JAKARTA/TANGERANG, Indonesia — Joy was mending his nets when a reporter from Mongabay Indonesia visited him last October in the fishing village of Ketapang in Tangerang district, on the northwestern outskirts of Jakarta.

He said he planned to go out to sea later that afternoon. But to do so, he’d have to run a gauntlet of bamboo piles driven into the shallow seabed, forming a fence visible from the beach where his and other fishers’ boats were moored.

Joy said he’d previously seen on TV a fisherman being barred from entering that part of the water because the area appeared to be privately owned by a property developer.

“At night, it’s hard to see, and boats end up hitting them. The waves make it difficult to steer, and when boats drift here, they crash into the bamboo and get damaged,” Joy told Mongabay Indonesia.

The bamboo fencing adds to the pressures facing Joy and other local fishers, who already have to deal with declining fish stocks in the waters off the northern Java coast. And it’s not just the Ketapang fishers.

Bamboo piles have also been installed off the coast of neighboring Kohod village, making it difficult for small-scale fishers to go out to sea, and further reducing their income. Some have even stopped fishing altogether, while in another nearby village, Muara, the fishers can’t go out on the water anymore.

The sea fence, as it’s become known in the Indonesian media, began taking shape in early 2024, and by its peak toward the end of that year ran a combined 30 kilometers (19 miles). That was also when it became the focus of national attention, raising the question of who installed it.

A subsequent investigation has revealed that the fencing served to stake out at least 280 plots in the middle of the sea for which authorities had already issued title deeds — illegally, given that deeds may only be given for plots of land. The holders of these deeds were subsidiaries of the Agung Sedayu Group, a prominent property developer whose flagship Pantai Indah Kapuk 2 project adjoins the would-be sea plots.

The government has since sanctioned the officials and companies involved in the issuance of the deeds, but civil society groups are demanding criminal prosecution to ensure deterrence, protect the rights of fishers, and preserve marine ecosystems.

PIK 2 was declared a project of strategic national importance, or PSN, under Indonesia’s former president, Joko Widodo. This in itself was highly unusual, given that PSN designation has always been reserved for government-backed public works projects such as airports or industrial estates, not for private developments. The designation grants the government eminent domain authority to acquire land deemed necessary for a project. But while the core PIK 2 zone is a PSN, the illegally staked-out sea plots aren’t.

Yet the project has gobbled up more than just swaths of the sea; subsistence and small-scale farms on the coast have also been taken over, with many farmers forced off their land and compelled to find new jobs. Rina, from the village of Tanjung Burung, farmed rice for decades on someone else’s land, sharing the harvest with the owner. Fellow villager Samid once managed around 200 coconut trees, selling the fruit for a living. But the land they’ve long relied on has now been sold off, to be transformed into a luxury residential and commercial development. Rina is now unemployed, while Samid said he takes on irregular jobs to survive.

Villagers also face the prospect of eviction from their own homes. Joy said that sooner or later, their homes will be cleared for the expansion of PIK 2, leaving them uncertain about where to go.

“We’re used to living by the sea, so we don’t know how to adapt to life inland. We have boats — what will happen to them? Where will we store our fishing gear? We rely on the sea, and if we’re evicted, we’ll be lost again. What kind of work can we even do?” he said.

During our visit to the area, Mongabay Indonesia sees several signs reading, “This land belongs to Jaya Land,” even near Ketapang’s mangrove conservation area. Jaya Land is one of the developers behind PIK 2. The signs also warn that “unauthorized use or occupation of this land” is a criminal offense.

Joy said he’s uncertain about his future. As an ordinary citizen, he said he feels powerless, especially against large corporations. “How can small people like us fight big companies? Even the slightest resistance could land us in jail. Who can we turn to for protection? The government sides with the developers — there’s no way they’ll protect us.”

As a designated PSN, the PIK 2 development falls under the central government’s authority, with local authorities only providing recommendations based on zoning regulations. However, the project’s legality remains unclear, as the land and zoning ministry, known by the acronym ATR/BPN, has yet to verify its boundaries and compliance with zoning laws. Suyus Windayana, the ministry’s secretary-general, said the PSN designation hasn’t been finalized yet, with the developers still required to reapply based on several criteria, including zoning suitability.

In its recommendation for the PIK 2 development, the Tangerang district government said the project aligns with local zoning plans. Yet the ongoing investigation has found that the sea fence violated public access rights and environmental laws across the 16 coastal villages whose waters it crossed. The discovery of the 280 title deeds has also raised concerns over the illegal privatization of coastal waters, prompting authorities to review and potentially revoke them due to procedural violations.

Eli Suriyanti, head of marine affairs agency for Banten province, where Tangerang district is located, said she only learned about the sea fence after residents reported it on Aug. 14, 2024. Five days later, Eli’s team went out to see it for themselves, but workers installing the bamboo piles refused to disclose the fence’s purpose or who was behind it.

“At that time, the fence was only 7 kilometers [4 mi] long,” Eli said at a public discussion at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) in Jakarta on Jan. 7, 2025.

On Sept. 18, 2024, Eli’s team and one from the marine affairs ministry revisited the site and found the illegal sea fence had expanded to 30 km. The fenced-off area falls within a public-use zone under Banten’s zoning plans last updated in 2023. This means the area is designated for seaports (including fishing ports), tourism, fishing, energy, and aquaculture. The location also overlaps with a proposed offshore reservoir project initiated by the development planning ministry.

Observers say the illegal sea fence off Tangerang is an attempt to acquire and convert marine areas into land, despite regulations prohibiting private ownership of ocean spaces to maintain public access and prevent environmental damage. Officials initially denied this was the case, and at one point blamed fishers for installing the bamboo piles. But the ensuing investigation has revealed that the fenced-off waters correspond with plots of titled areas on the zoning ministry’s online Bhumi map.

Suharyanto, the zoning director at the marine affairs ministry, told Mongabay that such deeds could be issued in the case of land that had been lost to the sea.

“But based on studies through satellite image analysis for the past 30 years, the fenced-off area was never land, so it remains a marine area,” Suharyanto said.

The zoning minister, Nusron Wahid, has since confirmed the issuance of the 280 title deeds by the ministry before he took office last October. He acknowledged there had been procedural violations and promised to revoke the deeds, 234 of which were issued to the company PT Intan Agung Makmur (IAM) and 20 to PT Cahaya Inti Sentosa (CIS) — both subsidiaries of Agung Sedayu Group, PIK 2’s main developer. The rest of the deeds were made out to individuals.

“After our examination, we matched them with geospatial data and coastline maps, and the certificates were found to be issued outside the coastline,” Nusron said. That makes them common property and therefore prohibited from being privatized.

“Since the deeds are less than 5 years old, that alone is sufficient grounds for reviewing and revoking them,” Nusron added after visiting the site of the sea fence on Jan. 22.

Mongabay reached out to Agung Sedayu Group and one of its subsidiaries, PT Pantai Indah Dua Tbk (PANI), the majority shareholder in CIS, for comment. Neither company had responded by the time this story was published.

Besides the zoning violations, the sea fence has also breached environmental regulations. The forestry ministry has confirmed that there were no impact assessments carried out prior to the fencing, and that it’s considering legal actions against the perpetrators.

“From a law enforcement point of view, we will definitely impose a minimum of administrative or criminal sanctions,” said Ardyanto Nugroho, the ministry’s director of complaints.

Nusron said the government’s internal watchdog, known as APIP, would also get involved. The watchdog plans to question several parties in the case, includes village authorities, the private surveyors who signed off on the applications for the title deeds, and ATR/BPN officials from Tangerang district to determine how the deeds were ever allowed to be issued.

Muannas Alaidid, a lawyer for PIK 2, previously denied the developers’ involvement in the sea fence, claiming the location was neither within PIK 2’s site nor part of the zone designated as being of strategic national importance. He claimed the fence was built by local residents to break waves, support fish farming, or prevent waste accumulation.

That was on Jan. 13. By Jan. 24, Muannas admitted there were titled plots within the fenced-off waters, but said they were only off Kohod village, not the other villages staked out by the fence. He also said the developers would review the legal and procedural grounds for revoking the deeds, whose issuance he defended as having followed due process, including lawful land purchases, title transfers and tax payments.

To date, the zoning ministry has sanctioned nine individuals, from both the public and private sectors, for their involvement in the illegal issuance of the title deeds for the sea plots.

It has also begun revoking the deeds, with 50 already annulled, and a court considering the annulment of the rest. Meanwhile, the marine affairs ministry says it has limited authority in the matter and can only impose administrative fines, leaving any criminal investigation to law enforcement agencies.

The police have launched an investigation into suspected document forgery, misuse of authority, and money laundering, with officials from multiple government agencies under scrutiny.

Marine observers have praised the authorities’ sanctions against some of the individuals involved, but called for legal action to also be taken against the companies ultimately responsible. Several organizations, including environmental NGO Walhi and fishers’ rights group Kiara, have filed police reports alleging criminal offenses such as document forgery and the deprivation of fishers’ livelihoods.

“Perpetrators of illegal sea occupation must be prosecuted, as law enforcement has a strong commitment to showing that Indonesia does not bow down to big corporations,” said Susan Herawati, secretary-general of Kiara. “What is at stake in this case is the dignity of the state and government, so the law must be enforced.”

Back in Kohod, the village chief, Arsin, has been charged by police with document forgery for their role in aiding the companies’ bid to title the sea plots. Residents of Kohod say they plan to file a citizen lawsuit against multiple government officials, arguing the state failed to protect their rights and allowed large-scale privatization of public waters.

Experts say they case also highlights broader problems with PSN projects, whose environmental and social impacts largely go unscrutinized, as well as the weak coordination among government agencies in managing coastal and marine resources.

“Recently, we have seen coastal areas being seized through ocean grabbing, causing communities to lose access to the beach and sea drastically,” said Parid Ridwanuddin, the coastal and marine manager at Walhi, Indonesia’s biggest environmental advocacy group.

“There’s a dark side of PSN projects, including this PIK 2 case,” he added.

Susan from Kiara urged the marine affairs ministry to use this case as an opportunity for a comprehensive evaluation, particularly to ensure the protection of traditional and small-scale fishers. The ministry must also review policies and regulations that legitimize the destruction, privatization and the seizure of marine spaces, she added.

“The issuance of certificates followed by the fencing of the sea is part of a structural impoverishment effort involving state institutions,” she said.

This story was first published here, here, here and here in Indonesian on Oct. 23, 2024, and Jan. 14 and 25, and Feb. 4, 2025.

Basten Gokkon, senior staff writer for Indonesia at Mongabay, contributed to this reporting. Find him on 𝕏 @bgokkon.

See more from the reporters:

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