Project News

The pilot project provides Livelihood recovery support to the village of Lero Tatari, Donggala Regency. The fishing industry of White Bait, locally known as Ikan Rono or Ikan Teri, was damaged in the aftermath of an earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.

As a result, many Lero Tatari fishermen not only lost their fishing boats and equipment but also their homes. Affected fishermen were moved to temporary houses located in inland, away from the sea. In spite of their losses, they showed perseverance and will power to continue fishing from whatever damaged boats they had salvaged, repaired or borrowed from friends and family. However, the income earned was less than before the disaster.

For this project, in cooperation with Department of Fisheries of Donggala Regency, we are supporting two groups of 40 fishermen engaged in White Bait (Shirasu) fishing. Our supports are the resumption of fishing by providing fishing boats and related gear, and strengthening the group activity to regain livelihood income.

In Lero Tatari village, the traditional fishing method is reflected in the design of their boats. The fishermen stomp their feet on the bottom of the boat to attract the fish, which are easily scooped up with nets. Therefore, it is important to have durable boat designed for their unique fishing practice. In addition, the fishermen have a belief that two boat must never be made from same tree-logs in the village. They entrusted building boats to the village master carpenters in the area who understand and follow this custom. This boat building custom have been passed down for generations by the village master carpenters. By assisting the carpenters, the fishermen learned the skills for repair and maintenance.

The construction of the boats began from May 2019 with a training of boat building, and first batch of 10 finished boats fully equipped with outboard engines, generators, fishing nets, fishing lights, etc. was handed over to the fishermen on November 4, 2019. Another batch of 10 boats will be delivered later this year. A fisherman expressed his gratitude, saying "this is the first time we have received a fully equipped boats and equipment that meet our request and needs; usually in other aid programs we had never been asked what we want, and we were only given a part of necessary equipment purchased by the donator. We are very grateful to JICA project approach."

The project also provided 2-day training on accounting management. For the first time, the fishermen learned the basic knowledge to calculate costs, sales and profits, and also to keep record of their fish catch. The fishermen never really had group activity. We encouraged to them to conduct regular meetings to discuss issues and problems facing the group members, and to resolve together. It is expected that the groups would gradually strengthen to an organization with a cooperative spirit and manage their own group savings.

Fishermen homes damaged by earthquake & tsunami

A fisherman's damaged boat, a source for his fishing white bait and livelihood earning.

A village master carpenter carving out a tree-log using his skill.

Handing over of fishing boat & equipment to promote a stable livelihood actvity among fishermen groups.

Fishermen setting out to sea with the new boats.

Fisherman learning book-keeping in accounting training session.