Thresher shark season in Bali. The slaughter begins again !

[zivva]

Hi all,

Just get back from an early morning trip to Sempalan (north east of Nusa Penida). No shark fished today because of the strong wind but learned much :

1. Sharks are fished south of Lombok

2. Boats from Nusa Penida get first to Karang Sari (east coast of Nusa Penida) before sharks are transported to Sempalan and finally transported to Bali (Candidasa being the main destination)

3. Sharks are fished YEAR ROUND ON A DAILY BASIS when conditions permit (no strong wind), peak season being September - October as you already know


We'll get back there probably next week ...

 

[DIVE TULAMBEN]

Hi Zivva,

Great that you got out to Penida to see what is actually happening because reports vary wildly and are often only partially true at best.
Shame you could only be there for a few hours which was on a windy day.

I have some comments on your points 1 to 3 above.

1) "Some sharks are caught around South Lombok." True.

There is also a huge fishery around the waters just off Penida and between there and Bali. This is in the main Thresher fishing season (July-Oct) when the pregnant sharks congregate in that area. This is most likely because of the cold water upwellings that divers will be familiar with at that time of year. Bali Shark Project was able to visit the fishing grounds with local fishermen on several occasions in speed boats paid for by donations. This is important as eye witness info is much better than talking to people on shore. Since the recent publicity the articles produced by BSP many fishermen have realised they may be better off not telling the truth about the shark fishing.

2) There are fishing villages around the north and east coasts of Penida. None on the south and west coasts due to the coast line being huge cliffs and not beaches to land boats on. All villages fish for sharks at least occasionally. They return to their home beach and sell the catch there. Fishermen from Sampalan land their catch not surprisingly in Sampalan. Other villagers sell their catch in their home villages and they are taken by pick up or even motorbike to Sampalan.

As far as Bali Shark Project knows no sharks are sent from Penida to Candidasa as you say. Why would they be as there is no ferry on that route? If you have any evidence of that being a trafficking route please share it with us. But it seems unlikely as most fins and some meat are destined to head to south Bali for export and go on the big wooden ferry to Kusamba.
Of course there are fishing boats that are based in Candidasa and they would catch sharks and land them there occsionally, but we are talk about Penida landed sharks here.

3 As in all Indonesia (and most of the world) fishermen target sharks when ever they can be caught profitably. Which sadly in many areas is seldom as they have been fished to the point of being very rare in most near shore unprotected areas.
Penida is a special case with a lot of Thresher sharks turning up seasonally. This has been exploited by the fisherman of Bali and Penida for at least 12 years and urgent action is needed before it is too late.

I know you are well intentioned but stating that the sharks are not caught around Bali and Penida as Bali Shark Project's research and photos show is not helpful !

You say you went to Penida this morning and are back home posting about it by 11am ! Home much time did you spend on Nusa Penida ?

It may be more useful to co-ordinate stuff with BSP before posting it online in the future. As mis-information is going to harm the effort to help the sharks.

 

[zivva]

All the informations I give come from my trip to Sampalan this morning, from 5 AM to 10 AM (I live in Nusa Lembongan : Sampalan is 45 minutes away from there) where we interviewed people overthere (+ more people on the way to the south east side of the island).

Sampalan is one of the main village on the island, located North East of Nusa Penida. This is also the main marketplace with people coming from all over the island to sell the goods they produce (fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat & fish).

But no fishing boats land directly to Sampalan as there is no beach there : sea is way to rought and beach side it is only concrete, no boat can land overthere. The fishing boats land over the east coast of Nusa Penida, from south of Sampalan (500m away from the market) to Karang Sari (10km south from Sampalan), Karang Sari being the main spot (largest beach) but there is a huge number of fishing boats on every beaches along the way to Karang Sari from Sampalan. People and goods transportation from East Nusa Penida takes place in Buyuk village, 2 km northwest of Sampalan. The main routes get to Candidasa, Pandangbai & Kusemba from Nusa Penida.

Again, we have been told at several occasions, in Sampalan market and on our way to the South East of Nusa Penida, that fishes that land in the east coast of Nusa Penida are fished south of Lombok (between Nusa Penida & Lombok) and are mainly transported to Candidasa.

That's what we have been told by locals.

Period.

Whatever, to sum it up : Sampalan is a marketplace (there is just no beach here !), not a fishery, the fish are landed next to Sampalan before being gathered in Sampalan.

As today wind is strong on the area, no fishing boat left Nusa Penida (there were dozens of them landed on the beaches from Sampalan to Karang Sari), but we have been told that when weather permit, many boats get in direction of Lombok (again, the fishing occurs between Nusa Penida & Lombok, 1 hour from Nusa Penida) to land their lines and come back with sharks in Nusa Penida. Last week, "a lot" (sorry no precise figures from the people we met) of sharks were caughted & landed in Nusa Penida.

Again, my point is to give updated informations I got from my early morning trip this morning including interviews with people on Sampalan market & fishermen met on the way to the south east of Nusa Penida. Again, because of the stong wind, no fishing occured last night and in the early morning and we did not meet so many fishermen as we could have with better weather conditions. But with better weather conditions we might have seen a lot of fished sharks on the east coast ... We will get overthere again sometimes next week.

 

[DIVE TULAMBEN]

Zivva,

So less your travel time you spent about 3 hours on the island?
Maybe a nice breakfast during your stay, a visit to the market and transport around and you are not left with much time to investigate.

This photo was taken in cental Sampalan:
Shark Fishing in Bali - Bali Shark Project

You did not notice the jukung that line the coast just south of the metal ferry terminal ? At low tide there is a beach there where the small fishing boats can be seen sometimes with longlines stored there between shark fishing trips. Shark fishing gear is on sale just a few metres away.

Your being told things is rather less convincing than seeing it with your own eyes as we have, and we even have a huge number of photos to prove it. Are you trying to disagree with the photos because you spent a couple of hours there?

I would be interested to hear more about the ferry you say goes to Candidasa. Name of the boat, where it lands ect. There are a great many tourists and several dive centers in Candidasa and there are no reports of large amounts of sharks being trafficked through the area. I often dive there or pass through and have never seen any pickups overloaded with sharks like at Kusamba.
I am sure jukung make the crossing to visit family ect in good weather, but the shark product wholesaler is in Kusamba about 20km from this route you where told about.
Bare in mind the fishing of Thresher sharks is forbidden in Indonesia so if you ask people about a forbidden activity they may not reply truthfully.

 

[zivva]

Once and for all, I'm not here to argue or disagree, but just to present the fact of my TODAY visit to Nusa Penida North & East coast where the sharks are landed after fishing.

I would be keen to present the fact of my future visits overthere : again, I'm leaving 45m from Sampalan, I can get there pretty easily it just cost me an half day, a short night and some silly money.

This is supposed to be helping to better understand what is happening on a daily basis and not only during peak season.

But obviously you just don't give a damn about it. Hopefully I care much more about sharks than your opinion.

 

[Wisnu]

Those people have been fishing all kind fishes since hundreds years ago if not thousand – they are fisherman not engineer, not lawyers, not politicians, not banker, not soldier.
Some of them may throw dynamite to the coral but they do not drop the bombs to kill people.
Sharks, rays, and other big fishes which most of us divers love to see are not something special for them – instead, more difficult to catch and the taste is not the best – and actually is not their main target.
I believe they prefer to catch Tuna and Spanish mackerel which are more expensive. I know, when I was a kid; it’s very lucky if in a month I get small piece of meat or egg in my menu – but mostly the cheapest fish - a small cut of grilled cucut (ray). There’s must be some reason if the catch these fish – certainly not particularly intended to get us up-set.
I believe they will love scuba diving with nice UW camera on hands, shooting sharks, manta and mola rather than killing them. But I don’t think scuba diving is in their dream list at this moment.
In other side, we – including myself – spend thousand dollars for the best diving gear and latest UW camera, and traveling half the globe; and what we get? Disappointment knowing our friends are killed by those barbarian.
We are very upset – we must do something!!
Let push the government ! embargo! raise petitions! approach other politicians! raise fund to strengthen marine police, declare all coast as marine park…. ect, ect do what ever we can to stop the murders.
If all of those are strong enough; the first thing and the easies way to do, is to show to us – tourist, divers, dive center, fish lover, NGO, ect. that the serious action has been taken – several fisherman boat are seized, few of them may have to stay in the jail, probably with few bruises in their body. The fish market will be quiet, no sharks, no rays, no manta - for few days; life must go on.
Great success! Dive center happy, divers happy, NGO happy, bloodsucker will also happy to help the fisherman family to survive and to get back their boat.
No problem, It’s their destiny – their karma as fisherman!

 

[DIVE TULAMBEN]

Wisnu,

The fisherman have only targeted sharks since outsiders went there in the late 90's and offered them money for fins.
They have no interest in eating them and are not hungry. They like to eat small mackerel and other traditionally targeted and more sustainable catches. Nearly all the sharks get sent to Bali after being gutted. The 1m long baby sharks would be eaten by hungry people, but they are ripped from the mothers insides and thrown on the beach discarded like rubbish.
Many people on Nusa Penida that are not envolved with the shark fishery are against it as they have respect for Baruna god of the sea. They would like to see shark fishing reduced or stopped.
You are correct we must do something. Thats why we wrote the articles and posted the petition on this thread ! Have you signed it yet ?

---------- Post added ----------

Zivva or should I call you Valentin ?

You have disagreed by posting here in contraction of what a group of us and volunteers have researched over many months and have photos of and saw with our own eyes.


I know you only post what you were told during your few hours there. I just strongly question the validity of that information.

Fishermen the world over are famous for being very "economical with the truth" (liars) when questioned about their catches. Even more so when the fishery is forbidden !

You do report correctly that the shark fishing area is about 1 hour away from Sampalan or Karangsari. Do you think that a Jukung with a tiny engine makes it to southern Lombok in that time? Or is 1 hour going to take them to south eastern Nusa Penida?

As you say you are in a great position to help with the research that is on going as you can be there in 45 minutes. The rest of us live in Bali and have to spend the night and quite a bit of money each time we go.

If you want to help please try to avoid posting heresay (what people tell you) as facts. That leaves those of us more involved with this only two options.
a) Let the mis-information stay where everyone can read it.
b) Disagree with you infront of everybody.

You are correct as dive instructors we share the same goals of protecting the sea, it would be nice if you could work with BSP in gathering data. There is a huge amount of info being collected by different people and serious volunteers are always needed to add to the research work that BSP does.

 

[Wisnu]

May I know what their get by signing the petition? Bettereducation? Better income? Better life?
Not many people realize that they are also victims ofcorruption, bureaucracy, politic, tourism ect. and who protect them ?
Read the website you refer to, the nice pictures and description give theimpression that those fishermen are barbarian, no brain, not educated
Indeed, they not smart enough to throw all the carcassesto the sea so they can dump more fins into their small boat.
Indeed, they are not smart enough for asking support anddonation through the net – they don’t have website.
Yes, let we post the petition and let the police to seizetheir boat, bring them to the jail - and let their family put their necks tothe bloodsucker
and the well educated people, with high income stillenjoy the delicious of fin soup, with their clean hand;
and all the dive shops are happy
and all the divers are happy

 

[DIVE TULAMBEN]

Here is a link to show the beach with jukung fishing boats clearly seen in central Sampalan starting at the ferry terminal wall and heading west.
This is where we often see sharks landed and gutted.
I have no interest in embarrasing Zivva but he states above several times it does not exist!
I feel that if I do not stand by the shark reports being 100% correct it will be taken less seriously.
Obviously 3 hours on a big island was not enough time for him to look around properly let alone research shark fishing.
Lets get our facts straight.
The link incase anyone is at all interested:
Sampalan Map | Indonesia Google Satellite Maps

---------- Post added ----------

Wisnu,
Where exactly does the website give you the idea " that those fishermen are barbarian, no brain, not educated"?

The long term goal is to protect the sharks and have a entrance fee for the marine protected area which could bring money to the community sustainably. Jobs could be generated in dive tourism.

Malapascua in the Philipines has a huge income through tourists diving to see Thresher sharks. Infact the whole of Malapascua's economy is driven by Thresher shark diving.

With effort the same could be done at Nusa Penida before its too late.
The people of Penida have other fish species to target and seaweed farming. They do not have to fish Thresher sharks which are protected in Indonesia.
If the Threshers are fished out its quite likely that the mackerel fishery will collapse as well.
Protecting Threshers will be better for everyone in the long run. A world famous Thresher dive destination could bring a lot of money to the area.

 

[Wisnu]

It is true that those fishermen does not have to fish thresher sharks and other sharks as well as.
What shall be stopped is shark finning of any sharks, not just thresher shark.
Not to stop the fishermen to earn money to supoport their family
Not to make their life difficult for whatever reasons
I will sign the petition immediately if you list the restaurant that offer shark fin in their menu
I support your effor if you put any picture of shark fins traders or anyshops selling sharkfins
I will love the website if they put big WANTED for CRIME ACT to all these people who responsible for million sharks murder

Indeed, there's no statement barbarian, no brain or not educated in the website
but read again your website - these are the impression what people will get when reading the article and watching the pictures
where is the responsible parties behind all of this? where is what you call intruder?
the fishermen is just small poor people, not educated well, nobody support them
many people take for granted
many tourist visit malaspacua , lot $$$ there, but how many % go to the fishermen?
you ask for donation in yourweb to support your activity ... how many % go to them