IOS 9 feb

9 Februari

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[9/2 10.00] +62 856-3205-774: 

Good morning ladies and gentlemen 🤗 welcome back IOS today.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

So let's have a scientific breakfast today with a topic from our keynote speaker *Mr. Merdeka Agus Saputra* which is about *"Fish Aggregating Device and its Controversy"*.

🤗

As usual, I would introduce myself first.

I am Dita Wisudyawati, a MSc graduates of Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.

In this case, I am responsible as the event organizer of IOS and the host of IOS group today.

We also have a translator to help us in translation if it's necessary. Her name is Ms. Shobrina. Ms. Shobrina the floor is yours 😊🙏🏻.

[9/2 10.11] +62 856-4662-9888: 

Thank you and good morning everybody, this is Shobrina, a master student of IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia. I will assist you to understand today's discussion by translating every speaker's post about today's topic. Feel free to ask me anytime you would like to ask into English. Thank you. I return this opportunity back to Ms. Dita☺🙏

[9/2 10.15] +62 856-3205-774: 

Thank you very much Ms. Shobrina, for your time and help 🤗.

Hope everything goes well today 😇.

Here we go...we have the order of IOS today.

Start from introduction by Mr. Merdeka, presentation of the topic, discussion, closing and conclusion by Mr. Merdeka, and closing by the host.

Mr. Merdeka the floor is yours...😊🙏🏻

[9/2 10.16] +62 857-3344-2706: 

Thank you so much for having me everyone

My name is Merdeka Agus Saputra, and I have a Marine Governance Environmental Policy Specialization under Aquaculture and Marine Resource Wageningen Program at Wageningen University. I hope this discussion will give such a lesson learned and make your Sunday holiday productive

Today I would like to talk about the sign of Environmental Orthodoxies in fish aggregating device operations for tuna fisheries. And that I understand that this dimension of political ecology theoretical framework is somewhat unfamiliar for you all that primarily have the expertise on natural science track or sphere for Aquaculture and Fisheries related background

As what the title say, in the nutshell, it is about fish aggregating device and its controversy in tuna fishery

[9/2 10.18] +62 857-3344-2706: To start with, I would like to ask you all a rhetoric question; why is it about fish aggregating devices and what are fish aggregating devices?

[9/2 10.18] +62 857-3344-2706: Yes, fish aggregating devices are also known as artificial coral reefs, often it is made of the coconut leaves. It is locally known as Rumpon. Many Indonesian fishermen in Maluku, Lombok and West Papua deploy the fish aggregating devices to attract tuna before catching them with fishing gears as purse seine or long-lines.

[9/2 10.20] +62 856-4662-9888: Contoh FAD

[9/2 10.25] +62 857-3344-2706: In essence, there are two types of FADs. Drifting and anchored FADs. Drifting FADs have their behavior similar to tuna; it can be mobile and go where the current direct them to be. While the anchored FADs are often fixed in one place. That is to say; anchored FADs have a space limitation as opposed to drifting FADs.

[9/2 10.26] +62 857-3344-2706: In your mind,  so why is it then necessary to study FADs?

[9/2 10.26] +62 857-3344-2706: 1. FADs contribute to the total catch of tuna and other fish species, and that increases the income source for fishermen

 2. FADs help small-scale fishermen or living-subsistence based small-scale fishermen to harvest fish including tuna for their fisheries community’s livelihood and food security

 3. They also contribute to the high catch of large-scale industries

[9/2 10.28] +62 857-3344-2706: It sounds so fascinating right on how FADs contribute to economic development in general.

[9/2 10.28] +62 857-3344-2706: FAD operations, notwithstanding, have two sides of the same coin. Not only do FAD operations tempt tuna species for fishermen’s’ livelihoods, but also they congregate other marine species, which in turn renders environmental problems (Davies et al., 2014). Fishermen often have sharks, turtles, and dolphins as a bycatch (Gillman et al., 2011). Besides, FAD operations are often associated with IUU fishing in the High Seas and Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) which is possible because of limited monitoring and controls (See: Suzuki and Pauly, 2010; Pramod et al., 2014; Toonen and Bush et al., 2018; Yuniarta et al., 2017; RFMOs, 20192). Here, most large-scale fisheries employ FADs illegally, and that contribute to IUU fishing (Leroy et al., 2013). Indonesian economic losses due to IUU fishing in tuna fisheries reach up to 20 billion USD per year (Farhan et al., 2018).

[9/2 10.29] +62 857-3344-2706: The illegally deployed FADs in this open access water as well alter the Bigeye, Yellowfin, Southern Bluefin, and Skipjack tuna species’ migratory behavior and that of other fish species (Wang et al., 2014; Leroy et al., 2013; Firdaus, 2018). Consequently, the fish do not migrate to the coastal water areas, whereby the small-scale fishermen harvest the fish (Wang et al., 2014). This situation, in turn, catalyzes the fish catch depletion in the small-scale fisheries, threatening existing subsistence-based small-scale fisheries in Pacific Regions and Indonesia (Albert et al., 2015).

[9/2 10.30] +62 857-3344-2706: Regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) restrict and ban FAD operations in its country members (RFMOs, 2019). Underpinning this ambition, the Indonesian Minister of Fisheries and Marine intends to eradicate any form of the FAD operations in the sea owing to the adverse ecological effects over tuna species (Ebener, 2017)3. Nevertheless, the FAD management in Indonesia generally remains challenging to be realized, even though RFMOs and FAO have supported to govern FAD operations in tuna fisheries (See: WPCFC, 20194). Moreover, banning and restricting the FAD operations gives socio-economic consequences, especially for FAD operations-dependent small-scale fishermen (Gjerde et al., 2013), while the large-scale fishermen keep exploiting tuna relentlessly in the High Seas and EEZ (Wang et al., 2014).

[9/2 10.31] +62 857-3344-2706: So now, everyone here grasps the overly complicated problem of FAD operations that in general, since FADs entail socio-economic and environmental impacts, national and international governments aim to ban and restrict the FADs.

[9/2 10.32] +62 857-3344-2706: This decision, however, will be at the higher effect at the small-scale fishermen. They will not catch the same amount of fish without FADs. In turn, they will suffer from low revenue and poverty, putting them into a more vulnerable condition. Meanwhile, the decision will give the least effect to the large-scale fishermen, operating FADs in the high sea, which is possible due to limited monitoring and control in this open-access water area. They keep exploiting the tuna fish and that the tuna stock degradation and bycatch problems will not be addressed.

[9/2 10.34] +62 857-3344-2706: This phenomenon is called environmental orthodoxies.  Environmental orthodoxies are generally defined as unfair policies due to politically manipulated information and overgeneralized environmental problems, leading to poverty and environmental degradation (Case et al., 2015).

[9/2 10.36] +62 857-3344-2706: In today's discussion, I would bring up the topic of informational governance, actually with the terms of environmental orthodoxies. Have you guys thought over whether the statistical data can be politically manipulated?

[9/2 10.36] +62 857-3344-2706: In the case of FADs, according to current studies, the data about FADs do not represent the whole fishery and mostly exclude small-scale fishermen. The lack of data is from where the problem comes.

[9/2 10.36] +62 857-3344-2706: Inspiring from the epistemological and ontological perspective of FADs, we will dive further on what can be done, and maybe anyone here want to have their arguments about it?

[9/2 10.37] +62 857-3344-2706: First thing first, epistemology means how to get the data and how certain actors interpret the data? While ontology is what we know?

[9/2 10.37] +62 857-3344-2706: So we know that FADs have contributed to overfishing, bycatch, and IUU fishing. And now we know that the government responds to this problem by banning the FADs and that results in environmental orthodoxies in itself.

[9/2 10.40] +62 857-3344-2706: Here you all see that every actor interpreted the problem differently, especially the people in power or the international government as RFMOs including the Indonesian prime minister aims to ban the FAD operations, even though FADs can also be beneficial for small-scale fishermen.

[9/2 10.41] +62 857-3344-2706: Banning with limited facts of the two contexts of small-scale fishermen and large-scale fishermen, I may argue, is a sign of environmental orthodoxies. Again, only fishermen get affected by such a prohibition rule, while it does not solve the environmental problems.

[9/2 10.41] +62 857-3344-2706: the small-scale fishermen*

[9/2 10.41] +62 857-3344-2706: Meanwhile, if the information regarding the small-scale fishermen FAD operations and the large-scale fishermen FAD operations are entirely well understood, we can then contextualize this issue.

[9/2 10.42] +62 857-3344-2706: Of course, small-scale fishermen FAD operations would attribute to environmental degradation as IUU fishing and bycatch similar to large-scale fishermen. But then we can specify which fishermen, where fishermen operate and how severe it is.

[9/2 10.42] +62 857-3344-2706: In so doing, we prevent generalized decisions that the entire fishermen, regardless of small-scale and large-scale fishermen that employ FAD drive the socio-economy and environment catastrophe. The less generalization in marine policy, the more effective ones can address the problems related to the FAD operations in Indonesian. This conception in the hope to underpin small-scale fisheries and large-scale fisheries to catch tuna and fish responsibly without putting the unprivileged group as small-scale fishermen to be who to blame.

[9/2 10.43] +62 857-3344-2706: That's all for me, to start the discussion and the topic about fish aggregating devices. Thanks

[9/2 10.45] +62 856-3205-774: Is that all you want to talk, Mr. Merdeka?

[9/2 10.47] +62 857-3344-2706: Yes for now,  I hope it is adequately providing the proposed research about FAD and its controversy. Thanks

[9/2 10.49] +62 856-3205-774: Thank you very much for your presentation Mr. Merdeka. As tuna is fisheries commudity in Indonesia. I would expect it's going to be an interesting and also controversial topic to talk about 😊.

Is there somebody who wants to ask or maybe give opinion?

[9/2 10.49] +62 856-3205-774: *commodity

[9/2 10.58] +62 856-3205-774: Well...maybe first question is coming from me, Mr. Merdeka.

So how powerful is RFMO and FAO tackling the FADs in Indonesia ?

As we know Indonesia contributes to tuna stock for fisheries over the world.

[9/2 11.01] +62 857-3344-2706: I have not analyzed the power of RFMO yet to be honest and so is FAO. But in terms of making a decision to address FAD problem these two indeed contribute to several efforts such as research on the environmental impacts of FADs, consolidating with its members including Indonesia and other countries which have tuna resources to ban and restrict the FADS. Their policies are legally (not legally) binding to their members.

[9/2 11.04] +62 857-3344-2706: Largely dependent on their agrement

[9/2 11.05] +62 857-3344-2706: agreement*

[9/2 11.05] +62 856-3205-774: Thank you for your answer, Mr. Merdeka. I also agree with you that how effective FADs ban or regulation by RFMO and FAO could control all the FADs use in Indonesia since maybe it's too large and complicated each other I mean for each environmental and socio-economical factor. That's what I think about.

[9/2 11.07] +62 857-3344-2706: Thanks for the discussion. Exactly it has been under a massive scrutiny for this policy given its environmental and socio-economic consequences

[9/2 11.10] +62 856-3205-774: And if I refer to this statement...why is FADs regulation still controversial in Indonesia? Is that due to the most profession as small-scale fishermen? Or other factor such as polotics or maybe government?

[9/2 11.15] +62 856-3205-774: *politics

[9/2 11.17] +62 857-3344-2706: Yes back to the point where banning FADs may not solve the environmental and socio-economic impacts. Say if the government implements this rule. Can they make sure that the fishermen operate in the high sea, which are the percussor of IUU fishing, bycatch and the tuna overfishing, will be following the rule? Or this rule will only affect the small-cale fishermen especially the living subsitence based small-scale fishermen given their proximity to the land-based government? Many scholars predict it will affect the later (small-scale fishermen). While the big players are still "relentlessly" exploiting tuna from afar.

[9/2 11.19] +62 856-3205-774: Alright...it's very logical and clear answer from you, Mr. Merdeka.

Thank you and I am satisfied with your answer 😊🙏🏻.

[9/2 11.20] +62 857-3344-2706: It is again alright to ban as long as they know who to ban. Of course, the ones, regardless of small-scale fishermen and large-scale fishermen, who happen to overexploit tuna and other fish using FADs with the high amount of fishing pressure. But such data are still limited.

.

[9/2 10.18] +62 856-4662-9888: Topik hari ini membahas mengenai ortodoksi lingkungan mengenai operasi penggunaan alat pengumpulan (agregasi) ikan untuk penangkapan tuna.

[9/2 10.19] +62 856-4662-9888: Alat pengumpul ikan [ _fish aggregating device_ (FAD)] merupakan terumbu karang buatan yang sering dibuat dari kelapa dan biasa disebut rumpon. Banyak nelayan di Maluku, Lombok, dan Papua Barat menggunakan rumpon untuk menarik tuna, sebelum ditangkap menggunakan alat tangkap berupa _purse seine_ atau _long-line_

[9/2 10.20] +62 856-4662-9888: Contoh FAD

[9/2 10.30] +62 856-4662-9888: Ada dua tipe FAD, yaitu FAD melayang ( _drifting_ ) dan menetap ( _anchored_ ). FAD melayang cenderung memiliki karakter yang sama dengan tuna, sedangkan FAD menetap cenderung diam di satu tempat, sehingga memiliki keterbatasan jarak, dibandingkan dengan FAD melayang.

[9/2 10.31] +62 856-4662-9888: FAD perlu dipelajari, karena: (1) Berkontribusi terhadap jumlah penangkapan tuna yang dapat meningkatkan sumber pendapatan; (2) Membantu nelayan kecil untuk memanen tuna sebagai pemenuhan kebutuhan hidup dan keamanan pangan; (3) Berkontribusi dalam industri penangkapan skala besar

[9/2 10.32] +62 856-4662-9888: FAD tidak hanya menarik tuna, namun juga spesies laut lainnya, sehingga menyebabkan permasalahan lingkungan (Davies _et al._ , 2014). Nelayan sering menemukan hiu, penyu, dan lumba-lumba sebagai spesies _bycatch_ (Gillman _et al._ , 2011). Selain itu, FAD juga berhubungan dengan penangkapan ilegal di perairan lepas dan ZEE yang memungkinkan terbatasnya monitoring dan kontrol (Suzuki dan Pauly, 2010; Pramod _et al._ , 2014; Toonen dan Bush, 2018; Yuniarta _et al._ , 2017; RFMOs, 2019). Sebagian besar penangkapan skala besar sering melakukan penangkapan ilegal (Leroy _et al._ , 2013), sehingga Indonesia mengalami penurunan ekonomi dari sektor penangkapan ikan tuna hingga 20 milyar dolar per tahun (Farhan _et al._ , 2018).

[9/2 10.32] +62 856-4662-9888: Penggunaan FAD secara ilegal di perairan laut terbuka juga mengubah jalur migrasi tuna mata besar, tuna sirip kuning, tuna sirip biru, dan cakalang, serta spesies ikan lainnya (Wang _et al._ , 2014; Leroy _et al._ , 2013; Firdaus, 2018). Ikan tidak bermigrasi ke area perairan pesisir sebagai tempat nelayan kecil menangkap ikan, sehingga mengancam keberadaan perikanan skala kecil di Pasifik dan Indonesia (Albert _et al._ , 2015).

[9/2 10.33] +62 856-4662-9888: _Regional Fisheries Management Organisation_ (RMFO) membatasi dan melarang penggunaan FAD di Eropa (RMFOs, 2019). Berdasarkan keputusan ini, Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan mulai membasmi bentuk penggunaan FAD di laut, akibat pengaruh ekologi ikan tuna (Ebener, 2017). Namun, pengelolaan FAD di Indonesia masih bertentangan, meskipun RFMO dan FAO mendukung adanya pengelolaan FAD yang baik untuk penangkapan tuna (WPCFC, 2019). Selain itu, pembatasan dan pelarangan FAD memberikan efek sosio-ekonomi, khususnya bagi nelayan skala kecil (Gjerde _et al._ , 2013), sedangkan nelayan skala besar menangkap tuna terus-menerus di perairan lepas dan ZEE (Wang _et al._ , 2014).

[9/2 10.34] +62 856-4662-9888: Pelarangan dan pembatasan FAD akan menyebabkan dampak yang lebih besar pada nelayan skala kecil, karena tidak mampu menangkap jumlah ikan yang banyak tanpa FAD, sehingga menyebabkan menurunnya pendapatan nelayan. Kondisi sebaliknya terjadi pada nelayan skala besar yang menggunakan FAD di laut lepas, karena penangkapan tuna skala besar tuna secara terus-menerus hingga stok di alam menurun dan permasalahan produk _bycatch_ .

[9/2 10.34] +62 856-4662-9888: Fenomena inilah yang disebut dengan ortodoksi lingkungan. Ortodoksi lingkungan merupakan peraturan yang kurang tepat, karena adanya manipulasi informasi politis dan generalisasi permasalahan lingkungan yang menyebabkan tingginya kemiskinan dan degradasi lingkungan (Case _et al._ , 2015).

[9/2 10.37] +62 856-4662-9888: Data mengenai FAD tidak menunjukkan kondisi perikanan tangkap secara keseluruhan, karena tidak memasukkan perikanan skala kecil. Hal inilah yang menyebabkan adanya kekurangan data penangkapan ikan dan munculnya manipulasi data.

[9/2 10.37] +62 856-4662-9888: Penggunaan FAD dapat dikaji dari segi epistemologi dan ontologi. Segi epistemologi berarti memerlukan cara perolehan data dan pengambil data menginterpretasikan data, sedangkan segi ontologi merupakan hal yang kita ketahui.

[9/2 10.42] +62 856-4662-9888: Hal yang kita ketahui, bahwa FAD berkontribusi terhadap _overfishing_ , _bycatch_ , dan penangkapan ikan ilegal, sehingga pemerintah melarang FAD dan menyebabkan adanya isu ortodoksi lingkungan.  Pelarangan dengan fakta yang terbatas antara nelayan skala besar dan kecil menandakan adanya ortodoksi lingkungan, karena hanya nelayan yang terkena dampak peraturan pelarangan, namun tidak menyelesaikan permasalahan lingkungan. Kondisi berbeda akan terjadi, apabila pemahaman mengenai penggunaan FAD oleh nelayan skala besar dan kecil berjalan baik, sehingga kita bisa menyelesaikan permasalahan tersebut.

[9/2 10.43] +62 856-4662-9888: Pemahaman mengenai spesifikasi jenis nelayan, lokasi penangkapan, dan seberapa tingginya intensitas penangkapan akan mencegah generalisasi keputusan untuk seluruh nelayan, baik skala besar maupun skala kecil, sehingga langkah lebih efektif bisa dilakukan untuk mengatasi permasalahan penggunaan FAD di Indonesia, sehingga bisa menyokong kinerja nelayan skala besar dan kecil tanpa menyalahkan satu pihak nelayan manapun.

[9/2 11.21] +62 856-4662-9888: Seberapa kuat RFMO dan FAO dalam membatasi FAD di Indonesia?

[9/2 11.24] +62 856-4662-9888: Sejauh ini kekuataj RFMO dan FAO masih blm jelas, namun kedua pihak ini berperan penting dalam beberapa usaha, seperti penelitian mengenai dampak FAD, konsolidasi Indonesia dgn negara penghasil tuna yg samasama melarang penggunaan FAD

[9/2 11.25] +62 856-4662-9888: Mengapa peraturan pelarangan FAD masih kontroversial di Indonesia? Apakah karena sebagian besar nelayan merupakan nelayan skala kecil? Atau apakh ada faktor lain seperti politik dan pemerintahan?

[9/2 11.26] +62 856-4662-9888: Pelarangan FAD sebenarnya diperbolehkan selama sesuai dengan ketentuan penangkapan, selain data yg akurat

[9/2 11.32] +62 856-4662-9888: Kalau nelayan atau kapal ikan industri mau mencari ikan, apakah mereka bayar atau gratis ?

 Kalau bayar, kepada siapa, dan perhitungan bayarnya dasarnya dari apa ?

[9/2 11.39] +62 856-4662-9888: Pertama nelayan harus memiliki ijin dari pemerintah, termasuk lisensi penangkaoan dan ijin transfer quato, serta perijinan lainnya

[9/2 11.54] +62 856-4662-9888: Diskusi ini diharapkan memberikan gagasan baru mengenai ortodoksi lingkungan dan perannya dalam pemikiran kritis mengenai keputusan yg dibuat pemerintah dan mempengaruhi sektor perkembangan perikanan kelautan