Assessing small-scale fishers’ perception of risk

The year 2024 is an exciting time for the small-scale fisheries sector. This year marks the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). Despite the introduction of the SSF Guidelines for over a decade, more needs to be done to promote priority actions for sustainable small-scale fisheries and to assess the SSF Guidelines implementation at local, national, and global level to inform future initiatives.

To advance understanding of various risks faced by small-scale fishers, Segara Nusa Nawasena in collaboration with Universitas Halmahera and Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN) have embarked on a study to assess small-scale fishers’ perception of risk.

Our study combines a survey of 300 fishers and semi-structured interviews to identify and compare the full range of fisheries risk as perceived by small-scale fishers working in Tobelo and Morotai regions of North Maluku. The study examines how small-scale fishers in North Maluku perceive risks posed by work accidents, ocean crimes, and climate change.

The findings are interesting as the study reveals that fishers deemed that work related accidents posed the greatest threat to their livelihood and well-being. Climate change impacts, particularly storms, have been identified by fishers as second highest risks that they face. Despite the presence of ocean crimes, fishers do not claim these crimes as posing immediate risks to them. However, fishers express deep concerns about criminal activities that affect the environment such as destructive and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Small-scale fishers connect crimes that affect the environment with the decline of fish stocks and subsequently their income.

A paper based on our research is currently under-review.