04 October 2005, Pidie - A woman making drying screens for curing fish with salt. Aceh province was the worst affected of all the Indian Ocean areas hit by the December 26 earthquake and tsunami. The tsunami destroyed the earthen banks of the fishponds and filled the ponds with debris and toxic silt. More than half of Aceh's 44 000 hectares of fishponds were destroyed, according to an FAO survey.
FAO Project: OSRO/INS/504/GER - Emergency assistance to support the rehabilitation of small-scale fisheries activities in earthquake/tsunami-afffected areas in Aceh, Northern Sumatra Coastline and in Nias Island, Indonesia(TSU - IND-05/A02. The overall long term objective of FAO support is to assist the Indonesia Government's efforts to protect, rehabilitate and enhance the livelihoods of the tsunami-earthquake affected coastal communities, in a sustainable manner. The medium term objective is to lead, contribute and assist in the formulation and implementation of the overall national fisheries rehabilitation plan. The short term objective (over 12 months) will be to provide immediate assistance to safeguard livelihoods of the affected fishers and to enable them to resume fish production for nutrition and income earning in Aceh, northern Sumatra and Nias Island areas, and therefore reduce dependency on food aid.