By: Aliana Nafsal, Fisheries Office, WWF-Indonesia

"There is a fish buying ship from Selayar that wants to enter Grogos," said Syamsudin, Head of Tubir Tolu Group, a fishermen group assisted by WWF-Indonesia on Grogos Island, part of the Koon Island and Surrounding Waters Conservation Area (KKP3K) in Petuanan Kataloka, East Seram Regency, Maluku.

"These fish buying boats will buy parrotfish, grouper, red snapper, katamba (tefar), and octopus. The fear is that they will catch fish in Koon waters in large quantities," he continued. In fact, as a conservation area, Koon waters are a gam area (prohibition of resource extraction for a certain period).

This area is being reserved by the East Seram Regional Government as a Regional Marine Conservation Area, given the importance of the area as the second largest fish spawning ground in Southeast Asia. The community actually needs the fish-buying boat to sell their catch.

So far, fishermen can only sell their catches on Gorom Island and Geser Island. However, to get there, they are constrained by the cost of fuel which is quite expensive. Concerns about illegal fishing by the ship were finally conveyed together with WWF-Indonesia to the King of Petuanan Kataloka and the Gorom Island Sector Police.

For this reason, on October 7, 2017, the Gorom Island Sector Police team together with WWF-Indonesia Inner Banda Arc Seascape (IBAS) traveled to Koon and Grogos Island to initiate a collaborative patrol in Koon waters.

The Head of Grogos Hamlet immediately gave a mandate to Marinyo (the person in charge of calling the community to gather at the Hamlet Head's house) to gather the community at the Hamlet Head's house.

"In this conservation area, the fish are spawning, just like we cultivate fish. This conservation area must really be taken care of by all of us together for the sake of our future children and grandchildren. Those who know that this is a conservation area but still take fish, we will expel them from the waters of Koon," said Pak Puji, Gorom Island Police Chief, in front of 15 muddy Grogos residents, just 15 minutes after Marinyo called.

"The police will also impose sanctions if any of the fishermen conduct fishing using bombs and tranquilizers, because this is regulated in environmental laws," he added.

The warning was followed by a commitment from the people of Grogos Hamlet not to fish in Koon waters. "We request that a warning board be prepared that this place is a conservation area and fishing is prohibited, so that neighboring fishermen also understand and do not fish again," said Mr. Obi, one of the Grogos residents who always tries to reprimand violating neighboring fishermen.

The discussion that day continued with a joint patrol with the Gorom Island Police Sector team in Koon waters. The results of the patrol found two longboats from Petuanan Ondor; each longboat contained three and four people.

"No fishing is allowed in Koon waters. This is a conservation area," the Gorom Island Police Chief admonished the fishermen from Ondor, made sure they understood and then left.