By: Buguh Tri Hardianto (Capture Fisheries Officer)

A positive step for the management of fisheries activities has been taken by the government through KP Regulation No. 2 Year 2015 on the Prohibition of the Use of Hela Trawl and Drag Trawl Fishing Tools. This regulation is considered to have a good effect on the sustainability of shrimp resources in Indonesia. However, shrimp fisheries management is not enough if only viewed from one aspect, several other things such as data provision are also important. In the fisheries management element, data availability is the basis for determining fisheries policy. However, not all relevant stakeholders realize the importance of catch data availability.

Seafood Savers as WWF-Indonesia's initiative towards sustainable fisheries in Indonesia supports every aspect that supports the improvement of fisheries, including the provision of catch data by fishermen. Therefore, through the Fisheries Improvement Program (FIP), Seafood Savers encourages its member companies to record production and biological data. Data recording is done to answer the need to know the status of fisheries stocks and to know the production trend. One of the member companies of Seafood Savers that has been actively recording is PT Cassanatama Naturindo.

Based in Semarang, PT Cassanatama Naturindo is engaged in the production of shrimp crackers and has two supplier locations that have socialized the importance of recording production data to the fishermen groups it supports, namely Sinar Bahari (Moro Demak) and Manunggal Kasih (Banyutowo). Together with WWF-Indonesia's Seafood Savers team, the company socialized how to fill in the catch recording form. Data from the companies has been entered starting from February 2017 and is currently being analyzed by WWF-Indonesia's Fisheries Science team.

"A few days ago, there was an inspection from the Wedung Port to our fishermen (Sinar Bahari Group, Moro Demak) related to the suitability of fishing gear. The port stated that the fishing gear is in accordance and was surprised because the fishermen have been recording via logbook though there has been no socialization from the port," said Ardhley Khoe, Marketing Director of PT Cassanatama Naturindo when met at the Seafood Savers Annual Meeting in Surabaya. Ardhley continued, that currently group members also have clear identities in the form of group member t-shirts for Manunggal Kasih and jackets for the Sinar Bahari Group.

Providing data through the process of self-recording by fishermen is sometimes considered trivial, and even tends to be ignored. The record-keeping conducted by Sinar Bahari and Manunggal Kasih has certainly shown more effort from the fishermen in carrying out their fishery improvement practices. In other words, the availability of catch data via logbook by these fishers is a real step forward in the process of improving PT. Cassanatama Naturindo's shrimp fishing activities. PT Cassanatama Naturindo and its two fishermen groups should be appreciated. As well as a motivation for the Sinar Bahari and Manunggal Kasih fishing groups to realize better fisheries practices in the future.