SHOULD INDONESIAN FISHERY POLICIES BE NAVIGATED TOWARDS THE INHERENT WEALTH OF FISHERIES OR SMALL-SCALE FISHERMEN’S WELFARE?

Abstract

The marine fishery policies have been challenged by splitting objectives in the fishery management
directed towards the inherent wealth of fisheries or the small-scale fishermen’s welfare. This research thus
investigated the marine fishery policies in Indonesia, with a particular observation on the small-scale
fishermen’s livelihood on the north coast of Jakarta. The objectives of the study include comprehending
and analysing the rationale, potential, challenges, and the impact of the Indonesian fishery policies in terms
of the multidimensional global challenges of sustainability, and that of contextual challenges of
fishermen’s livelihood. This research primarily utilised a case study on north coast of Jakarta and secondary
resource in the form of literatures on Indonesian fishery policies. The data collected are constructed using
the approach of fishery management objectives towards wealth or welfare orientation. The result indicates
that in spite of the tendency of divided fishery management approach to wealth or welfare, the global
fishery policies and Indonesian fishery policies in particular cannot distinctly separate the two objectives,
which results in multidimensional fishery policies with interwoven targets. Task delegation from the
central government to the regional government for small-scale fishermen’s livelihood affairs is then
implemented; meanwhile the central government pursues a bigger ambition towards sustainable,
prosperous, and sovereign fishery. Additionally, the research argues that small-scale fishermen’s
increasing consciousness towards the importance of the sustainability of fishing has shed some light on the
cooperation between the government and the small-scale fishermen in programmes that can both improve
small-scale fishermen’s livelihood and generate the inherent wealth of fisheries.