Study on the interaction between fish stocks and fisherman poverty as a basis for coastal fisheries management in cirebon regency, Province of West Java

Abstract

The majority of Indonesian fishermen are still lingering in poverty, and many of fish stocks in many marine areas have already been fully exploited or overfishing. This research is intended to: (1) determine the state of marine fisheries resource utilization in the marine water area of Cirebon Regency, (2) identify factors which cause problems related to fisherman poverty and determine which are the dominant factors, and (3) formulate a fisheries management model that make fishermen prosperous on a sustainable manner. The research area cover marine waters from the coastline up to 12 mile offshore which belong to Cirebon Regency administrative boundaries, and was carried out from October 2010 to March 2011. To achieve those research objectives, SPM (Surplus Production Model) was employed to obtain the MSY of marine fisheries resource and an optimal fishing effort. Whereas, qualitative and descriptive analyses were used to identify and determine dominant factors that make fishermen living in poverty. The results of this research demonstrate that the state of fisheries resources in Zone-I, Zone-II, and Zone-III of Cirebon marine waters has generally been overfishing. Furthermore, among 13 types of fishing gears used in Cirebon marine waters, seven fishing gears are already exceeding the optimum fishing effort (fopt). These include mini purse seine, danish seine, fish net, gill nets, encirling gill nets, fixed lift net, and long lines. Meanwhile, the other six fishing gears including active purse seine, fixed gill nets, trammel nets, anco, trap for molluscs, and other trap types are still less than their optimum number. Amongst so many fish species caught from Cirebon marine waters, thirty one specieas are already overfishing, which include teri, teri nasi, bawal hitam, sunglir, gurita, biji nangka, kapas-kapas, slanget, sotong, kurisi, kuniran, peperek, kurau, ikan sebelah, cumi-cumi, manyung, tetengkek, bawal putih, talang, kakap, tongkol, tenggiri, cucut, japuh, tembang, julung-julung, siro, bilis, pari, alu-alu, dan remang. Natural, cultural, and structural factors are found to have contribution to fishermen poverty. In this case natural factors include the state of marine fisheries resource utilization, area and quality of mangrove ecosystems, and quality of coastal waters. Cultural factors include education level, health status, knowledges, skills, and work ethics of fishermen. Structural factors are in the form of government policies and community traditions which influence fishermen economic and social life. Natural factors are the most dominant one, followed by structural and cultural factors. It is therefore to ensure the sustainability of marine fisheries resources and of fishermen prosperity in Cirebon Regency, the existing level of marine fisheries resource utilization should be reduced up to an optimal fishing effort.

Studi Keterkaitan Antara Sumberdaya Ikan dan Kemiskinan Nelayan Sebagai Dasar Kebijakan Pengelolaan Wilayah Pesisir Kabupaten Cirebon Provinsi Jawa Barat