From Indonesian Angler to Spanish Angler: Semoga Kebodohan “Stop fishing in Spain and Genocide of Billions of Fish by Law” Menemukan Titik Terang Yang Seimbang

To Adriano Alvarez Callejo in Spain. Very sorry my English not good. And also I can’t speaking Spanish. I wish there will be good, a win win solution to all of you there. Tight lines!

Persahabatan antar pemancing memang seringkali adalah sesuatu yang sangat berbeda. Orang bisa berasal dari strata berbeda, tetapi semua perbedaan hilang ketika menyatu dalam urusan mancing. Bisa dari negara, kebudayaan, latar belakang sosial, profesi, dan lain sebagainya yang berbeda tetapi ketika menyatu dalam dunia memancing, semuanya melebur tanpa batas yang kaku. Tak heran banyak yang bilang olahraga memancing adalah hobi yang paling egaliter yang pernah ada di dunia saat ini. Saya mengenal seorang bernama Adriano Alvarez Calejjo dari Spanyol beberapa tahun lalu, terutama ketika masa-masa saya masih bekerja untuk Majalah Mancing, Indonesian Sportfishing Magazine (2007-2009). Adriano Alvarez Callejo, seorang bapak-bapak paruh baya, yang usianya sepertinya setara dengan almarhum ayah saya, saya sudah lupa apakah profesinya, yang pasti dia suka sekali memancing dan juga berkreasi dengan hal-hal menarik lainnya seputar mancing. Dahulu, semasa saya di Majalah Mancing dia sering berbagi kisah melalui beragam tulisan dan foto-foto menarik tentang kondisi memancing dan juga sportfishing di Negeri Matador ini. Jujur saya belum pernah bertemu dengannya selain melalui email dan media sosial. Yang menarik menurut saya, Adriano adalah seorang yang memiliki semangat untuk berkisah dan keterbukaan yang luar biasa. Dan semuanya dilakukan tanpa sesuatu tendensi yang aneh dan berlebihan (karena menurut saya banyak orang juga yang menjadikan mancing ini sebagai ajang pamer dan tujuan lain sebagainya). Adriano ini orang yang berbahagia dan sepertinya selalu gembira, dan seperti hanya ingin berbagi kisah tentang dirinya, dunia mancing di Spanyol dan hal-hal lainnya yang terkait saja. Dan ketika ada orang lain yang mau mendengarkannya, itu sudah lebih dari cukup baginya. Sudah agak lama saya hilang kontak dengan Adriano terutama setelah Majalah Mancing juga tutup, dan saya sibuk mengais hidup di  tempat bekerja yang baru. Tetapi Adriano Alvarez tidak lelah untuk terus menghubungi saya ketika dirasa ada sesuatu informasi yang penting untuk dibagikan.

Thank you Adriano, even sometimes I don’t know how to reply nicely and how to using your information since my magazine collaps years ago.

Beberapa hari lalu tiba-tiba saja Adriano Alvarez Calejjo kembali menghubungi saya dengan begitu banyak baris tulisan juga foto-foto yang jika saya rangkum isinya sangat tidka biasa sekaligus gawat. Intinya adalah bahwa di Spanyol saat ini tengah terjadi gonjang-ganjing di kalangan pemancing, nelayan, pemburu, industry mancing, dan bidang-bidang lainnya yang terkait yang disebabkan oleh (menurut kata-kata Adriano) “Stupid law in Spain than obligate to kill all the carps, pikes, and other more fishes species because that law think that all are harmful species”. Semua ini menurut Adriano tercantum dalam Law 42/2007 artikel 63.1. Apapun itulah tetapi intinya begini, bahwa dengan terbitnya hukum ‘aneh’ tersebut ribuan orang yang kehidupannya terkait dengan dunia perairan (baik pemancing, nelayan, dan lain-lain), pihak-pihak lainnya seperti produsen perahu, hotel, operator mancing, produsen peralatan mancing, dan lain sebagainya, merasa bahwa kemampuan sustainable yang dimiliki oleh perairan tawar dan laut yang mereka miliki saat ini bisa dihancurkan oleh hukum itu sendiri. Yang artinya akan sangat banyak sekali individu, keluarga, kelompok, perusahaan, masyarakat yang kehidupannya menjadi terganggu dengan berkurangnya kemampuan perairan untuk sustainable. Contoh sederhananya begini, bayangkan sebuah daerah dengan satu sungai dengan potensi  ikan-ikan dimaksud di atas, yang selama ini dipancing dengan sistem catch and release oleh para pemancing. Ketika ikan-ikan itu terus ada di sungai di daerah tersebut, maka baik itu toko pancing, penginapan, toko logistik, restoran, perusahaan angkutan, operator mancing, dan lain sebagainya akan kebagian rejeki, dan rejeki ini akan teruuuuuuus berulang. Tetapi ketika sekarang muncul hukum yang mengharuskan “kill all the carps, pikes, et cetera”, kehidupan yang begitu tenteram dan penuh semangat dari sebuah daerah bisa menuju ke kemuraman. Ini yang tidak disetujui oleh banyak pihak di Spanyol yang concern dengan efek dari kebijakan tersebut. Karenanya, ribuan orang yang terkait dengan hal ini, dari seluruh penjuru negeri, baru saja turun ke jalan-jalan di Madrid pada tanggal 5 Juni lalu untuk memprotes “hukum yang membunuh” tersebut. Adriano menginginkan apa yang terjadi mendapatkan lapak beberapa lembar di Majalah Mancing, tetapi dia sepertinya lupa, bahwa media cetak sportfishing paling keren yang pernah ada di Indonesia itu sudah mati!

Secara langsung sebenarnya apa yang terjadi di Spanyol tidak ada hubungannya dengan saya, dengan kita di Indonesia. Tetapi saya tidak mau mengingkari persahabatan antar pemancing yang terjalin selama ini. Ini anggap saja semacam informasi sekilas saja yang entah bisa dipakai apapun untuk menambah wawasan kita tentang yang terjadi di dunia lain, syukur-syukur kita bisa mengambil hikmah dengan yang terjadi terhadap mereka. Saya juga tidak yakin apakah catatan iseng ini akan membantu pencarian solusi di Spanyol sana. Di Indonesia, untungnya tidak ada hukum yang menyatakan agar ikan-ikan tertentu di negeri ini dibunuh saja. Kalau sampai terjadi, sepertinya negeri ini bisa langsung sampai pada titik kehancuran alias zero fish baik di laut ataupun di perairan tawarnya. Bagaimana tidak, spesies yang dianggap langka dan mulai punah saja, yang sudah dihimbau agar dilindungi, tidak dipancing, tidak dijaring, dan tentunya jangan sampai dikonsumsi dan lain sebagainya, tetap diburu dengan katroknya? Yang ada malahan agar melakukan kegiatan perburuan ataupun penangkapan ikan tetapi dengan cara yang ramah lingkungan, pun ini juga banyak yang melanggar (terutama para nelayan dan pelaku penangkapan ikan skala besar). Kita bisa memancing ikan jenis apapun itu (kecuali mungkin himbauan agar tidak memancing beberapa ikan laut dan tawar yang dianggap mulai punah, itupun banyak yang melanggar dan tetap melenggang dan beberapa malah pamer foto narsis dengannya). Juga tidak ada larangan untuk membawa semua ikan pancingan yang kita dapatkan, meski jujur saya tidak setuju dengan attitude ini karena bagaimanapun bag limit dan catch and release sangat diperlukan untuk ikan-ikan yang kategorinya mulai langka. Di Spanyol, pemancing dan banyak pihak berteriak dan memenuhi jalanan kota Madrid karena ingin menggagalkan genocide terhadap ikan-ikan yang ada di perairan mereka yang diyakini akan berakibat buruk pada kehidupan masyarakat dan bidang-bidang lainnya. Di Indonesia banyak orang (baik itu nelayan dan pemancing) terus melanggar hukum dan mencoba terus menelikungnya dengan berbagai alasan, padahal jelas-jelas kita dituntut memiliki kebijaksanaan tertentu dalam ‘memetik’ dan menikmati potensi perairan kita agar tetap sustainable (berkelanjutan).

Saya tidak ingin ada bias pemahaman terhada apa yang terjadi di Spanyol. Berikut adalah link Youtube yang memuat video dan juga press release terkait hal tersebut (judulnya saya rubah sendiri biat eye catching): Spanish Fish Calling. Di bawah ini adalah isi dari email Adriano kepada saya. Rasanya begitu terharu ketika membaca isi email Adriano ini, sepertinya dia begitu bersemangat dan gigih ikut membela lingkungan yang terancam oleh hukum tersebut. Tetapi saya juga seperti ingin menangis sebab tidak paham dengan baik semua isinya kerena masalah bahasanya. Yang pasti mari kita bisa bersama-sama membacanya dengan seksama, beritahu saya jika ternyata saya salah memahami semua yang terjadi di Spanyol sana. Salam!!!

(Below is email from Adriano Alvarez Callejo...)

Hello friend... I send you this news on a stupid law in Spain than obligate to kill all the carps, pikes, and other more fishes species because that law think that all are harmful species. This news is helped in his translation translated of form rapid by Google Translated for that if you has doubts about it, please you can ask me..  You can publish in your magazine printed, website, blog, and more... Thanks...

On June 5 in the capital of Spain hundreds of thousands of fishermen, hunters, farmers and all those affected by the Law 42/2007 which aims to eradicate carp, rainbow trout, black bass, pike, char etc. of the water of the Iberian Peninsula. The demonstration ran through the streets of Madrid in a festive atmosphere and predominating civility and respect for a collectives so often badly treated by the environmental laws that biased way limit the growth of the rural sector and condition, as is this time, the closure or cases under the economic decline of thousands of small businesses and bow down on the unemployment lists thousands of workers. From the platform in Defense of Fisheries created by the Spanish Federation of Fishing and Casting sectors affected as Town Halls, Piscicultores, Federations fishing and hunting associations and clubs fishing, fishing shops, fishing guides and a long coalesce etc. . now they are living the agony of publication in the Official Gazette of a statement that clearly is regarded by this group as totally unfair. There is no doubt that the manifestation of 5J marked a before and after in the demands of the rural world and especially in defending the dignity of the people who live and enjoy it.

Since the appearance of the Spanish Supreme Court ruling promoted by Ecologists in Action, Association for the study and improvement of salmonids and the Spanish Society of Ornithology, thousands of reactions that have been generated as a result of the imposition on those terms of the application of the Law on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, and the consequences of their application go far beyond affect a group of fishermen but it affects society in general, both economically, environmentally and sporty. While the content of this Act is admirable in accordance to the circumstances control and eradication of species that are considered among the 100 most harmful in the world, and where social and collective in particular the group of fishermen fully understand necessary to preserve the natural values ​​of this country is more, this group, as well as citizens have demonstrated on several occasions its involvement in control actions, ytrabajo those who flagrantly threaten the survival of our aquatic ecosystems monitoring as was the case of jasmine water (Camalote), one of those species that put in check our waters. But on the other hand you can not understand the irrationality of that Law when condemning the eradication of species that live with us for almost two thousand years, as in the case of common carp, and nearly a hundred others, such as Black-Bass, brook trout, pike and rainbow trout. Species that throughout all this time have created an ecological balance in our waters, a balance, and that by the way, caused by man's hand in one of the environmental aggressions greatest impact on aquatic ecosystems are as large hydro, central mini, and even by-pass weirs, infrastructure moved our country to a new stage of environmental reality.

But this goes beyond what a priori means the prohibition of fishing for these species and the eradication of collective fishing and the economic sector that moves. In the irrationality of the Act possession, transportation, traffic and trade in live or dead is prohibited, including foreign trade. Overrides various additional and transitional provisions of the Royal Decree that recognize or facilitate business or sports activities in relation to listed species, prohibited generally and unconditionally with article 61.3 of Law 42/2007 of 13 December, the Natural Heritage and The Biodiversity. The second section of the sixth additional provision is canceled, as allowed the authorization of farms breeding American vision, or the fifth additional provision, that allowed the marketing of red crab. The consequences of the strictest in the above mentioned application of the law on the basis represent an economic catastrophe in different sectors, along with a measure of dubious environmental effectiveness.

Companies from different sectors such as national fishing products distributors, farms, shops, associations, federations, town halls, hotels, cottages, restaurants, bars, traders, transporters, packers, fishing guides, yacht clubs, charter fishing, tourism national and international, development of new investments and even large and small areas of the food sector will be affected directly and indirectly by the application of this standard. Affectation involved in some cases the unquestioned closure of hundreds of companies and other reducing its economy as a whole reaches figures of billions of euros, but both the destruction of thousands of jobs that will get fat the pathetic list of unemployed in our country.

Example of the above, one of the many existing, is the very serious situation that occurs in Isla Mayor in Seville, where from the entry into force of the judgment of the Supreme Court in sharp application of the law, shall be prohibited marketing red crab, one of the economic engines of the region and second largest exporter of this crustacean, which look like 60% of the active population of the municipality, about five thousand jobs are affected at the same time that wILL lose in investment a hundred million euros. This situation unfortunately is going to be extrapolated to many other sectors such as fish farms, which besides being obliged to close their facilities under this Act, will drag the suppliers who provide them with services in the development of its activity, as transport, packaging plants, feed mills, etc ... and the irony of things, our country must import rainbow trout to cover the demand of the population on this product. Finally, a crazy law that in this particular case, the fish, the legislature did not anticipate the severity this could suponeren the dying economy of this country. We can not forget in this legislative injury to athletes, federations, associations and clubs that represent them, they will see as 4,253 competitions you are prohibited with this ruling, affecting directly to 111,745 days (1) which overwhelmingly affects hotels , cottages, bars, shops, charters, clubs and a long etc. it will be diminished if not perdidoun economic engine that exceeds, only in this discipline billion euros, or tort involving the disappearance of many of the disciplines of the sport that so many joys have contributed to flag Spanish accredited by a medal we recognized many of them as world champions.

What will happen now with nearly 55 thousand athletes ?, will join teams from neighboring countries to continue to compete ?, should move to the training zones of France or Portugal later to compete on behalf of our country? Countries, by some, like France, England, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium resembling, saving distances, an environmental environment like ours and that application of that law by different rulers have included them as alien species naturalized, or, put another way, equating to endemic its territory and make no distinction between one and another. clear example that Spain is not Europe. Another issue to resolve is what will happen to the domestic tourism and international? partepor based on attractiveness in these activities and that moves million in investments inside generating new jobs .... Will they disappear? Undoubtedly faded away because no reverse group bet on them. But let's leave aside the economic and sporting theme and focus on the issue of environmental reality that can happen in strict applicationof the law.

There is difference of opinion among the scientific community about the possibility of completely eradicate these species, even some alarm biologist produce effect on migratory birds by eliminating their natural food. But let it can occur in one of many afectacionesque involved. Extractive production of red crabs for human consumption fishing in the area of ​​Isla Mayor rises between 3-4000 tons per year, and we know that each kilo of crabs represents about 40 copies, which gives us a total between 120 to 160,000,000 copies. In the unlikely event that males were 50% and 50% would have a potential females were females 77 million "gaff". Suppose only effect a set of three that can get to make, also suppose that the number of eggs per female is 300, although depending on their size range from 100 to 700 eggs. This would mean for the Isla Mayor that the next generation of crabs grow by 23 BILLION CRABS. In situations like this, and others of equal significance, no doubt far from eradicating can produce the opposite effect, since this lawsuit filed by environmental groups in order to achieve recovery of habitats to their original states, means, in the utopian if that were possible, the investment by the state of billions of euros in shares throughout the national territory. And in a landscape of budget cuts affecting health, education, etc. Does anyone believe that the state will invest in this issue ... ..?

Finally say that it is difficult to understand that a law that seeks to defend the natural heritage of this country, and in many of its points contains rules so require, on the other hand leads to misery to thousands of people who lose their jobs, entrepreneurs who lose their businesses, small autonomous activity that will disappear and most likely investing their savings, to steal the illusion of youth and truncating the entertainment of our elders. It can´t be that species that have been with us almost two thousand years are cataloged by the same ground that potentially harmful species. It is a social, economic and environmental injustice. (1) Global Conference on all national and international competitions by different along geography competitors.

FOR THE NEXT DAY 5 JUNE, 2016 IN MADRID (SPAIN) IS CALLED FOR ANGLERS A DEMONSTRATION OF ALL SPAIN  FOR ASK TO THE  SPANISH PARLIAMENT REVOCATION OF THAT ABSURD LAW. YOU ARE INVITED YOU SEE THAT DAY, TAKE PHOTOS, AND ALL INFORMATION THAT NEED. MANY THANKS MY FRIENDS !!!

* Pictures sent by Adriano Alvarez Callejo (Spain).