The world depends on the ocean to meet increasing demands for food, income, energy and minerals and transportation. However, marine ecosystems face serious challenges from over-exploitation, extraction, pollution, loss of biodiversity and climate change.
Now more than ever, there is an urgent need to strike a balance between production and protection for all ocean users’ current and future needs.
But as shown by our report, marine resource management in Indonesia—the world’s largest archipelagic nation and the richest in marine biodiversity—is complex.
Furthermore, Indonesia is preoccupied with wild capture fisheries, aquaculture production, and commodity supply chains for local and global seafood supply chains.
Meanwhile, local fishers with small boats have had little traction in Indonesia’s marine and fisheries governance, despite their important roles in ocean protection.
Small-scale fisheries are integral to sustaining food security and livelihood in Indonesia.
Nearly 96% of fishing vessels in Indonesia are under ten gross tons. Yet only 20% of Indonesia’s fish catches come from small-scale fishers.
This has to do with the lack of recognition and support. There is continued marginalization of small-scale fishers and their living space due to competition for space with corporations or large investments—such as the conflict in South Sulawesi between small-scale fishers and sand mining companies. The conflict deprived the fishers of living space by exclusively controlling the catchment zones and physically destroying the sea ecosystem and livelihood source.
Fisher households in Indonesia are still among the poorest of the poor. Statistics indicate fewer and fewer people are opting to stay in this sector.
However, government programs may also be a reason for the marginalization of small-scale fishers.
For example, quota-based fisheries policy, which aims to manage the fisheries sector by implementing a quota for the catches, has raised concerns of majority concession control by only several large-scale fishing industries and investments. This only leaves a small portion of the quota for traditional, artisanal, and small-scale fishers, while creating widening income gap.
Alienation of small-scale fishers reinforces an unbalanced distribution of ocean benefits and over-extractive behavior in the economy, decreasing long-term ocean performance.