Let the Mangroves Grow

To let the mangroves grow in its wild environment is the duties for all of us who care and have responsible feeling to save it. This picture is also tell us how the naturally and wildly grow mangroves become important to save and protect the environment as well. Not only from flooded water to our neighborhood, but also from abrasion. This is where mangroves may reach eight metres in its height as there are no people's hand interfere their growth and existence. This is also beneficial to another living creatures who live in and around mangrove trees; such as crabs, birds, bats, crocodiles, fish, snakes, and many more types of insects. When the mangroves gone, all of these living creatures will also gone in line with the mangroves destruction. If there are no fishpond or shrimp fishery business coming to this places, mangroves will still safe and protected. But how long will it be able to maintain, only time that would be able to answer it. Not many mangroves environment can be found like what we see in the picture above as the result of shrimp fishery and fishpond business. To find the mangroves environment we should go to the place where there are not so many people live in there and this might be a wild and jungle area of course. This picture was taken in West Papua, near District Babo, Bintuni Bay (if you see the map of Papua, you can find it around the neck area of the bird's head of Papua Island).

Natural and Wild Mangroves

This picture shows you how the natural and wildly grow mangroves and also free from the touch of people's hand. To create mangroves environment such as this kind absolutely will require the participation of all stakeholders who have interests toward it. For the government, especially regional government, it is the duty to release regulations which can continuously protect mangroves from business interest that in turn will deforested mangroves. Business sectors should also use certain careful consideration before making their own decision to do business in the protected mangroves areas. Non government organizations are also need to enhance their watch and control over these mangroves habitat not only in the areas where shrimp fishery business and fishpond activities are crowded, but also in the areas where there are not so many people do those business. This is in order to make sure that the mangroves are still safe and free from people's hand destruction. What the non-government organizations need are actually and inevitably funds to undertake this mission. This fund might come from charity or assistance by the foundations who care to the environment, especially mangroves.

Fishpond Rehabilitation: Is that one of the solution?

Is this idea become a new solution to the problem of deforerstation of mangrove trees along the beach? To reduce the number of mangroves being cut by people, it is necessary if we are not expanding the fishpond activities through mangroves cutting. The one solution is to use the old fishpond that was sometimes abandoned by its user when it was not fertile anymore to do shrimp fishery business in there. However, this effort will require experienced people to do it as well as more money resources required. In some deforested mangroves area, fishpond rehabilitation should become more popular than increasing to open new fishpond landlot and deforesting more mangrove trees. There is example where mangroves is still untouchable by human hands and naturally and wildly grow in its environment. The example of this can bee seen from Papua, another island in Indonesia besides Celebes or Sulawesi. In Papua mangroves may reach 8 to 10 metres for its height and still difficult to touch because they grow and live in the wild swamp areas where crocodiles and malaria musquitos still abundant.

Mangroves and Poverty: Do they interrelated?

This is fishpond and the house of poor people around it. Formerly the area was mangroves area. This picture was taken from Paojepe Beach, South Sulawesi.

Mangroves and poverty in some cases are always interrelated based on the example and experiences of South Celebes Mangroves areas. For instance at Tongke-Tongke Sub-district in Sinjai Regency, mangroves can be prereserved and maintained as the fishermen in there do not depend themselves on the fishing of fish around their areas. They are actually far distance fishermen and hunting Sunu Fish (in local term) and gone to another sea areas for a long period of time. Therefore no intensive interaction with mangroves in their place. Poverty is eradicated through the fishing work in the middle of the sea. Sometimes this type of fishermen went away from their home for three months and comeback to their homes after this period of time. And those in Paojepe where mangroves have gone they are not fishermen anymore and become fishpond workers. Poverty has destructed mangroves from its own environment as the people in the area and people from another areas coming to Paojepe Beach area to seek income from fishpond and shrimp fishery business. Poverty will cause fishpond and shrimp fishery business become severe as people trying to earn their income from this activities. If society in the beach areas still depend themselves from income close to the beach, there is a tendency if mangroves would be destructed. Not only mangroves, but also coral reef would have similar destiny with mangroves as the people would also destruct it in order to sustain their family life. In order there is a sequence where poverty become the antecedent variable of fishpond or shrimp fishery business activities, and then the fishpond or shrimp fishery business activities will cause the destruction toward mangroves. The higher the poverty level in the area, the higher the probability to the people to do fishpond or shrimp fishery business activities, and the higher the level of these activities, there would also the higher the level of mangroves will be destroyed. Research in several mangroves areas still need to be done as the comparison of this hypothesis.

Save Mangroves from Fishpond or Sacrifice Mangroves for Fishpond

These two related questions always become contradictive questions as both of it in fact have certain interest namely economic interest and environmental protection interest. Both of these interests are the same important as it is required by human needs. Saving mangroves from fishpond means sacrificing the economic interest and prefer environmental protection interest for sustainable living and for the future of human generation. In this situation economic interest doesn't get its priority and it meant that the prosperity of human economic well being is still in poor condition as they can not use the resources available for their welfare. In the longterm human being will be trapped in the poverty as the natural resources can not be exploited for their own living. This is also no good for human welfare itself as living in poverty actually become very miserable and painful. Therefore we as human being should also use a relevant way of thinking in line with the situations occurs and should be faced. From the second point of view, whether we should sacrifice mangroves for fishpond activites, especially for shrimp fishery business it is also requires a careful consideration. Sacrificing the environment for economic interest alone will also become disaster to human being. Examples of it are so many, from flooding, landsliding, drought, etc. and therefore we need to consider the environmental variables in preparing or doing our economic activities. Considering the safety of environment and the interest of future generation should also become our own agenda. We can not destroy this life, either it is our life or the life of future generation because of short-term economic interest. Departing from this question, what we should do to protect the environment and in this context is mangroves?

The Quality of Shrimp Fishery Export from South Celebes

Most of the yields of shrimp fishery business in South Celebes are exported to Japan. Besides Japan some other countries in Europe and USA are also receive shrimp produce from South Celebes. The recent trends in shrimp fishery export from South Celebes is that the rumour if the shrimp fishery export decrese in number as the result of high quality standard applied by buyer countries. The standard is especially related to the pollutant contained in the shrimp produce and chemical substance that the produces have. However, this rumour was denied by the official of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of South Sulawesi or South Celebes. The official said if the shrimp fishery produces from South Celebes were not banner by its buyer countries. The shrimp fishery produces that were rejected derived from Lampung shrimp fishery business. What can we say about the quality and cleanliness in shrimp fishery that are being asked by importer countries, especially toward the pollution of chemical substance on it. It is well known in this country that some irresponsible traders or businessmen had given chemical substance to the food or products they have. They did this just to avoid the loss that they might experience if their products were out of order before it was bought by the consumer. Not only fish and shrimp that have received chemical substances on it, but it is also tofu and chicken as well as some other ready made food such as meat balls or fish meat balls. Not only the foods receive chemical substances in order to prevent them from quickly out of order, but it is also sometimes fish receives the coloring with inappropriate substances that can cause cancer. Indonesian Government through the related authorities has banned these activities and have done either market or products surveillance, especially through the related authority at the Minsitry of Health or in local term called as BPOM (Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan) or the Board for Drugs and Foods Control. Does the activities of this government body effective in eradiculate or prevent the practice of giving chemical substances to the food related products?