Indonesia deports 15 Pinoy fishing activists
Indonesia deports 15 Pinoy fishing activists
MANILA, Philippines—Fifteen Filipino fishermen and fishing activists were briefly jailed as they were attending a discussion parallel to the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Indonesia, and were eventually “forced to leave” by immigration authorities and local police Tuesday.
Arsenio Tanchuling, of the Tambuyog Development Center, said he, two fellow Tambuyog members, and 11 fisher folk leaders from Kilusang Mangingisda were about to share the experience of small fishers in the middle of the May 10 to 13 conference when they were arrested and detained for 12 hours.
“It seems that there is no place for small scale fisheries in the world’s oceans,” he said.
Tanchuling said Berry Nahdian Furqan, national executive director of Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (Walhi), was also arrested.
The draft Manado Ocean Declaration, expected to be signed by conference participants on May 14, contains no mention of small scale fishers despite the fact that they make up more than 95 percent of the fishing industry and play a crucial role in managing fish stocks and coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs, mangroves, and sea-grass beds.
Tambuyog said small-scale fishers are projected to be one of the sectors that would be hit hard by impacts of the climate change, the theme of the World Ocean Conference.
That’s why small-scale fisher leaders, led by Kilusang Mangingisda of the Philippines and the Komite Persiapan Nelayan National Indonesia drafted a rights-based development agenda for fisheries and marine resources that includes community-based coastal resources management spearheaded by small scale fisher organizations.
The agenda also includes a comprehensive technical and financial support proposal for the formulation and implementation of climate change adaptation plans in coastal communities throughout the Southeast Asian region.
Over this snub of small fishers’ concerns, Tambuyog and its allied organizations complained that they were even harassed, detained, and denied their basic human rights to be heard and to peaceful assembly.
Tambuyog and Kilusang Mangingisda both belong to the Southeast Asia Fish for Justice Network (Seafish), a regional network of fisher folk and non-government organizations conducting an International Forum on Marine and Fisheries Justice at the Kolongan Beach Indah Hotel.
Earlier, participants to this international forum held a mass action along the beach in Malalayang where Seafish criticized both the World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit for not covering small fishers in their discussions.
Walhi and its organization in Sulawesi Untara, together with the Koalisi Rakyat untuk Keadilan Perikanan (Kiara), hosted the discussions on small fishers, as well as the mass action.
Seafish counts among its members organizations from Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia.
