This story might be a few days old but is still of interest and as I haven’t been able to get to it sooner I decided to post about it today.

Indonesia will allow trawling in selected areas for the first time in 30 years, maritime ministry official Bambang Sutejo announced on January 15. Trawling will be allowed off four areas of Indonesia East Kalimantan province, despite concerns about overfishing.

“There will not be overfishing this time as we’re only allowing small boats to trawl, and it’s not allowed in other parts of Indonesia,” says Sutejo, adding that legalising trawling would help fight illegal trawlers.

According to Chalid Muhammad of the independent Green Institute, trawling has a destructive impact on the marine environment and will intensify the problem with overfishing in Indonesian waters. “The total amount of fish caught is getting smaller each day while their imports are getting bigger,” says Muhammad.

Muhammad also feels a legalization of trawling will embarrass Indonesia as it prepares to host the World Ocean Conference. “If the government allows this, Indonesia will have a weak standing during the World Ocean Conference as sustainable management of marine resources will be discussed,” Muhammad said. The World Ocean Conference is an international gathering of policymakers and scientists held in May 2009.

Kalimantan is the Indonesian portion of the island Borneo, the third largest island in the world, and is divided into four provinces: East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan.

What is trawling?

Trawling is a fishing practise where fishing boats tow long nets behind them. These nets do not only scoop up commercially valuable fish, but all sorts of marine life. Trawling is divided into bottom trawling and midwater trawling, depending on where in the water column the trawling takes place. Bottom trawling is especially harmful to marine environments since it can cause severe incidental damage to the sea bottoms and deep water coral reefs.

According to an article in Underwatertimes.com, a strange fish found off the Indonesian coast might represent a family of vertebrate unknown to science. The fish was sighted off the Indonesian Ambon Island and is a type of anglerfish. Finding a new vertebrate family in the ocean is really special, because during the last half century no more than five new families of fishes have been scientifically described. The unusual anglerfish was found and photographed on Jan 28 2008 by Buck and Fitrie Randolph and their dive guide Toby Fadirsyair. Since then, a few more specimens have been sighted in the same waters.

One of the reasons why the fish has managed to remain undetected until now might be its habit of crawling into crevices rather than parading itself in front of divers. The fish is tan to peach coloured and decorated with an intricate zebra pattern. The fish has rippling folds of skin which makes the fins hard to distinguish from the main body. Unlike most other anglerfishes known to man, this new found creature has no lure on its head and must therefore employ a different tactic in order to get its lunch. It will squeeze itself into narrow cracks in coral reefs and search for food inside. Before anyone can know for sure if this fish really represents an entirely new family of vertebrate, DNA testing must be carried out and a specimen must be more closely examined.

If you want to learn more about this intriguing fish, read the full article at Underwatertimes.com http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=64951030827

You can also visit Buck and Fitrie Randolph’s webpage where they have posted images of their discovery: http://www.divingmaluku.com/new-frogfish.html