By Elis Nurhayati and Muhammad Taufik Hidayat
Featured in Mongabay Indonesia.
Original title: Rajungan Indonesia di Persimpangan Jalan: Menata Ulang Perikanan di Tengah Tekanan Pasar Global.
Every year on November 21, the world commemorates International Fisheries Day, a moment to reflect on how coastal communities continue to survive amid shifting climates, evolving markets, and changing policies. But this year, the commemoration feels more urgent for Indonesia, particularly for the thousands of small-scale blue swimming crab fishers operating modest vessels averaging five gross tons along the northern coast of Java. Their long-standing livelihood is now at risk, as they are being accused of contributing to the decline of marine mammal populations.
The accusation is not a trivial one as it comes from the United States government and carries legal consequences in the form of a strict ban on blue swimming crab caught using gillnets from entering the U.S. market. The gear is considered high-risk because it can injure or kill marine mammals, including dolphins.
But are these mammals still present in the waters of the northern Java coast?
Masruhin, a fisher from Karawang, West Java, offers his perspective. “In all the years I’ve been fishing, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen dolphins,” he said. After more than a decade at sea, he claims his fishing gear has never entangled a dolphin.
He fears the accusation will lead to economic hardship for his family, a concern shared by many fellow blue swimming crab fishers along the northern coastlines of West Java and Lampung.
If access to the U.S. market is cut off, fishers may be driven to shift to cheaper but far more destructive gear such as bottom trawls or mini–drag nets. Such an outcome would be deeply ironic: a conservation policy intended to protect marine ecosystems could end up accelerating their degradation.
U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Policy
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the United States is preparing to implement a full ban on imports of blue swimming crab harvested using gillnets. In its comparability findings document released in August 2025, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Fisheries) concluded that Indonesia, along with 46 other exporting countries, did not meet compliance requirements due to the continued use of gillnets.
This ban is set to take full effect on January 1, 2026, and the consequences are significant: the potential loss of access to a key export market worth USD 450 million, supporting more than 18,000 small-scale fishers and over 270,000 post-harvest workers, the majority of whom are women.
In Lampung and West Java alone, women make up 74% of traders and 82% of processors in the blue swimming crab sector. Any disruption to export supply chains risks destabilizing the livelihoods of an estimated 2.5 million household members and undermining women’s economic empowerment.
Amid these concerns, there is a temporary window of opportunity. The U.S. Court of International Trade has issued a temporary delay on enforcement and has granted Indonesia a 60-day period to provide scientific evidence demonstrating that its blue swimming crab fishery poses low risk to marine mammals.
This pause coincides with another major domestic milestone: the full implementation of Indonesia’s quota-based Measured Fishing Policy (PIT), scheduled to come into effect on January 1, 2026.
At the core of the U.S. argument lies a seemingly straightforward issue: gillnets are classified as high-risk fishing gear for marine mammals. But in Indonesia, the reality is far more nuanced. Blue swimming crab fishers in Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi generally operate in shallow, nearshore waters, areas that are rarely habitats for large marine mammals. Fishing operations are also passive and limited in scale, unlike the industrial fisheries that deploy kilometers-long nets.
Indonesia’s blue swimming crab supply chain relies primarily on small-scale fishers using two gear types: crab gillnets and crab traps (bubu). While traps are considered low-risk for marine mammals, gillnets are not.
The MMPA, in place since 1972, has not been fully enforced until recent pressure from environmental advocates and U.S. domestic fishing interests. The U.S. government now requires exporting nations to demonstrate that their fisheries do not cause marine mammal injury or mortality beyond established thresholds.
The challenge lies in the gap between the scientific standards required by the U.S. and the available data on Indonesia’s fishery. The U.S. demands science-based evidence, including systematic bycatch monitoring, yet Indonesia continues to struggle to provide the required documentation.
Small-scale fishers hold valuable ecological knowledge and firsthand experience interacting with marine mammals, but such knowledge alone is not considered sufficient evidence. Information systems remain fragmented, small-vessel logbooks are not fully implemented, marine mammal stranding reports are not integrated, and independent observer systems remain limited.
To reverse the decision, Indonesia must submit monitoring data including bycatch estimates, fishing gear assessments, marine mammal stranding reports, and active mitigation plans, especially for threatened species, within the 60-day deadline.
Stitching Partnerships, Building Sustainable Policy
Amid a global shift toward sustainability standards, failure to adapt now places Indonesia’s reputation as a producer of sustainable seafood at risk.
In response, Indonesia must act swiftly. A highly responsive and coordinated effort is needed. The short window demands collaborative work across ministries, BRIN, universities, NGOs, fisher associations, and the blue swimming crab industry.
All available resources must be mobilized to collect and consolidate scattered data and information from multiple stakeholders to address the concerns of buyer countries. Industry actors and other partners must also be engaged to accelerate vessel registration and promote environmentally friendly fishing gear.
At the community level, many fishers remain unaware of the importance of fisheries data monitoring and reporting, as well as vessel tracking systems during fishing activities.
Moreover, a significant portion of the fishing fleet remains unregistered due to limited awareness or restricted access. Fishing practices also do not yet fully align with sustainable fisheries principles. Capacity-building is essential so fishers can participate in field data collection and monitoring.
Strengthening traceability, bycatch monitoring, and fisher education will reinforce Indonesia’s credibility as a responsible seafood producer, while also serving as a form of proactive diplomacy to help the U.S. better understand the realities of small-scale fisheries in Indonesia.
Indonesia needs to convince the U.S. government, with strong scientific evidence grounded in its ecological and socio-economic context, that the country’s blue swimming crab fishery is both ecologically sustainable and socially just.
This Crisis Is Not a Threat, It Is a Turning Point
Viewed from a broader perspective, the pressure brought by the MMPA represents a strategic moment for Indonesia to accelerate its fisheries transformation. It is an opportunity to improve governance, strengthen scientific data, upgrade fishing gear quality, and ensure that policies do not harm the small-scale fishers who have long been the backbone of this sector.
The temporary suspension from the United States should be seen as an invitation to reform. Yet any improvement plan will only be meaningful if it includes those most affected at the front line. Small-scale fishers must become central actors—not merely passive recipients of policy.
International Fisheries Day serves as a reminder that fisheries are not only about production and export. They are also about ecological and economic sustainability, social equity, traditional knowledge, and the struggle to access global markets with increasingly demanding standards.
Through a combination of strategic diplomacy on the international stage and decisive action within the country, Indonesia has the chance to turn short-term disruption into long-term resilience—protecting both marine biodiversity and the human lives that depend on it. Because these goals are not in conflict; they are deeply interconnected needs.
A positive outcome from these collective efforts is eagerly anticipated by all stakeholders.
