Assessing the ecosystem approach to fisheries management in Indonesian inland fisheries

Abstract

Inland waters provide huge fish resources and are exploited as food security by local people. The method used in this study was intended to evaluate the performance of the management in terms of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM). The study was conducted in five districts in Indonesia, namely Cilacap, Sukabumi, Kampar, Kapuas, and South Barito, from February to August 2019. The primary data were gathered through observation and interviews with fishers, local government, indigenous community, NGO, and other stakeholders. The secondary data were collected from previous studies. The EAFM domains are presented in a questionnaire that refers to the technical guidelines for assessing fisheries management indicators with an ecosystem approach. The indicators are grouped into seven domains in rating the current management of inland fisheries. The Likert score is used to measure respondents’ attitudes to a particular question or statement. The score criteria used in examining fishery management by EAFM tools-based ordinal 1,2,3, designed to measure opinion or perception from the questionnaires. The results showed that the economy and stakeholder domain were poor categories, indicated by a red flag. Nevertheless, the management conditions, especially for the managed fish resources domain, were classified as good.