REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A legislator has praised the government's decision to postpone a ban on the use of trawls or cantrang, until December 2017.

"It turned out that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) responded to the complaint and protests by fishermen by summoning the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. The result was that the government has postponed the implementation of Ministerial Regulation No. 71 of 2016 until December 2017," Ono Surono, a member of Commission IV of the House of Representatives, noted in a written statement here on Thursday.

He said that during the relaxation period, the ministerial regulation still had shortcomings in several aspects, such as human resources in the fishermen's community that are not yet prepared and guidance and capital assistance that are yet to run smoothly.

Assistance in the form of fishing gear is not yet adequate and is not in line with the fishermen's requirements apart from licensing issues and ongoing arrests of fishermen by law enforcers at sea.

"The relaxation period now remains less than two months away, during which it is impossible to take solutions to 38 thousand fishing boats that use trawls and seine nets," he said.

Surono, who is also the general chairman of the National Fisheries Society, noted that Teten Masduki, the chief presidential staff, had made assurance that the postponement of the ban is applicable to all regions and not only limited to Central Java.

Also read: Govt allows fishermen to use trawlers until year-end

Teten's announcement has taken into account the aspirations of all fishermen across the country owing to the fact that fishing communities in all regions still use trawls and seine nets, according to Surono.

"Due to limited human resources, capital, and distribution of fishing tool substitutes, the government should have set a longer time frame for the regulation's relaxation period or should have at least extended it until the next three years or until December 31, 2019," Surono remarked.

Minister Susi stated on Wednesday that the government had finally decided to allow fishermen to use trawls as a fishing tool until the end of 2017.

The minister made the remarks after meeting President Jokowi at the Presidential Palace.

"I met the president. I have been requesting an extension period and awaiting directives from the president since Sunday. We have extended the period for the use of cantrang until the end of 2017. This is mainly for fishermen in the Central Java region," she emphasized. 

Cantrang is a type of fishing equipment that belongs to a group of boat or vessel seines.

The minister promised to soon distribute fishing tools to the fishermen to replace cantrang.

"Ships under 10 gross tonnage will receive the replacement during this time but not the bigger ones. Hence, we would provide assistance to banks," Siti noted.

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