Now Seafood, what next?

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Fishermen in Muara Angke, Pluit, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, prepare to carry catches of green mussels to peel on Saturday (02/23/2019). At present the price of peeled green mussels from Jakarta Bay at the fisherman level is Rp 25,000 per kilogram.

Those who love to eat fish and other seafood say that if you want to enjoy fresh grilled fish, go to eastern Indonesia, not Jakarta. The reason is simple: The fish in Ambon or in Labuan Bajo have only “died once”. This means that the fish came directly from the sea. Conversely, the fish that arrive at restaurants in Jakarta have gone through many hands, from fishermen to traders and then to the fish market, before they are bought by restaurant owners.

Now, the anecdote is becoming true with news that makes us more uncomfortable about eating seafood in Jakarta. Fish and other marine biota harvested in Jakarta Bay are contaminated with heavy metals. If we continue to eat them, we may become exposed to serious illnesses.

On the one hand, we hear a lot of suggestions to eat more fish and seafood, whether it\'s grilled fish or shrimp, steamed clams or squid cooked in oyster sauce. However, we have read the news in this daily that marine biota originating from Jakarta Bay are unsafe for consumption due to high concentration levels of heavy metal contaminants.

Etty Riani conveyed this in her inaugural speech on Saturday as an ecobiology professor at the fisheries and marine sciences school of Bogor Agricultural University. Etty said we risk developing cancer and non-cancerous degenerative diseases if we consumed more shellfish and fish than the tolerance threshold of 0.002-0.043 kilograms per week.

It is difficult for seafood lovers to obtain information on the threshold because aside from preferring to consume seafood, suggestions abound today to eat more fish. They do not know that Jakarta Bay, the estuary of 13 rivers, is polluted with poisonous materials that are dumped into the rivers.

As far as we can remember, the issue of pollution in Jakarta Bay has been around for the last two to three decades. According to a study conducted by University of Indonesia geography professor Tarsoen Waryono, the level of heavy metal pollutants in these rivers continued to rise in 2009-2013.

The heavy metals in question include mercury, cadmium, lead, chrome and tin. Although heavy metal contamination is very dangerous, no mechanism exists to monitor the heavy metal concentration in our fish. We often hear about Indonesian fish exports being rejected, which should be the basis for protecting domestic consumers. The provincial administration of the Jakarta area only has the authority to appeal to residents that they should not consume green mussels.

We can draw two lessons from this issue. First, the public must receive detailed information about the dangers of eating seafood from Jakarta Bay. Second, action must be taken to stop dumping heavy metals into the 13 rivers that empty into Jakarta Bay.

Otherwise, the suggestion to eat more fish could be misleading, while switching to animal meat – often referred to as a source of bad cholesterol – is also bad for our health.