May 08, 2024, Larantuka – PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (PELNI) Persero develops Larantuka Fishermen Village in Larantuka, East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara as a pilot for fishermen empowerment. This program includes providing assistance for 5 GT jukong boats, business facilities, capital, and developing Fish Management Houses (RKI) for 12 fishermen and 10 fish business managers in Postoh Village, Larantuka District, East Flores Regency. Larantuka was chosen because it is an area visited by PELNI ships, namely KM Umsini and KM Lambelu and one KM Kendhaga Nusantara 7 sea toll ship.

Fishermen assisted by the PELNI Fisherman Village program are preparing jukong boats for fishing. This 5 GT jukong boat is the assistance of the TJSL program of PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Persero) to 10 fishermen in Postoh Village, Larantuka District, East Flores Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (22/8/2022).

The program aims to assist fishermen in increasing their capacity in fishing and strengthening the local economy. The program, which began on August 22, 2022, showed significant results, with fish catches increasing from 80-100 kg per month to 114 kg per month during the period November 2022 to December 2023 and providing added value to the seafood economy, especially for the women managing the RKI.

In Rumah Kelola Ikan, the women process tuna into shredded and nugget products, thus not only increasing the value of the product, but also opening up opportunities for wider market penetration. Filantra, which has been appointed as the program’s facilitator, assists through a series of trainings on processed fish food production, product packaging and marketing, and offline and online market testing.

“This training is important so that fishermen can get added value from captured fish products so that their income can also increase. These skills are also useful when it is difficult for fishermen to go to sea, so that there is an alternative fixed income.” Said Asep Nurdin, CEO of Filantra. Not only training, Filantra also facilitates the processing of legality such as Business Identification Number (NIB), halal certificate, and household industry food permit (PIRT) from the East Flores District Health Office. He added that these licenses are needed so that the fishermen’s products can be marketed in local and regional markets.

 
Rumah Kelola Ikan (RKI) assisted by PT PELNI is participating in Technical Guidance with the East Flores Regency Health Office regarding how to produce processed food properly so that each product has a long durability in Larantuka, East Flores. During this visit, the Health Office team also provided input regarding environmental cleanliness, tidiness of production equipment, and improvement of water flow (10/11/2013).

The fish processing skills were an interesting first experience, as Ayub da Silva (44) said, “The empowerment program for fishermen and mothers in Postoh Village is very useful for us, such as increasing our ability to process local potential, namely fish that can be processed into nuggets and shredded.” The presence of RKI makes him optimistic that the fishermen and women’s groups will become independent.

According to Heidy Triseptiania, TJSL Manager and person in charge of the program, “They are enthusiastic, because the fishermen there still use canoes. PELNI is present by providing jukong boats to support fishermen in finding fish, because jukong boats can make fishermen safer and the fishing radius can be further away, and are not too constrained by bad weather, especially big waves,” he explained.

This program is very helpful for fishing groups in Postoh who have not owned a boat and have to rent it when going to sea, “The jukong boat provided by PT PELNI for us fishermen is very helpful, especially since this 5GT ship has a fish storage capacity of up to two tons. We use this Jukong boat in turns, in one month we divide it into four groups, so that every week this jukong boat can be used to fish.” Said Nene Umar Gao (55) Chairman of the Postoh Fishermen Group.

To ensure the sustainability of the benefits received, Filantra introduced financial management for RKI managers. One of them is a fair fish catch sharing agreement, with 70% allocated to fishermen, 10% for boat maintenance, 10% for fishing operations, and 10% for RKI management. “Through this profit-sharing model, we hope that fishermen’s businesses can continue to run and that collaboration and partnerships can be established among community members.” Asep Nurdin said.

This success has encouraged PELNI management to expand similar programs to other areas to increase economic growth for fishing groups as a form of support for the community, especially those in PELNI operational areas in disadvantaged, frontier, outermost and border areas (3TP).