Advancing Gender Roles in Fisheries Group Development: A Case Study in Indonesia

Abstract

The southern part of Sumatra Island in Indonesia comprises five provinces: South Sumatra, Lampung, Jambi, Bengkulu, and Bangka Belitung. The Research Institute for Inland Fisheries and Extension, hereinafter abbreviated as RIIFE, was established in 1969 to serve as a technical implementation unit of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia, in the field of inland fisheries research and fisheries extension. Under the responsibility of the Chairman of the Marine and Fisheries Research and Human Resources Agency, RIIFE has an important task of carrying out extension activities in these five provinces, performed by the Fisheries Extension Officers targeting the island’s leading actors and business actors based on Law Number 16 of 2006 concerning Agricultural, Fisheries, and Forestry Extension Systems. In addition, Law Number 7 of 2016, concerning the Protection and Empowerment of Fishers, Fish Cultivators, and Salt Farmers, extends the role of Fisheries Extension Officers in providing assistance and counseling that empower the leading actors and marine and fisheries business actors. In the five provinces of Southern Sumatra in Indonesia, three major fisheries groups have been established with the assistance of Fisheries Extension Officers. Analysis of gender roles in fisheries has been initiated by the Inland Fishery Development and Management Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC/IFRDMD). This article is therefore aimed at advancing the role of gender in establishing fisheries groups in the five provinces of southern Sumatra Island, Indonesia.