In the southern part of Banyuwangi regent of Java, there is a bay with great potential, Pangpang Bay. The bay is well-known for Muncar fishery area which has been the iconic fishery products center. Based on the Decree of Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs Number 32/MEN/2010, Muncar sub-district was established as a development area of fishery products or minapolitan. Furthermore, Pangpang Bay is also located in a strategic geographic location as it is bordered by Indian Ocean and Bali Strait. This area is famous for its lemuru fish processing as the canned fish is sold in domestic market and also exported to other countries.
With the high level of anthropogenic tenure, especially fishery industry which is quite intensive in this area, over fishing needs to be anticipated. Several previous studies stated that there was a decrease in the number of lemuru catch which affected the fulfillment of local protein needs and raw materials for the fish canning industry. Studies on the abundance of fish in this area are still limited to potential species such as Sardinella lemuru, while the potential for marine fish diversity has not been studied extensively. The study conducted by Sapto and Suciyono (2020) try to inventory and carry out molecular identification at the same time.
Molecular identification was carried out because in some cases there were mistakes on identification of fish which are morphologically similar. This is unfortunate because it will result in many errors if the studies are used as references. This molecular identification activity for marine fish in the Pangpang Bay area is the first kind of study. Hopefully, the information will be useful for further research activities and become a valid reference.
Pangpang marine fish diversity
Indonesia’s commitment to protect biodiversity was shown by signing international treaties in 1992. The government also realized its commitment with the promulgation of Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity two years after the international treaty signed in Brazil in 1992. The Indonesian government uses two approaches in protecting biodiversity: conservation of the area and preservation of species, including their genetic resources (Gunawan and Sugiarti 2015).
Slightly different from the conservation area, the Pangpang Bay, Banyuwangi Regency, has been designated by the Ministry of Forestry as an essential ecosystem. This determination was motivated by the Republic of Indonesia Presidential Instruction Number: 03 of 2010 concerning Equitable Development, namely the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) program, the focus of its activities is the guarantee of Environmental Sustainability (Lundine et al. 2013). The uniqueness of Pangpang Bay, which is determined as an essential area, is a determination based on many things, one of which is excellent mangrove potential (Buwono 2017, Kawamuna et al. 2017, Raharja et al. 2014).
Based on field visit results, fact-finding and group and plenary discussions from participants in the preparation of the Pangpang Bay Banyuwangi Bay Wetland/Mangrove Action Plan, there are 6 (six) main issues in the management of Pangpang Bay mangroves. These issues are environmental aspects, improving community welfare, regulation, and law enforcement, increasing capacity and human resources, improving infrastructure, and developing institutional management of the area. One of the environmental aspects that can be conveyed is the availability of accurate information about fisheries resources owned by Pangpang Bay, Banyuwangi, presented in this study.
In this study, 40 fish samples were identified in 37 marine fish species distributed in 25 families, and four orders. The types of fish are the catch of traditional fishermen who use fishing gear in the form of ‘Banjang’ and a small portion using fishing rods and fishing nets. In addition to identification based on morphology, molecular identification is also carried out to minimize identification errors.
Based on the type of fish caught on the static fishing gear (banjang) fishing gear, the size and species identified are quite diverse. The dominant fish caught were the Perciformes (89.2%), followed by the Cluperiformes (5.4%), Pleuronectiformes (2.7%), and Scorpaeniformes (2.7%). Although the Perciformes dominates from the results of identification, species from other orders also become a common catch of traditional fishermen. In the Perciformes, relevant economic groups include the Carangidae, Lutjanidae, and Serranidae families, have been identified in this report. Carangid fish species caught are species of Scomberoides tala and Carangoides chrysophrys.
Sardine Fish Diversity
In the type of Clupeiformes, Sardinela melanura was identified in this study although many reports mention that Sardinella lemuru is a species of Clupeidae that has habitat in this region (Sartimbul et al., 2010 and Pradini et al., 2017). The identified Sardinela melanura is the first recorded of the complete mitochondrial genome isolated from fish in the Indonesian region (Andriyono et al., 2019c). In Indonesia, several Sardinella species have been reported to have habitats, such as Sardinella fimbricita (Rahardjo and Simanjuntak 2017), Sardinella jussieu (Sektiana et al., 2017), Sardinella fijiensis (Wang et al., 2019). Among some species of Sardinella, S. albella, S. fimbricata and S. gibbosa have received less attention in taxonomy (Stern et al., 2016).
The economic value of sardine fish is sufficiently taken into account in the global fisheries market (Genisa 1999) in particular as a processed product and to obtain fish oil that contains essential fatty acids such as DHA (17.07%) and EPA (13.82%) (Andriyani et al., 2017). Fisheries processing companies in Indonesia that make processed sardine (fish cane) as a significant commodity are also entirely developed and become a mainstay in increasing export revenues.
Author: Dr. Eng. Sapto Andriyono
Details of this study can be viewed on
https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/article_87032.html
Sapto Andriyono and Suciyono Suciyono. Molecular Identification and Phylogenetic Tree Reconstruction of Marine Fish from the Essential Wetland Area of Banyuwangi, Indonesia. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries. Volume 24, Issue 2, Winter 2020, Page 427-439. DOI: 10.21608/EJABF.2020.87032
