Indonesian moratorium on new trawl and purse seine fisheries licenses is a welcome move, says WWF. But there is need of an immediate reduction in fishing efforts to protect the Coral Triangle. Trawling and purse seine fisheries have become a problematic issue in Indonesia, strongly contributing to the overfishing of mostly fully exploited juvenile tunas, and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing in the area (IUU).
Dr. Lida Pet-Soede, WWF Coral Triangle Programme Head, informed that this moratorium on new fishing licenses for trawlers and purse seiners will certainly stop the bleeding but not the wound, so to speak. A reduction in current fishing capacity is key to addressing problems of overfishing and bycatch of juvenile tunas in the Coral Triangle.
It is reported that Coral Triangle contains spawning and nursery grounds and migratory routes for commercially-valuable tuna species such as bigeye, yellowfin, skipjack and albacore, producing more than 40 percent of the total catch for the Western Central Pacific region, and representing more than 20 percent of the global catch. Dr. Pet-Soede told that the existing fishing fleets in Indonesian waters are highly capable of bringing already fully exploited fish stocks to an even greater overfished state.
Trawling, which can catch as much as 30 tons of fish in a single operation, was banned nationally in 1980 but was once again made legal two years later, specifically in the Arafuru Seas in Papua. Purse seining has likewise become an issue in Indonesian fisheries. As much as 57 percent of skipjack, 71 percent of yellowfin and 75 percent of bigeye tunas caught by Indonesian purse seiners are juvenile and fully exploited.
