Overcapacity in the Java Sea Cantrangan Fishery: An Anthropological Approach to a Persistent Management Problem
Pemateri:Dr. Katharina Schneider
(Heidelberg University)
26 Maret 2015
Ruang Sidang 1 FIB UGM
Pukul 13.00
Abstract:
Overcapacity (‘too many boats chasing too few fish’) is a persistent problem in fisheries all around the world and is widely regarded as one of the key drivers of overfishing. It has also been linked to poverty among fishers. Little progress has been made in addressing this problem. From an anthropological perspective, one obvious reason is that scientists tend to insist on measuring problems before solving them. Measuring overcapacity is notoriously difficult, especially in the small-scale, mixed gear and multi-species fisheries of the global south. Based on ethnographic research with fishers in an over-capacitated fishery on the Java north coast, this paper aims to outline an alternative, anthropological approach that makes the concerns of different participants in the fishery regarding fishing capacity and their strategies for addressing these concerns central. I aim to demonstrate that such an approach can help us appreciate how overcapacity is generated through the action of particular people under particular conditions. At the same time, it can help us envision strategies for reducing overcapacity that are appropriate to particular fisheries and independent of measuring the phenomenon.
