, the amount is actually not too large, only around Rp. 400 billion and at the same time our fishermen get old age guarantees," he said.

In addition to getting old age insurance, according to Dani, the provision of insurance premium subsidies from the government will also make fishermen's performance better because there is certainty that they can work safely and comfortably.

Not only self-protection, but his party also encourages insurance for fishing tools such as ships used to go to sea.

"I think we need to continue to encourage this kind of thing to the government so that the government really has a strong scheme, strong budget allocation support to protect one sector that has an important role in providing food nutrition that is important for the community and providing job opportunities, as well as contributors to the national economy," he added.

On the other hand, Dani also reminded that the protection for fishermen needs to be in line with mitigation policies on the impact of climate change.

"We are trying to find out how the fishing organizations or fishermen, cultivators, will start taking concrete steps to encourage mitigation schemes whether by conserving coastal areas or for example by encouraging technological innovations to catch fish or process fishery products," he said.

Dani assessed that the mitigation adaptation scheme to deal with the threat of climate change should be a priority agenda that is in line with efforts to protect Indonesian small and traditional fishermen.

"The mitigation adaptation scheme to deal with the threat of the impact of extraordinary climate change needs to be a priority agenda that we will continue to push forward, especially how the government has a strong scheme to encourage protection for Indonesian small and traditional fishermen," he said.