Resources dynamics impact to fishers’ resilience

Abstract

Fishers residing in small islands are heavily dependent on the surrounding resources. The dynamics of these resources influence the fishers’ level of resilience. The purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between the fishers’ resilience and available resources using a dynamic model. The method used is dynamic system analysis. The research site is located in is Karimunjawa islands, Central Java, Indonesia. The primary data collection was conducted between March-April 2018. The dynamic model consists of ecological and economical subsystems. The findings show that fishers’ resilience experienced a downward trend yearly. Based on the simulation of resources dynamic on the Karimunjawa islands, changes in resource conditions forced fishers to adapt to ongoing changes. The dynamics of marine and fishery resources in the Karimunjawa Islands have forced the fishers to adapt to the changing conditions. The adaptation made is that fishermen change their fishing grounds, especially as they adopted a new technology of GPS and fishfinder. Efforts can be made to improve the fishers’ resilience by increasing their productivity and fishing results. It can be achieved by improving the fishers’ capacity through training programs to improve their fishing skills.