International Journal of Marine Science 2015, Vol.5, No.20, 1-16
12
Figure 12 A purse seine with two boats on board
2.3 Fishermen adaptations in an Indonesian coastal
village
Most fishermen in Jembrana work as crew on purse
seine boats. Their spouses usually wait at home and
do not work or have gainful employment. However,
some of the fishermen’s wives work as fish collectors
or middlemen for the fishermen or crew of purse seine
vessels, and some work at the fish processing plants.
The collectors (local name:
belantik
) buy the fish from
the fishermen who obtained their fish as a share from
fishing activity. The buyers (collectors) often sell the
fish to boiled fish factories or directly sell them in the
local markets.
Normally, fishermen fish for 15-20 days (one-day
trips) within a month. The remaining free days are
used to repair the nets or maintain the boats. From
2010 until mid-2011, 80% of the fishermen did not
have any fishing activities involving purse seine boats.
The same is true for purse seine vessel owners and the
fish traders because the main fishery product (i.e.,
S.
lemuru
) had disappeared altogether. This disappearance
may be one consequence of fishing using high
technology, such as purse seines which are not easy to
regulate and are considered resource threatening
(Garcia et al., 1999). The crew members can no longer
work on the boats and had to find other jobs. Some
fishermen resort to fishing with the use of fishing rods
on board smaller boats (< 5 GT). These conditions are
comparable with fishermen in South Sulawesi trying
to adapt to the uncertain conditions of the major
capture fisheries that they have grown to be heavily
dependent on. Although the fishermen had diversified
livelihood activities, they stayed close to the fishery
and coastal areas (Zamroni and Masahiro, 2011a).
However, most of the fishermen prefer going to large
cities like Denpasar or other urban areas and work in
the construction industry for additional income to
meet their daily requirements. Small fishermen in
South Sulawesi planted seaweeds instead of engaging
in capture fisheries as their main livelihood activity
(Zamroni and Masahiro, 2011b). However, affected
fish traders still stay in business by purchasing fish
from other areas in Java and then selling them in Bali.
There are also some fishermen who can keep
supplying raw materials to the boiled fish factories
and fish processing plants. The fish processing plants
in Jembrana have maintained production by importing
raw materials from overseas countries such as India.
The crew of purse seine boats (ordinary crew) who
work every day obtained the following wages: daily
wages + additional wages (local name:
gacokan
) +
food allowance (local name:
lawuhan
) = total income
per person. This minimal wage serves temporarily for
survival when their main job is dormant. The boat
owners are able to survive but their income has been
drastically reduced. From 2010 to mid-2011, some
