NEWS

Lampung fishermen cry foul over Thai fish in local market

Fishermen in Lampung are protesting against the entry of Thai anchovies and salted fish products in local markets, arguing that they could not compete with the imported commodities due to the cheaper prices.They demanded the central government and local administrations tackle the issue in order to stabilize the price of the commodities.“Marta said Thai salted fish entered Indonesia through a small port in Jambi and from there were shipped to Lampung and Jakarta from the eastern coast of Sumatra.“We are surprised that the products can enter quite freely and can be sold for 50 percent cheaper than our products,” Marta said.The price of a kilogram of local salted teri nasi in Lampung and Jakarta, for example, is Rp 50,000 (US$5) compared to that from Thai, which sells for between Rp 23,000 and Rp 25,000. Local salted teri jengki costs Rp 30,000 per kilogram, compared to Rp 15,000 for the Thai version.

Herza Yulianto, director of Mitra Betala, an NGO providing supervision to fishermen and coastal communities, urged the government to act quickly to deal with the impact of the influx of Thai fish products in Indonesian markets to prevent local fishermen from going bankrupt.He said tens of thousands of traditional fishermen, vendors and others along the eastern and western coasts of Sumatra depended on the local fishing industry.

“Unless protection is given by the government, the livelihoods of all these people are threatened,” Herza said.One measure of protection, Herza suggested, was to prevent foreign fishing fleets from directly selling their catch to buyers in Jakarta."It doesn’t make sense that given the same operating costs, Thai fishermen can sell their products for much less than local fishermen,” he added.

Big fish eating small fish?: Villagers sort out small fish on Pasaran Island, Lampung. It is feared local small fish businesses could go bankrupt because of uncontrolled entry of fish from Thailand at lower prices. JP/Oyos Suroso