Resilience of Small-Scale Fisheries to COVID-19: A Case Study from North Bali, Indonesia

Abstract

Globally, small-scale fishing communities are often left behind in terms of economic, social and political research and policymaking. This study aims to fill the gap by investigating impact on, and resilience of Indonesian fisher communities to the COVID-19 pandemic using a case study from North Bali. We developed 10 permeable vulnerability and resilience indicators to interpret COVID-19 impacts on small-scale fishers. Data was collected through semi-structured telephone interviews, in-person interviews, focus group discussion and site visits. We explored the cross-cutting indicators through three categories of health, economics, environment and potential impacts on achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We found that fisher community resilience materialized from social networks, diversified economic opportunities and strong cultural community-level governance, with villagers adjusting social, economic, and religious behaviors to mitigate spread of COVID-19. Economic resilience emerged through previous experience with economic downturns, job diversification and holistic local financial support systems. Environmentally, community members were familiar with conservation concepts, with existing networks of fisher groups encouraging sustainable practices, however ecological impacts are expected from the shift from deep water fisheries to more unsustainable exploitation of inshore reef fisheries and reduced coastal management. SDGs are impacted through susceptibilities in health infrastructure, minimal control of supply chain and loosely regulated fishing that expose the challenges COVID-19 brings to small-scale fishers. Policy recommendations emerging from this study suggest urgent action is required to strengthen fisher networks to (1) improve transparency and access to markets, especially domestic and direct sales, (2) support fishers in seeking assistance from relevant agencies to secure insurance, financial and other social support to secure their livelihoods, (3) integrate environmental considerations into sustainable recovery and avoid rolling back regulations as a short-term means to stimulate economic growth.KeywordsSmall scale fisheriesCOVID-19Community resilienceIndonesia