Published in Gemini News Service

DIVERS IN INDONESIA DO IT DEEPER, THEN DIE

by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski (c) 1996

ARU ISLANDS, Indonesia

I suppose Chek Chong isn't legally a murderer. But that's the way I see him. He is a Chinese merchant in the Aru Islands who loans scuba equipment to young men so they can dive for mother of pearl and oysters. Some of the men wind up as shark food.The divers in this isolated region south of Irian Jaya are generally poorly-educated fishermen who are given little or no scuba training, and, because they are paid by the piece, dive deeper and more frequently than they should.

In addition, when I dived with tanks and regulators rented from Chek Chong (not his real name) during a recent EEC-sponsored research expedition, I saw first hand that the equipment is not kind to inexperienced divers. All the equipment was battered and corroded. Four out of five regulators malfunctioned. None had depth or pressure gauges; the tanks lacked reserve pulls.

One recent victim was 22 year old Daud Karatim from Kampong Sia in southeast Aru.

I suggested to Chek Chong that perhaps Daud's death was the merchant's responsibiity.

"They choose to go down," he said, not at all pleased by the conversation. "They want the money."

Many who go down don't come up. Much of the data concerning diving deaths are anecdotal, but I spoke to enough Chinese merchants, divers, and officials to believe that the following incidents represent the tip of the iceberg.

** A researcher at the University of Pattimura in Ambon, has recorded 18 diving deaths for the Aru Islands in 1992 and four for the month of January 1993.

** A fishermen on board the Cahaya Laut, sailing out of Dobo, Aru, said that he knew of seven men who had died within the last two months.

** On Pulau Baun, two men died during a one week period in March 1993.

Diving tragedies are not limited to the Aru Islands.

** On the island of Bobale off Halmahera, six men have died because of diving-related accidents, and another six have been crippled for life.

In the event of an injury, the merchant who "commissions" the diver is only required to pay medical costs, which are insignificant since there is nothing you can do to reverse the permanent crippling effects of a mild case of the bends. When a diver dies, the merchant is required to pay compensation to the deceased's family. The amount is determined by the Indonesian labor office -- generally between Rp 1 million and Rp 2 million, the equivalent of about US$ 500 and US$ 1,000. In Daud's case, Chek Chong paid the man's family Rp 1.5 million (US$ 750). The cost of doing business.

This is a small cost, too, considering the profits involved.
Divers can earn Rp 10,000 (US$ 5) for a mother of pearl shell and anywhere between Rp 3,500 to Rp 30,000 (US$ 1.70 - US$ 15) for an oyster that can be used in culturing pearls.

The Chinese then sell the mother of pearl to overseas craft workshops and the oysters to one of the 26 oyster farms in Aru for a profit of 300 percent to 1,000 percent.

Can anything be done?

A diver with the bends cannot be sent to a decompression chamber since the nearest facility is in Surabaya, some thousands of kilometers and a day's journey by (non-existent) plane. The only choice is to go back down once the cramps start. Ely of the fishing boat Cahaya Laut explained that when he got the bends -- Indonesians call it "rheumatic" -- his colleagues brought him back down to about 30 meters, where he stayed for 48 hours while his friends brought fresh tanks and slapped him to keep him awake.

The answer obviously lies in better equipment, proper instruction, and perhaps a more equitable profit-sharing arrangement (which might also include quotas to limit excessive diving and over-harvesting of the natural resource).

I work in nature conservation and the deaths of a few dozen pearl divers in a forgotten corner of Indonesia is not an environmental issue. It is, however, a human issue, and I urge the Indonesian authorities to take action to stop the underwater slaughter.