When the Reservoir Becomes a Fish Cultivation Site

_{A fisherman uses a boat to monitor fish cages (keramba) in the Pusong Reservoir, Lhokseumawe, Aceh. Photos taken by @fernandes.}

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Hi friends, how are you today? Hopefully healthy and happy!

I would like to share a little information about Lhokseumawe Reservoir, Aceh Province. The reservoir, covering an area of approximately 60 hectares, is located in Pusong Lama Village, Keude Aceh and Mon Geudong, Banda Sakti Sub-district, Lhokseumawe. Because it is located in Pusong Village, this reservoir is often called "Pusong Reservoir".

The government built Pusong Reservoir on the outskirts of the Cunda River, Lhokseumawe, in 2008-2010. The Aceh Provincial Government then handed over the reservoir management to the Lhokseumawe Municipal Government in early November 2011.

What is the function of Pusong Reservoir?

Reservoir is a place or space to hold water.

A reservoir usually means an enlarged natural or artificial lake, storage pond or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water. Reservoirs can be created by controlling a stream that drains an existing body of water. They can also be constructed in river valleys using a dam. Alternately, a reservoir can be built by excavating flat ground or constructing retaining walls and levees.en.wikipedia.org

Some areas of Lhokseumawe often experience flooding during the rainy season. That is why, the government built Pusong Reservoir as a flood controller. During the rainy season, water in the central area of Lhokseumawe is expected to flow in drainage up into the Pusong Reservoir.

The flooded area in Lhokseumawe City in 2010 amounted to 2.62% of the entire flood area.bappeda.lhokseumawekota.go.id

However, I see during this time, Pusong Reservoir as flood control in Lhokseumawe downtown area has not functioned optimally. During the rainy season, floods still inundate downtown areas, such as on Jalan Perdagangan and several other locations. Probably the cause of drains or drainage is clogged with garbage or has been shallow because it is not cleaned regularly. So, in my opinion, the local government must regularly check the drainage, if clogged with garbage then it must be cleaned.

_{Floods in Jalan Perdagangan, Lhokseumawe, September 15, 2017.}Source

In addition to flood control, the government plans that in the future the water contained in Pusong Reservoir can be processed into clean drinkable water.

“Long-term program, water reservoirs that can be processed so that it becomes water consumption”.aceh.tribunnews.com

Tourist and fish cultivation

Pusong Reservoir is an open space for the public, because it has become a busy tourist sites visited by residents of Lhokseumawe and surrounding areas, especially in the afternoon and evening. Thus, traders build cafes that provide a variety of beverages and culinary. Thus, the existence of Pusong Reservoir as a tourist site has created an economic turnaround.

Lhokseumawe residents also take advantage of asphalt roads that circle Pusong Reservoir to exercise jogging in the morning and evening. Residents who like fishing can also channel their hobby in Pusong Reservoir.

_{Fishing fish in Pusong Reservoir. Photos taken by @fernandes.}

In addition, some local fishermen make keramba as a place of fish cultivation in Pusong Reservoir. If ancient keramba was made using bamboo slats, now keramba made of nets, as seen in Pusong Reservoir.

The information I get from some Lhokseumawe residents, fish cultivated in Pusong Reservoir are grouper (Acehnese language: "Keurapee"), and red snapper.

Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes.en.wikipedia.org

According to locals, grouper fish cultivated in Pusong Reservoir is a group of frog grouper species. It took six to seven months to cultivate the grouper until the harvest time came. The grouper is accommodated by entrepreneurs for export to China.

_{Fish keramba in Pusong Reservoir, Lhokseumawe, Aceh. Photos taken by @fernandes.}

While red snapper is one type of snapper that is usually found in the territory of Indonesia.

Snappers are a family of perciform fish, Lutjanidae, mainly marine, but with some members inhabiting estuaries, feeding in fresh water. The family includes about 113 species. Some are important food fish. One of the best known is the red snapper.en.wikipedia.org

The existence of fish cages in the Pusong Reservoir is considered inaccurate, because the reservoir function is not for fish cultivation. Lhokseumawe Parliament (DPRK Lhokseumawe) through plenary session of 2016 has asked local government to find a solution for fishermen not to make fish cages in Pusong Reservoir.

For the keramba problem is expected to be addressed by sitting with the stakeholders to find the best solution for various parties.dprk-lhokseumawekota.go.id

The Lhokseumawe City Government has also planned to dismantle fish cages in the Pusong Reservoir. The mayor of Lhokseumawe, Suaidi Yahya in 2017 has ordered the Camat of Banda Sakti to write to the fishermen to dismantle fish cages in the Pusong Reservoir. However, until now there has been no demolition action.

While fishermen ask the Lhokseumawe Municipal Government to provide assistance floating keramba if the fish cages they make in Pusong Reservoir dismantled.

“We only ask for a solution to Lhokseumawe Mayor, if indeed this cage wants to be demolished, we fishermen ask for relief so we continue to cultivate fish as a livelihood and meet the family economy," said a fisherman.goaceh.co

The Lhokseumawe Municipal Government should be firm about the existence of fish cages in the Pusong Reservoir. If the rules are not allowed to cultivate fish in the reservoir, then the government should immediately find a solution by way of deliberation with the fishermen who have built fish cages in the water reservoir.

_{Fish keramba at the mouth of the Cunda River, near Pusong Reservoir, Lhokseumawe. Photos taken by @fernandes.}

Some fishermen also cultivate fish using floating cages at the mouth of the River Cunda, on the side of Pusong Reservoir. Fishermen put up some drums to make a floating net. Fishermen also built a kind of shack in the middle of a floating cage. The building is a place for fishermen to keep fish, store equipment, including storing fish feed.

Smell of garbage

The existence of Pusong Reservoir in previous years has been misused by some residents who throw garbage indiscriminately. The impact is the emergence of the smell of nasal sting disturb visitors of the reservoir that is currently a tourist location.

"The visitors must be very disturbed. We hope that the responsible service will deal with it immediately. Do not waste the existing assets in supporting the tourism potential in the city of Lhokseumawe, "said Mukhlis Azhar, member of DPRK Lhokseumawe.aceh.tribunnews.com

In addition, the water gate at Pusong Reservoir, which borders the mouth of the Cunda River, is rarely opened, so there is no water circulation.

"It is true, there have been many complaints from residents, but we have overcome it slowly by re-opening the water gate regularly to have water change," said Dedi Irfansyah, Head of Public Works Office of Lhokseumawe City, September 20, 2017.portalsatu.com

Is Pusong Reservoir comfortable for public?

As explained above, Pusong Reservoir is an open space for the public. The question is whether the Pusong Reservoir is comfortable for the public?

Wisnu Sasongko, Lecturer of City Planning and Management Laboratory, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Brawijaya University, Malang, Indonesia, has conducted a research on Pusong Reservoir, Lhokseumawe, Aceh. In that research, Vishnu Sasongko with several students used descriptive explorative analysis research method with behavioral mapping way to describe the use of public space related to daily activities in Pusong Reservoir.

They use Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) to know the public perception on the quality of Pusong Reservoir based on circulation, climate, noise, aroma, safety, hygiene, and beauty variables. According to the results of the research, Pusong Reservoir is still less comfortable for the public.

From the analysis, it is known that Pusong Reservoir has not been applied to the arrangement and physical facilities related to the aspect of river amenity in the form of circulation, aroma, security, cleanliness, and beauty.temuilmiah.iplbi.or.id

Based on the results of that research, Vishnu Sasongko provide solutions in the form of optimization concept of Pusong Reservoir as open space for public more precise. Among other things, it is necessary to provide jogging tracks by utilizing the visual potential, the addition of parking spaces, the provision of garbage bins in accordance with certain types of waste, and installation of information boards containing a ban on disposing of garbage. More details please visit LINK

Thus information about Pusong Reservoir. Articles that I write may not be perfect, of course there are still shortcomings. Therefore, I will try to write more fully on another occasion.[]

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Footnote:

www.wikipedia.org
www.bappeda.lhokseumawekota.go.id
www.aceh.tribunnews.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.wikipedia.org
www.dprk-lhokseumawekota.go.id
www.goaceh.co
www.aceh.tribunnews.com
www.portalsatu.com
www.temuilmiah.iplbi.or.id