By Davidson Rato Nono

Fishermen of Satangnga Island, Tanakeke Islands, Takalar Regency participated in Better Management Practice (BMP) training on reef fish fisheries on February 22. The Satangnga Island fishermen are a fostered group of the Makassar Marine Conservation Foundation (YKL) which is a member of the Responsible Fisheries Working Network (JARING-Nusantara) which was formed in early 2013. It aims to improve fisheries that are organized in the work plan of the Marine Conservation Foundation (YKL) with WWF-Indonesia. Participants in this training totaled 28 fishermen and one collector who have committed to better and environmentally friendly fisheries practices.

Takalar Regency, the west coastal region of South Sulawesi with a coastline length of about 74 km directly adjacent to the sea, has great potential in the marine sector, including capture fisheries production which can reach ± 25,589 tons. In addition to the potential of marine production, Takalar Regency also has tourism potential, most of which are located in the Tanakeke Islands (Satangnga Island, Tanakeke Island, Bauluang, and Dayang-dayang). This is a challenge for all parties and anticipates problems that arise later. Answering that, the Takalar Regency Marine and Fisheries Service (DKP) made program planning for fisheries practices in Takalar Regency. In addition, DKP Takalar Regency also focuses on empowering coastal communities and supports JARING-Nusantara carried out by YKL together with WWF-Indonesia and hopes that this can be adopted by the Takalar Regency government.

The training began with a BMP pre-test for the fishermen. The pre-test is a collection of questions that aims to determine how much insight and knowledge of the fishermen related to responsible and sustainable fisheries management. Despite the lack of reading and writing skills, the fishers were enthusiastic in participating in the training. Next, a simulation of sustainable versus unsustainable fisheries was conducted, which aimed to give fishers an understanding of responsible and sustainable fisheries. After the simulation, fishermen were given material on reef fisheries BMPs followed by socialization of post-catch handling and product packaging operational standards by PT Panda Lestari as well as mechanisms that must be carried out by fishermen's groups when conducting business transactions.

At the end of the training, fishermen complained about the increasingly distant location of their fishing and the decreasing number of catches. The government is also still playing a minimal role in the welfare of fishermen. YKL convinced the fishermen to hold on to their commitment to improve fisheries management in their location. YKL also plans to register the fishermen group that participated in the training with DKP Takalar Regency and will record the catch (logbook) to determine the exact amount of fish stock on Satangnga Island.