Small Fishers’ views on Coastal Management and What They Mean to National Policy

n 2000, the Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) funded by the United States Agency for International Development  (USAID) contracted a private research firm, Trends MBL, Inc. to conduct a quantitative Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) Survey to benchmark current levels of knowledge and concerns of small fishers in the Philippines regarding coastal issues, attitudes and practices. The survey is significant in that it is the first ever attempt to measure, using accepted survey methodologies, the current level of public knowledge on coastal issues, and gauge people’s attitudes and practices as they relate to CRM. This article provides a summary of the survey results, and identifies some important issues for government policy to consider in addressing the concerns of small-scale fishers.

All respondents are at least 20 years old, with more than half (58%) belonging to the 20-44 age bracket. Eighty-nine percent have not completed high school and 47% have either no schooling or finished only some elementary education. The average household size is 5.5 persons.  Sixty-seven percent do not own or rent a residential lot, but 95% own the house they live in. Their houses are typically one-room, poorly constructed structures made of light and cheap materials.  Sixty-three percent of respondents use non-motorized boats.  The top three family expenditures are food (93%), fishing-related supplies and goods (60%), and housing (42%).

SUMMARY OF SURVEY RESULTS

Food security, poverty are the primary issues

Small fishers’ primary concern is to eke out a
living and provide their families ‘enough food
to eat everyday’

In general, the respondents’ views reflected their difficult economic situation. When asked to name their three most urgent personal concerns, 74% of respondents answered “having enough to eat everyday”, 64% said “health of family members”, and 62% “to provide schooling for my children”. (Table 1).  Expectedly, “decrease in fish catch” and poverty – cited by 67% and 55% of respondents, respectively -- were seen as the top two most pressing problems in the community. (Table 2)

Table 1.  Three most urgent personal concerns identified by fisherfolk

Table 2.  Three most pressing problems in the community identified by fisherfolk

The problems are recognized, but not adequately understood

Respondents demonstrated a fairly high level of knowledge of the coastal ecosystem, although many had some misconceptions about fisheries and coral biology. For example, eighty-nine percent correctly stated that grouper live in crevices of coral reefs, but only a few (10%) correctly agreed that these fish mature slowly and must reach a body weight of more than 1 kg before they can breed  (Table 3). Eighty-three percent recognized the importance of mangrove detritus in the food web of invertebrates and fish, but only 42% believed mangroves help prevent land erosion.  And seventy-seven percent said corals are rocks, with only 6% correctly describing corals as animals (Table 4).

Moreover, while more than 90% of respondents agreed that throwing waste in rivers and the sea, cutting trees in the forests, and industrial pollution pose very great or great danger to coastal resources, just over 50% considered overfishing as a very great or great danger to coastal resources.(Table 5)

Table 3.  Knowledge of the ecosystem based on responses of fisherfolk to true/false statements

Table 4.  Fisherfolks knowledge of the classification of a coral

Table 5.  Degree of danger to coastal resources brought about by specific activities identified by fisherfolk

Fishers say catching fish has become increasingly difficult, but still they want to stick to fishing

Fishers say they are staying longer hours at sea, but
catching fewer, smaller and lower-quality fish.

Confirming findings of previous studies on fisheries trends, majority of respondents noted declining trends in the coastal environment and fisheries over the last three years. (Table 6) Seventy percent said they are catching fewer fish, even while they are spending longer hours fishing. Sixty-eight percent said that, compared to three years ago, the fish they catch today are smaller, and 74% noted they are catching lower-value species. Nevertheless, only 28% of respondents said they would consider shifting to livelihoods other than fishing, and the majority (60%) said they would prefer to continue fishing. (Table 7)

Table 6.  Assessment of trends in coastal environment and fisheries in the past last three years identified by fisherfolk

Table 7.  Disposition of fisherfolk about shifting to other sources of livelihood

Problems can be solved, and fishers accept the solutions

Answers to questions related to coastal management issues and solutions are encouraging, with respondents demonstrating a high level of awareness of the problems and what needs to be done to address them -- between 64% and 97% said they strongly agree or agree with knowledge statements on different aspects of coastal resource management (Table 8). More reassuringly, respondents expressed strong support for local government initiatives in coastal resource management. More than 70% said they would support or strongly support totally banning the use of compressors for fishing, banning commercial fishing in municipal waters, imposing heavier penalties for illegal fishers, and establishing marine sanctuaries to rehabilitate fisheries and coral reefs (Table 9). Moreover, some 50% said they would support limits to the amount of fish they could catch.

Table 8.  Fisherfolk agreement/disagreement with knowledge statements

Table 9.  Fisherfolk support for local government CRM policies

To the small fisher, Government is the local government unit

Among possible sources of assistance for specific coastal resource management concerns, the barangay captain (village chief) and the mayor, in that order, appear to be the most accessible to respondents. Respondents said the barangay captain, in particular, is the person they are most likely to approach about various coastal resource management concerns ranging from illegal fishing to training in coastal management. (Table 10) However, majority (63%) regarded the mayor as the most influential person in their municipality (Table 11)

Table 10.  Individuals and organizations identified by fisherfolk as providing assistance for specific coastal resource management concerns

NATIONAL POLICY CONSIDERATIONS TO ADDRESS FISHERFOLK CONCERNS

• Food security, as the number one most urgent person concern identified by small fishers, can only be addressed by strict implementation of national and local laws, adopting sustainable methods of fishing, restricting access to fishery resources, restricting use of fishing gear and practices, such as payaos (fish-aggregating device), bottom-setting gillnets, and other methods that promote over-exploitation of fisheries resources, protecting coastal habitats, and adopting strategies to rehabilitate coastal habitats and fisheries
  
  
• Overfishing is widespread and the impacts clearly articulated by small fishers as increased effort required to catch fish, smaller fish caught, and poorer quality of fish and must be viewed by national government as a crisis with no-nonsense policies to alleviate overexploitation of fishery resources while protecting the rights of sustenance and marginal fisherman
  
  
• Most small fishers prefer or insist on fishing as their primary livelihood, therefore, national government programs should carefully identify the smaller percentage of individuals interested in or accepting of alternative livelihood programs
  
  
• Small fishers support local government initiatives in coastal resource management in contrast to commonly held perceptions of Local Chief Executives that coastal resource management is politically unpopular
  
  
• Local government, in particular, municipalities, is the most important level of government with which to address small fishers’ concerns and must continue to be the focus of national policies and plans that are designed to assist coastal municipalities deliver coastal resource management as a basic service
  
  
• Mayors and barangay captains, in particular, and other local government staff members must be targeted for continued capacity-building programs as they serve as the community’s primary support system for all coastal resource management concerns
  
  
• Awareness of coastal resource management issues among fisherfolk is fairly high. However, formal education in elementary and high schools and local colleges and non-formal education in the coastal and marine environment are needed to expand community understanding of the basic concepts of fisheries biology, marine ecology, the relationship between environmental quality and fish catch, and root causes of coastal resource decline, in particular the role of population growth, habitat destruction, and overfishing.

Based on “Coastal Resource Management and Fisherfolk,” Appendix A of the Proposed National Coastal Resource Management Policy for the Philippines developed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with assistance from the Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP) supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

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