Sand mining plans spark opposition from fishers in Indonesia’s Riau Islands

NUMBING ISLAND, Indonesia — The waters off Numbing Island, part of the Riau archipelago between Sumatra and Singapore, are among Indonesia’s richest fishing grounds. Local fisher Edy says the abundant fish stocks have enabled him to support his family and pay for his children’s university education. He typically earns between 1 million and 2 million rupiah ($55-$110) per fishing trip and makes four trips a month.

However, Edy says he fears a proposed sand-mining project will threaten his and other fishers’ livelihoods. He said dredging would make the water more turbid, driving fish away from their traditional habitats and forcing fishers to sail farther out to sea to find them.

“That is why I am afraid of this mining project. It will damage the sea. We have experienced this before, when marine sand mining took place near Batam,” he said, referring to one of the largest of the Riau islands, located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Numbing. “Our waters also became cloudy.”

A wave of opposition to the planned sea-sand mining in the waters around Riau Islands province has emerged among not only fishers from Numbing and surrounding areas, but also Indonesian lawmakers.

Local authorities paint the project off Numbing, which is part of the Riau Islands’ Bintan district, as necessary to dredge marine sediment to facilitate large ship traffic. This would make it exempt from Indonesian law that prohibits sand mining in coastal areas and around small islands. But many fishers say they suspect it’s an extraction project that will disrupt the marine ecosystem they depend on.

Edy joined hundreds of fishers from various islands as they converged on the provincial capital, Tanjungpinang, on May 12 to protest the plan to dredge marine sand off Numbing.

“If our sea is dredged, it will definitely be damaged,” Mardialis, one of the fishers, said in a speech during the protest outside the provincial parliament and the governor’s office. “Our families depend on fishing, and we’ve been able to send our children to school thanks to the income we earn as fishers.”

Two months later, on July 25, several lawmakers from the national parliament, in Jakarta, visited the Riau Islands and expressed their objection to the mining plan.

Evita Nursanty, deputy chair of the parliamentary commission VII, which oversees industry and tourism, told local journalists that sand mining shouldn’t be allowed in areas designated as tourism destinations.

Tifatul Sembiring, a member of the same commission, also said mining shouldn’t be allowed near fishing grounds or tourism destinations, warning it could damage coral reefs and harm fish habitats, as well as undermine livelihoods in both the fishing and tourism industries.

Tifatul also called on the government to relocate any such projects to what he called nonproductive areas, away from fishing and tourism zones.

“There are still other non-productive locations that can be used. We must not allow Bintan [district’s] tourism appeal to be damaged or fishermen’s livelihoods to be affected,” Tifatul said as quoted by local media.

The controversy around the planned dredging off Numbing Island has simmered since at least March 2025, when local fishers first learned of a company’s plans to mine sand there. Since then, a dozen more companies have submitted similar plans.

Officials from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries confirmed that 13 companies had been granted concessions to carry out what the government describes as marine sediment removal in the waters off Numbing.

However, none of the firms has yet received an operational permit. According to the ministry, they must still obtain the required basic permits, have their environmental impact assessments (EIAs) approved, and secure final operational authorization from the ministry before they can start work.

Six of the 13 companies have completed the public hearings required for their EIAs, according to local government data, while the remaining companies are still in the assessment process.

‘Best fishing spots’

One of the proposed mining sites off Numbing Island sits in an important fishing ground for fishers from Numbing and various nearby islands.

“That is one of the best fishing spots,” Hamzah, a fisher from Mantang Island, told Mongabay Indonesia at the May protest. “Even during extreme weather, fishers go there because the currents are known to be calm. We cannot accept having that sea destroyed.”

The mining companies reportedly already held a public consultation on Numbing Island. However, fishers opposing the project said they weren’t invited to the meetings.

Only a small number of fishers on Numbing were invited for consultation, Rudi Herdiawan, head of the Bintan-Lingga Coastal Fishers Alliance, who led the protest, told Mongabay Indonesia in July. The rest were women from government-sponsored family welfare groups known as PKK; villagers working at rubber plantations; and fishers not affected by the project.

Rudi said the fishers invited to the meetings admitted to having supported the project only after receiving promises of monetary compensation from the companies.
According to the Numbing village government, only 13 local families, representing 5% of residents, were against the plan. However, Rudi said that based on the data he collected, at least 50 families from one neighborhood alone had declared their opposition. Other fishers said all the people in their villages rejected the project.

Herry Yudo Santoso, the Numbing village head, rejected Rudi’s account about the meetings, saying his office had invited representatives of all stakeholders, including fishers, to attend the public consultations held by the companies.

Those fishers who did attend the meetings confirmed to Mongabay Indonesia that they accepted the mining plan in exchange for payment from the companies.

Tarjulin — who said he’s the head of the Numbing Island fishers’ group, a claim not recognized by some fishers — and Safirudin, another fisher, told Mongabay Indonesia separately on May 13 that the companies agreed to the fishers’ proposed compensation.

Each firm will pay 2 million rupiah (112) per month to each fishing family and 1 million rupiah ($56) per month to each non-fishing family for the duration of the projects. With 13 companies involved, the fishers estimated that families could receive at least 13 million rupiah ($730) per month in compensation.

“After the plans were explained repeatedly during the consultations, we saw that there could also be benefits for the community,” Safirudin said, adding that the amount — four times the minimum monthly wage for the district — was substantial for him.

He also estimated the companies would operate for three years and expected one company to pay about 8.8 billion rupiah ($494,000) in compensation to all residents in Numbing each year, or approximately 26.4 billion rupiah ($1.48 million) throughout the lifetime of the project.

According to Safirudin, small-scale fishers in the Riau Islands are under significant economic pressure. Their fishing grounds are frequently disrupted by large vessels, and their fishing gear is often damaged when it gets entangled with those larger vessels’ nets.

Rising fuel costs and other operational expenses have also made it increasingly difficult to earn a living. “If fuel prices keep increasing, how can fishers afford to go to sea?” Safirudin said.

Unpredictable catches are another reason why some fishers have accepted the companies’ compensation offer, he added. During good fishing seasons, fishers can earn between 5 million and 6 million rupiah ($280-$340) per month; in poor seasons, earning even 500,000 rupiah ($28) each month can be difficult, he said.

Safirudin also said the companies had promised a range of community assistance through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, including fishing equipment and support for aquaculture projects. “I think that is a good form of cooperation,” he said.

He acknowledged that mining activities would inevitably have environmental impacts, but said this could be minimized through proper management. He urged any dispute to be resolved through open dialogue involving all stakeholders.

The dispute in the Riau Islands reflects not only broader national concerns over Indonesia’s renewed marine sand extraction policy but also legal uncertainties. Indonesia banned marine sand exports in 2003 amid concerns over illegal dredging and environmental damage, but the government lifted the ban in 2023, allowing exports under a new regulation.

Following a series of legal challenges, however, the Supreme Court in 2025 struck down the provisions allowing exports, though its ruling didn’t prohibit continued mining for domestic use.

In response to the ruling, the government revised the 2023 regulation twice, in 2025 and 2026, once again effectively banning sand exports. But in June this year, the NGO Center of Energy and Resources Indonesia (CERI) accused the government of quietly working to introduce a new policy allowing sand exports to Singapore.

Jusri Sabri, secretary-general of the HPSLI, the trade association representing marine dredging companies, said sand from the seafloor near Numbing Island has high commercial value, with Singapore as the intended export destination.

However, no sales contracts have been signed, Jusri told local media. “No company has begun operations because they are still waiting for buyers.”

Environmental groups say the sand-mining industry is poised to expand rapidly in Indonesia. Auriga Nusantara, an environmental NGO, recorded 118 dredging permits covering more than 131,000 hectares (324,000 acres) across Indonesian waters. Another NGO, the People’s Coalition for Fisheries Justice (KIARA), predicted that millions of hectares of planned land reclamation could drive further demand for marine sand.

Activists have sounded the alarm over the projects. Susan Herawati, secretary-general of KIARA, said marine sand mining would cause significant environmental damage. Scraping the seafloor will lead to seabed subsidence in nearby coastal areas and weaken the natural coastal defense that helps reduce the force of waves and currents.

“Marine sand plays a vital role in buffering ocean currents and waves, and there is no technology that can replace that function,” Susan said. “If the sand is removed, subsidence is inevitable.”

She said the growing number of sand-mining projects in the Riau Islands is intended to supply material for expanding land reclamation projects, causing a double whammy by damaging both the extraction sites and the reclamation areas. That’s because reclaiming land with dredged sand increases water turbidity, destroys coral reefs and other marine habitats, and alters ocean currents, she explained.

She cited two projects in Semarang on the north coast of the island of Java: the Marina Beach reclamation and the Tanjung Emas Port expansion. Both projects, she said, have been linked to environmental degradation, coastal erosion, tidal flooding, land subsidence, and long-running permit disputes.

“People there are still living with seawater surrounding their homes,” Susan said. “Has the government cared about them after the communities were submerged? No.”

She also criticized the CSR programs offered by mining companies, saying they provide only temporary benefits while fueling conflict within communities as residents compete for assistance.

CSR programs “will not improve people’s lives,” Susan added, saying that sand mining could ultimately displace thousands of coastal residents and that fishers who support the projects would be “leaving a legacy of harm.”

Parid Ridwanuddin, a marine researcher at Auriga Nusantara, said sand mining is prohibited in coastal waters and around small islands because these are highly vulnerable areas and mining has repeatedly reduced fishers’ incomes.

A 2024 study by the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) found that restarting sea sand exports would result in a net loss to Indonesia’s domestic economy, as gains for businesses and the government would be outweighed by declining fish catches and losses in fisheries jobs.

There are also other costs: dredging threatens Indonesia’s globally significant stores of carbon dioxide held in marine ecosystems, known as blue carbon.

Parid pointed out that the Riau Islands are important not only for their economic value but also for Indonesia’s geostrategic interests, as the province sits adjacent to the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s key maritime trade routes.

“If islands disappear because of seabed dredging and marine sand extraction, the consequences go far beyond fishermen’s livelihoods,” he said. “It also affects ecology, culture, the economy, and Indonesia’s sovereignty.”

Basten Gokkon is a senior staff writer for Indonesia at Mongabay.

See related story:

Indonesia moves to revise sea sand export policy after court ruling

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