Our Life and Death Rely on the Sea

Name: Our Life and Death Rely on the Sea
Uploaded: 2021-04-28T03:32:02Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: Some of the residents on the north coast of Karawang, West Java, are now collapsed. In the midst of a pandemic and bad weather, again they are “slipped up” by an oil spill in the sea.

Some of the residents on the north coast of Karawang, West Java, are now collapsed. In the midst of a pandemic and bad weather, again they are “slipped up” by an oil spill in the sea.

Melati Mewangi

· 7 minutes read

A pungent odor was smelled by Yani (56), a fisherman in Cemarajaya village, Cibuaya district, Karawang, Thursday night (22/4/2021). Instantly, his face looked worried. He knew exactly what this smell was.

Two years ago, this same smell had brought Yani much anxiety. Not being able to go to sea means a big disaster. In fact, the sea is the only source of life for him and his family.

We are worried that the oil spill will have a lasting impact like the one in 2019.

The next day, his guess was not wrong. The smell came from an oil spill that had floated and washed up on the shore. Not wanting to see any worse repercussions, he and his friends moved quickly. They flocked to clean up the sea and beaches.

"We are worried that the oil spill will have a lasting impact like the one in 2019. If left unchecked, the sea will definitely be polluted," he said.

Pertamina Hulu Energi Offshore North West Java (PHE ONWJ) admitted that there was a pipe leak in the BZZA area on Thursday (15/4/2021). The area is about 15 miles from the coast of Karawang.

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However, in the midst of his willingness to save nature as well as his source of living, Yani admitted that the last two years had been the toughest period for him. The oil spill in 2019 was devastating for fishermen.

His income dropped dramatically due to the impact of the oil spill. To make a living, he became a non-permanent worker to clean up the oil spill throughout his area of residence. The wage was Rp 100,000 per day. This amount was far less than when you were able to freely catch shrimp, reaching Rp 500,000 per day.

Reckless

He was desperate and went to sea again. However, the fishing net got dirty because it was exposed to waste. For almost two years he kept a fishing net that could no longer catch many fish. He bought a new net only after he received the remaining compensation money from PHE ONWJ in March 2021.

At the end of 2019, he received initial compensation of Rp 1.8 million out of a total of Rp 10.8 million, so that the remaining money he received after waiting for almost two years was Rp 9 million. However, the money had all been spent to provide for the family, buy nets and pay off debts.

Yani relied on the final compensation money from the oil spill for repaying his debt when he did not go to sea.

In 2020, when the oil spill was slowly being resolved, came the pandemic and bad weather. The price of his catch has plummeted. Shrimp, for example, is valued at Rp 70,000-Rp 80,000 per kilogram from the previous Rp 90,000-Rp 120,000 per kg. His income has also dropped, from Rp 500,000 per day to a maximum of Rp 300,000 per day.

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Fishing the more expensive fish is even more difficult for Yani. Having only a 2 GT boat, the cruising range is never more than 20 kilometers from the shore. Going farther is not feasible because bad weather keeps on coming. "All have an effect on the catch. The result is getting a little more. I am worried that this will be affected by the oil spill,” he said.

Seawater contaminated by the oil spill has also raised concerns for shrimp and fish farmers on the north coast. Endi (63), a farmer in Sungai Buntu village, who owns the Vaname shrimp pond in Karawang, will temporarily not take seawater to fill his ponds because the sea water still smells strong.

In his ponds, there are still reserves of sea water that can be used for circulating water replacement for the next week. He hopes that the sea water can be cleaned again and the water can be used for his ponds. Good water quality has a good impact on shrimp growth. The sowing of shrimp seeds in other ponds was also postponed after the oil spill hit this April. He didn\'t want to take risks and suffer losses like the previous two years. He is now losing billions of rupiah due to premature harvest.

Compensation fund

Please solve this problem immediately, don\'t let it drag on.

Endi has not received compensation from PHE ONWJ. In fact, the money he has spent to cover losses from restoring the basic quality of the ponds has reached billions of rupiah.

"Please solve this problem immediately, don\'t let it drag on. We are waiting for promises to be kept,” he said.

Payment of final compensation by PHE ONWJ was made at the end of March 2021. Whisnu Bahriansyah, who at that time served as PHE corporate secretary, said the compensation payment was made after going through several stages. In addition to random sampling payment, there is also verification to obtain information related to the validity of data of residents that would receive compensation.

"Currently, 10,379 people are in the process of receiving the money transfers as recipients of the final compensation. A total of 7,095 people are fishermen, sea tourism business players [1,146 people] and fishery product processors [2,138 people]. The total final payment is Rp 72.16 billion," he said.

At the same time, verification of land ownership is being carried out for agriculture or pond farmers. Payment will be made after the entire verification process is complete.

Contacted separately, ONWJ\'s manager of communications relations & CID PHE, Hari Setyono, said the emergency status for the 2019 incident has ended. Currently, PHE ON-WJ is restoring the function of the environment in affected areas in Karawang, Bekasi, Thousand Islands and Banten. The recovery program is targeted for completion in 2021.

We are worried that the birds and fish will disappear from the sea because the water is polluted.

Regarding the oil spill in April 2021, his office has repaired the pipeline so that it is certain that there will be no more oil spills. The handling team also deployed several ships to clean the oil spill in the sea. Monitoring will continue to be carried out by sea and air following the trajectory model of the oil spill, including at the PHE ONWJ production facility and other potential areas.

The hope for a better marine environment is clearly expected by fishermen. One of them is Wiharya (36), a worker from Sedari village, Cibuaya district, Karawang.

Wiharya is one of the fishermen who received compensation in the final stage of Rp 9 million in March 2021. The money was immediately spent on buying small crab fishing gear for Rp 7.5 million. The rest was spent on the needs of his daily life.

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However, the oil spill that had just happened this time quickly annoyed him. After the 2019 incidents, rajungan (seawater crabs) have become increasingly difficult to find. If previously they could be netted some 50 miles from shore, now he has to sail up to 150 miles from shore to get the crab. Previously, he only needed 5 liters of diesel per trip, now he has to use at least 20 liters of diesel to go to sea.

"This is the risk of being a fisherman. We are worried that the birds and fish will disappear from the sea because the water is polluted. Hopefully, that will not happen. Our life and death really depend on the sea," he said.

Ocean oil spills have various impacts. For some people, life will never be easy again if such things keep happening. The compensation does not seem comparable to the environmental damage and sorrow they experience.

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswoko.

Editor:

Syahnan Rangkuti

environment environmental damage oil-spill seawater ecosystem recovery program