Fishermen said that the government should also help them in maintaining ocean health. (Image via: Nusakini.com)

Clean Ocean = No Stunting: Coordinating Maritime Affairs' Minister

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Market & Investment
Comodities
Jul 21, 2019
3572
SUKABUMI - A clean ocean is a good start to prevent stunting. At least, that is according to the Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan. Luhut called for the fishermen at Ciwaru Village, Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia, to keep the sea clean.

Ciwaru Village is located about 50 km from Pelabuhan Ratu, the capital of Sukabumi. Sukabumi holds the first online fish auction market in Indonesia.

For Luhut, keeping the ocean clean could prevent fish from eating micro-plastic waste. Fresh and healthy fish are important for mothers in pregnancy to prevent stunting. Stunting is a condition of malnutrition which leads to impaired height growth and development.

Currently, Luhut pointed out that ocean health in Sukabumi has improved compared to recent months. However, Luhut doubted that it was merely because a government official was about to visit Sukabumi. Luhut added that Sukabumi people should also spread and remind this message of sea cleanness.

One of the fishermen in the village proposed an idea for the government to provide a cleaning team just about the shore nearby Ciwaru Village daily to collect the plastics and other wastes at the shore. He complained that currently there is no cleaning team to help the fishermen keep the ocean clean.

Moreover, he revealed that the garbage truck only comes once a week; even worse, garbage truck at the region was only 1 unit. The fisherman requested that the garbage truck could come daily or add the unit of the garbage truck since the waste is too much to store. Ciwaru Village is located nearby a tourism spot; therefore, the amount of waste was also huge.

Despite the idea, the fisherman admitted that the ocean health awareness of the fishermen at the village can be considered as low.

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/ekonomi/20190721085742-97-414054/cegah-stunting-mulai-dari-kebersihan-laut

Market , Fishery , Indonesia , Ocean-Health , Stunting , Plastic , Waste