"Rare" Launches Pride Campaign for Sustainable Fisheries
Rabu, 5 Juni 2013 20:40 WIB
By Yuni Arisandy
Jakarta (Antara) - International conservation organization "Rare" marked the commemoration of World Environment Day 2013 by launching "Pride Campaign" which is a campaign to achieve sustainable fisheries in Indonesia and Malaysia.
"We carry out the campaign in cooperation with our partners at national and regional levels to mark World Environment Day 2013," the Vice President of Rare Indonesia Taufiq Alimi said in the launching of Pride Campaign here on Wednesday.
According to Taufiq, overfishing, illegal fishing, other damaging fishing practices, as well as construction of buildings in coastal areas and pollution from land can threaten the sustainability of fish stocks.
"The threats, in turn, could also adversely affect the health and well-being of the population in Indonesia and in the Coral Triangle area," he said.
He further said that about one billion people rely on fish as the main source of protein because 25 percent of the total world animal protein comes from fisheries.
However, he also noted that fish stocks around the world have plummeted dramatically because one third of them have been over-fished.
"That's why solution of sustainable fisheries is needed since the quantity of natural resources continue to diminish while population is growing rapidly," he pointed out.
Taufiq added one of objectives of Pride Campaign is dissemination of "No-Fishing Zones" in 12 locations - protected waters where people are not allowed to fish so that fish can grow and become big and breed rapidly by laying more eggs.
"For example, a female grouper with a length of more than 40 cm should be protected since it can produce two million eggs, which is five times more than the number of eggs produced by smaller female grouper," he explained. (*)