Posted on February 24, 2025
JAKARTA/BATAM, Indonesia — Mounting reports of illegal seabed dredging in Indonesian waters have raised ecological alarm bells following the resumption of a controversial policy of sand exports.
On Feb. 10, a Navy patrol detained seven boats found to be illegally dredging sea sand off the coast of West Manggarai district in East Nusa Tenggara province. In January, authorities in Jakarta’s Thousand Islands district shut down sand dredging activities off Biawak Island for improper permits. And last October, a maritime patrol seized two Malaysian-flagged vessels for allegedly mining sand off the coast of the island of Batam in Riau Islands province.
For many marine observers, these reports of illegal activities appear to be an alarming result from the burgeoning demand for sand in the wake of the government’s decision in May 2023 (enshrined in two follow-up Ministry of Trade decrees in August 2024) to resume exports of sand extracted from the seabed. Prior to this, there had been a 20-year moratorium on exporting dredged sea sand, though not on its domestic trade.
Imam Trihatmadja, program director of the NGO Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW) Indonesia, said illegal sand mining had been going on with impunity for a long time due to a lack of monitoring by authorities. Now with exports allowed once again, the illegal activity will only increase, Imam said, as long as officials fail to beef up marine security and monitoring across Indonesian waters.
“The [monitoring] and law enforcement efforts by the authorities at sea are very minimal,” he said.
Regular sea patrols are expensive and constrained by insufficient resources and staff, particularly for a vast archipelago like Indonesia, which consists of thousands of islands. According to the fisheries ministry, it would ideally require at least 78 boats, more than twice what it currently has, to effectively monitor the country’s waters and combat illegal and harmful fishing activities. Other government agencies involved in patrolling Indonesia’s waters include the Navy, coast guard and police.
Budget cuts at the fisheries ministry in recent years have also led to a reduction in total patrolling time, according to a report by the Indonesian Traditional Fishers’ Union (KNTI). The ministry’s patrols dropped to a total of 84 days in 2019, from 270 days in 2015, the group reported. The current administration of President Prabowo Subianto has also imposed further budget cuts across all ministries and government agencies.
In early 2024, the fisheries ministry issued a decree designating seven locations for sea dredging, covering a combined area of about 590,000 hectares (1.45 million acres). Most are around the Natuna Islands off Sumatra, while the rest are off East Kalimantan province in Borneo, and the north Java coast, known as Pantura. The decree also allows for up to 17.65 billion cubic meters (623 billion cubic feet) of sand to be extracted.
According to the ministry, the dredging isn’t harmful to the environment, and is even beneficial: It claims that licensed companies are only permitted to take the sediment deposits that have built up on the seafloor, including on coral reefs, and that doing so maintains ocean health.
Wahyu Muryadi, a spokesman for the fisheries ministry, said the ministry lacks the budget to do this “cleanup,” and that private companies can do it at no cost to the government. “This way, the state can regulate the sedimentation, the ocean gets cleaned by private companies, and the government doesn’t spend a single rupiah. In fact, we generate trillions of rupiah in revenue,” he said.
The fisheries minister, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, said in October 2024 that there was a danger that “new islands will form” if dredging isn’t done. “When that happens, communities can no longer go out to sea, and eventually, they won’t be able to engage in aquaculture,” he said.
Sakti added the ministry would put a stop to the dredging if it’s shown to harm the environment and disadvantage fishers.
A typical barge used to dredge sand from the seafloor. Image by Yogi Eka Sahputra/Mongabay Indonesia.
Stephanie Juwana, program director at the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative (IOJI), questioned the government’s stated purpose of wanting to protect marine ecosystems, saying this is contradicted by the goal of reopening sea sand exports.
She also criticized the regulation for procedural flaws, noting that its drafting process lacked adequate public participation. She said the sea sand export provisions in the regulation are inconsistent with marine protection efforts as outlined in the Maritime Law.
The fisheries ministry previously said the dredged sand may be exported as long as producers can ensure domestic supplies for reclamation work and other infrastructure development projects, particularly for the construction and expansion of ports, and also the new capital city of Nusantara. The ministry’s decree, however, shows that total domestic demand amounts to just 2.4% of the total volume allowed to be dredged, rendering the rest viable for export.
“Other regulations, such as the trade ministry decrees, which currently allow sea sand exports, should also be revised to reinstate the ban,” Stephanie said.
Many marine observers and fishing communities have pointed out that the negative effects of sea sand extraction outweigh the benefits, and that the revenues from the exports would fail to cover the costs to rehabilitate the damage to affected marine ecosystems.
In South Sulawesi province, for instance, dredging activity sparked fierce resistance from local fishers. The community blamed dredging operators for disrupting their traditional fishing grounds, leading to a decline in catches of up to two-thirds since the activity began in February 2021. The Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), a Jakarta-based think tank, estimated that while the state could potentially earn the equivalent of $10.9 million in export revenue, and the dredging companies $32.1 million in profits, the potential losses to fishing communities could amount to $77.4 million.
“The wise action for this dredging and export of sea sand is to revoke the policy, while also restoring the environment that’s been damaged and empowering the communities who have been affected so far,” said La Sara, marine professor at the Buton Marine Technology Institute (ITK) and a member of the National Commission for Fisheries Resources Research (Komnas Kajiskan).
Yonvitner, a fisheries professor at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), said sea sand mining could destroy mangrove forests due to erosion and changes in coastal structures, eliminating the ecosystem services that mangroves provide.
He added it would be a similar scenario for other coastal ecosystems such as seagrass meadows and coral reefs. This would in turn reduce fish populations and diversity. The destruction of these habitats, especially for seafloor-dwelling species, could have lasting impacts on marine biodiversity, Yonvitner said. Yet no comprehensive calculation of the costs required to restore water quality has been done, he said, further complicating the true extent of the potential environmental impact.
Dredging would also threaten Indonesia’s marine carbon storage, CELIOS said. The country has the capacity to sequester an estimated 3.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in its various marine ecosystems, or 17% of the global total of so-called blue carbon. The government plans to include this vast store in its carbon trading policy, but this would be undermined by dredging activity, said Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of CELIOS.
Given these risks, Yonvitner called for a thorough cost-benefit analysis to be conducted before any sea sand extraction takes place, tailored to each designated dredging location. He also said that if the activity is ultimately allowed to resume, then a portion of the revenue, whether from domestic sales or exports, must be allocated for rehabilitation efforts as a form of compensation.
“Mapping the roles and benefits for local communities in designated extraction areas must be clearly defined to prevent future social conflicts,” Yonvitner said.
An officer with the Indonesian fisheries ministry’s enforcement unit watches over a barge suspected of being used in illegal sea sand dredging. Image by Yogi Eka Sahputra/Mongabay Indonesia.
