A strong flow of foreign humanitarian aid has helped Acehnese fishermen back on their feet after the December 26 tsunami, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.

But fish stocks were dwindling with no programs in place to conserve the province's red tuna, highly sought after in foreign markets, particularly the Japanese.

The problem was compounded by the rising number of small boats fishing the waters off Aceh for the tuna, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Federation statement said.

The earthquake-triggered tsunami ravaged coastal Aceh, destroying fishing villages and communities and wrecking an estimated 70 percent of fishing boats.

If donors and agencies carried out their post-tsunami aid plans, there would be far more boats than before the devastation.

Rather than focusing on restoring the size of the fleet, donors should invest in developing other sections of the industry, it said.

"If fleets become larger than they were before the tsunami, overfishing may occur, particularly by small boats which already work the reefs and easy-to-reach points along the coast that serve as hatcheries," the statement said.

"With too many small boats, the fish could be gone within a few years," the statement quoted Antoine Munoz, head of a maritime rehabilitation project led by the Belgian Red Cross, as saying.

"We need to watch this carefully, or the depletion that occurred in Europe's North Sea and other places, will be repeated here in Indonesia," he said.

He warned that Aceh's red tuna could "go the way of Europe's cod."

Munoz said he and the Red Cross and Red Crescent had introduced cooperatives for the fishermen allowing them to share their proceeds and help them buy their own boats.

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