Willingness to Accept of Adopting Sustainable Terubok Fisheries in Sarawak by Using Contingent Valuation Method

Abstract

Sarawak is well known with its Terubok which is scientifically known as Tropical shad Tenualosa. In Sarawak, there are two types of Tenualosa that found namely Tenualosa toli and Tenualosa macura. However, due to the overexploitation and heavy fishing of terubok, the total catch landing has been declining. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate the potential of establishing sustainable terubok fisheries in order to sustain the population of terubok and livelihoods of Sarawak fisherman. This study is conducted in the core terubok area which are Batang Lupar, Batang Lassa and Batang Sadong. This study employed Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to estimate the willingness to accept (WTA) of the fisherman to conserve terubok. This study found out that the bidding amount, race which is Malay and Melanau, size of household and the fisherman experience may affect the WTA of the fishers. Besides, RM 301.08 is the average amount of compensation that will be given to the Terubok fisherman in order to conserve the Terubok populations. This study also recommends that the Terubok fisherman should be more educated andeducational training for the fisherman should be provided so that they may realize the importance of conserving Terubok.