Review of National implementation of Banggai cardinalfish activities

Dec 22, 2008

On November 23 and 24, 2008 a two-day meeting was held in Palu to review program implementation on the Banggai cardinalfish. The meeting was well attended, and the participants included Banggai collectors and officials from the district government of the Banggai islands, the Banggai Cardinalfish committee, staff from the department of Fisheries and Marine Affairs from Jakarta, provincial and district levels, NGOs from Palu, Yayasan Palu Hijau and LINI, an NGO from Bali,.

Update activities were given to explain the various activities that had been carried out during 2008, which included the compilation of harvest data of Banggai cardinalfish from two major collection areas, namely Bone Baru and Teropot. Currently, these two locations are major trading sites. The data collected from January to September showed that the greatest numbers of BCF collected were from Bone Baru with 115,505 collected. A total of 53,050 BCF were collected from Teropot. The total mortality recorded from both areas was 4,381 (2.6%)

The local traders from Bone Baru, who also own two boats, are currently the main buyers of BCF. The boats brought the BCF to Tumbak, and the fish were sold to the Tumbak traders who then shipped them to Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, and also to Singapore. The price paid to the collectors for each BCF is currently Rp. 350 (US$0.03), and the first buyers (middlemen) will sell them in Tumbak for Rp. 1,250 (US$0.11) each fish. A boat owner claimed that mortality is high during the holding of the fish in Tumbak while waiting for the local buyers in Tumbak purchase their fish. Sometimes the sellers had to wait for one week in Tumbak until the fish are sold. In order to cover the fuel costs, each trip they needed to take to take an average of 7000 fish each time.

This is an opportunity for an intervention if one would like to assist in reducing mortality. There is a need to establish a more efficient trade chain and route for BCF from the reefs of Banggai to the exporters’ facilities before shipping the fish abroad.

The compilation of harvest data was done by local collectors and traders, and the data were then compiled by government Fisheries staff of Banggai district in Banggai. The recording of harvest data will be continued, and the preliminary data collected in the last 9 months are a valuable tool that will be used for managing the collection of BCF in the future.

Other updates were given by the School of Fisheries of Palu, who conducted a study on the ontogenetic shift of BCF in Palu bay, where the population is adapted and thriving. Gayatri from LINI gave a brief presentation on the current issue of BCF in the buyer market countries, including the proposals for boycotts of wild-caught BCF in the US.

The meeting also reviewed the draft of the Banggai Cardinal Fishery Management Plan. The objective of this fishery management plan is to provide guidelines for managing this species, and includes the monitoring of harvest levels annually, the designation of collection areas with closed and open rotation systems for collection periods, registration of collectors and a licensing system for traders.

The next plan for action for 2009 that was discussed included the following issues:
- Re-survey populations of BCF in the Banggai islands
- Continue monitoring of harvest data.
- Development of trade monitoring of BCF (export level).
- Development of monitoring, control and surveillance of the marine and fisheries activities in the Banggai islands.
- Conduct training for fishermen and local traders on better collecting and post-harvest techniques.
- Establish chains of trade which improve and help to maintain the optimum health of BCF
- Develop an affective and better implementation plan of marine conservation areas in the Banggai islands.
-Endorsement of the Banggai cardinal fishery management plan with a Ministerial decree.