The Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya (FPIK UB) held a workshop on Lemuru Distribution Modeling in East Java and the Bali Strait, Friday (11/8/2024). This activity was held in the 2nd Floor of Meeting Room, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) Universitas Brawijaya (UB), which was opened directly by Prof. Dr. Sc. Asep Awaludin Prihanto, S.Pi., MP., as the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs of FPIK UB.
The workshop presented several speakers, including Prof. Dr. Ing. Widodo Setiyo Pranowo, ST., M.Si and Agung Kurniawan, S.Tr.SIG from the Department of Oceanography, Indonesian Naval Postgraduate School (STTAL) and Prof. Ir. Aida Sartimbul., M.Sc., Ph.D. from the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya.
Aida Sartimbul presented the track record of research results related to lemuru in the Bali Strait and East Java, and provided space for students under her guidance to present their research plans. The research topics presented by the students were divided into five topics supported by 18 undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. The five topics include mapping the suitability of pelagic fish areas and validation of GPS tracking in the Bali Strait and East Java, modeling the distribution of pelagic fish in the Bali Strait and East Java using MIKE software, prediction of spawning grounds and bathymetric characteristics of Muncar and the Bali Strait, pelagic fishing trends and climate phenomena using the Python approach, and microplastic studies in waters and pelagic fish in East Java and the Bali Strait.
Eight out of 11 students involved in research at partner institutions such as STTAL, BPISDKP, BMKG, and BRIN.
This effort was made in order to support the Marine Science Study Program and the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences in particular and Universitas Brawijaya in general in supporting student graduation on time.
Aida said that the presentation of the students’ research results received a positive response from the speakers, who appreciated the quality of the research conducted and provided constructive input for further development.
Meanwhile, the speaker from the Department of Oceanography, Indonesian Naval Postgraduate School (STTAL) Prof. Dr. Ing. Widodo Setiyo Pranowo, ST., M.Si, revealed the importance of hydrodynamic and ecological approaches in modeling, as well as how to determine the location of research objects using various parameters such as temperature, salinity, bathymetry, and fish behavior.
In this workshop, a discussion was also held on MoA drafting with STTAL regarding the implementation of the cooperation that has been carried out for a long time and has resulted in several students’ internships, theses, and also research collaborations and publications in several reputable national and international journals.
Furthermore, this workshop also resulted in the initiation of the establishment of the “Lemuru Information Center”, to continue the history of the past, considering that UB in the 1990-1991 era had a research collaboration under the Luw Nuffic Unibraw Project, which is a project between the Netherlands University Foundation for International Cooperation and Universitas Brawijaya, especially in the field of Capture Fisheries with PIC Ir. H. Damanhuri, which has underpinned the development of population dynamics studies on pelagic fisheries in East Java and the Bali Strait.
Lemuru fish is a small pelagic fish that is very cheap (less than IDR 7,000/kg during peak season), but highly nutritious since it contains various vitamins (A, B1, and C) and omega-3 fatty acids up to more than 25% of its total fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are known to be very beneficial for anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, diabetes mellitus, heart disease and cancer. However, in addition to its various benefits, lemuru fish production is very fluctuating due to overfishing and also various phenomena due to climate change, such as El Niño and La Niña.
The loss of lemuru fish in the main fishing ground, namely the Muncar Waters and the Bali Strait, has an impact on the unfulfilled supply of raw materials for around 50 fish processing factories, such as fish canning factories to fish flour in Muncar.
To meet the local market and the sustainability of these fish processing factories to continue operating, lemuru fish must be imported from several countries, such as: India, China, Pakistan, Japan, Yemen, etc. This condition occurred simultaneously with the La Niña phenomenon in 2010-2011, 2012-2013, 2017. However, on the other hand, lemuru fish were very abundant along with the El Niño phenomenon (eg 2006, 2019-2020). The impact of the uncertainty of lemuru production especially has a major impact on the economy of the fishing community in Muncar and Bali Strait. Although the Decree of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia No. 68 of 2016 has been issued and updated with No. 198 of 2023 concerning the Lemuru Fisheries Management Plan, there has been no real solution in its implementation.
This workshop is part of the applied scheme research of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology entitled: ” the distribution modeling of pelagic fish (nekton) and plankton based on seasonal variations, oceanography, and eDNA as an effort to mitigate the impact of climate change”, which is chaired by Prof. Aida Sartimbul, M.Sc., Ph.D, and consists of M. Arif Zainul Fuad, M.Sc., Feni Iranawati, S.Pi., Ph.D. from UB and Prof. Dr. Ing. Widodo Setiyo Pranowo, ST., M.Si. from the Department of Oceanography, Naval Technology College (STTAL), Jakarta, with partners from the Marine and Fisheries Resources Information Management (BPISDKP), Bali. (UB PR/ Trans. Iir)
