Fishermen In Malaysia Research Articles

Exploring on transitional living spaces to improve quality of life of fishermen in Malaysia

Exploring on transitional living spaces to improve quality of life of fishermen in Malaysia

The Challenges of Technology Usage Among Coastal Fishermen in Malaysia: Review

Fisheries industry is importance as the main source of national food security. The fisheries industry has long played a significant role in uplifting the socioeconomic status of Malaysia’s rural communities. Coastal fishermen are currently undergoing a number of changes. Global development policies towards coastal fisheries shifted to focus on combating and eradicating poverty and climate change. This paper aims to address the main challenges among coastal fishermen in Malaysia – poverty and climate change and makes recommendations for the future development. Information Communication Technology (ICT) play the following roles in information exchange, knowledge sharing, promotion of education, monitoring illegal fishing and price information provisioning to the coastal fishermen. There are many potential benefits offered by the advance of the fishing ICT such as GPS, mobile phone and echo sounder. It is essential to expose the advance and modern technology to the rural community especially the fisherman community. Thus, this paper will reveal several potential ICT tools for coastal fishermen to encounter the challenges.

An Innovation in Poverty Measurement Based on Community Capital: A Case Study of Young Fishermen in Malaysia

ABSTRACT Poverty measurement has been seen by many scholars as too often focusing on the economic element. The implication of this is that it does not completely benefit policymakers to design a meticulous policy to support poor people, especially the young, to escape poverty traps. This article brings an innovative poverty measurement based on community capital that adopts Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) theory in the community development discipline. The research was conducted based on a quantitative approach and involved 83 young fishermen who were heads of households (HoH) in a fishing village in Kelantan, Malaysia. No sampling was applied in this research because a census was used. The findings show that the majority of respondents are categorized as poor, but have various forms of community capital that can be leveraged to deal with poverty. However, they are not proficient in human capital, particularly in contemporary human capital, though they have good relationships with all kinds of social capital. They also have various values overall, but there is no dominant value to influence their life. This study also successfully categorized respondents into specific degrees of poverty based on their community capital using a kind of spiderweb of young HoH. This study recommends that poverty should be measured based on this innovative measurement of poverty that considers community capital elements.

A comparative study between mainland and islander small-scale fishermen's adaptation towards climate change.

The existing literature have demonstrated a considerable amount of existing studies that merely interest on scientific perspectives by examining the physical environmental changes rather than conducting social-based studies that allow for the comparison of adaptation ability between mainland and island small-scale fishermen. Therefore, the current research attempts to fill this gap by investigating the adaptation level of mainland and island small-scale fishermen towards climate changes for the purpose of further identifying any significant differences regarding their adaptation aspects. The primary aim of the current research is to conduct a comparative study with the purpose of assessing the environmental change adaptation ability between the mainland and the islander small-scale fishermen. In the context of the current research, a quantitative approach was employed by selecting a total of 600 samples through several levels of cluster sampling. The instrument for the study was developed based on the 16 adaptation variables that were suggested within the adaptation framework proposed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The data were analysed using SPSS, whereby to achieve the study's main objective, inferential analysis which refers to the independent t test was performed to examine any possible significant difference that might exist. In regard to this matter, various significant differences between the islander and the mainland fishermen managed to be detected in 10 adaptation aspects out of the 16 adaptation variables which include the capacity to adapt to change (monetary and emotional adaptability); the level of interest in adapting to change; the ability to plan, learn, and reorganize; and attachment to occupation. Accordingly, a number of recommendations were discussed at the end of this study which is hoped to assist the involved and relevant parties in arranging better adjustment approaches for small-scale fishermen in Malaysia.

Risk Factors for a Positive Hepatitis C Status in Fishermen in Kuantan Malaysia.

Malaysia currently has an estimated hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence of 1.3% with an infected population of 384,000. Fishermen in Malaysia are at risk of HCV infection due to injection drug use and disproportionately high rates of incarceration. This study used quantitative data from Project WAVES, a large-scale mixed methods project charting environmental drivers of risk-taking behaviors among a respondent-driven sample of 406 fishermen in Malaysia. Over a quarter of participants (27.9%) reported injecting drugs in the past month; 49.8% of the sample tested positive for HCV. Respondents who had previously been arrested displayed increased odds of being HCV-positive (adjusted odds ratio = 4.79, confidence Interval = 2.46-9.35). Participants who reported being in lock-up displayed close to 6-fold odds of being HCV-infected (adjusted odds ratio = 5.49, confidence interval = 2.77-10.90, P < .001). These findings underscore the need for policies and structural interventions targeting the negative effects of aggressive incarceration contributing to the burden of HCV among high-risk communities.

Sustainable livelihood for a better Adaptation towards Climate Change among Small Scale Fishermen in Malaysia

Adaptation towards climate change among the community has becoming a pressing issue, hence, effort to strengthen it has become a priority. It is recognized that not every adaptation strategy fit to every group of community, each of the groups have their own strength. In this study, the focus is placed on one of the important groups in Malaysia – the small scale fishermen whereby efforts are placed to strategize specific climate adaptation strategies via intensification of their livelihood assets. Initially, the paper looks on the background of fisheries industry in Malaysia, the small scale fishermen in Malaysia and the climate change scenario in Malaysia. Then, it gears the readers to the discussions on the impacts of climate change on the livelihood assets, the need to strengthen the assets, the relations between the assets and subsequently to the prime aim of the paper – the recommendations to strengthen the small scale fishermen climate adaptation via the intensification of their livelihood assets.

Local Leaders’ Perception on the Adaptive Capacity towards Climate Change Impacts among Small Scale Fishermen

This study aims to explore the local leaders’ perceptions on the adaptive capacity towards climate change impacts among small scale fishermen. This study is quantitative in nature which used a questionnaire that was developed based on the International Union Conservation of Nature community adaptive capacity framework. Multi-stage cluster sampling was employed resulting in the selection of 300 small scale fishermen from Pengkalan Chepa and Batu Pahat as respondents. Results have shown that local leaders perceived that the small scale fishermen had possessed strong adaptation in three aspects, namely, in terms of the capacity to experiment and learn, community assets and flexibility. A number of discussions have been highlighted in this paper which would hopefully further add understanding on the views of local leaders on adaptive capacity towards climate change impacts among small scale fishermen in Malaysia.

Adapting towards climate change impacts: Strategies for small-scale fishermen in Malaysia

As with the global scenario, a number of climate change ‘symptoms’ are being detected in Malaysia. Local scholars have looked into the problems of rising temperature, rising sea level, extreme rainfall and extreme winds, which are causing coastal and mangrove erosion and degradation of marine resources. In turn, these issues are affecting the small-scale fishermen who rely heavily on weather stability to conduct their social and economic routines. This paper analyses six adaptation strategies, namely, reducing the risks associated with fishing routines, strengthening social relationships, managing fishermen's climate change knowledge, facilitating the community's learning of alternative skills, involving fishermen in climate change adaptation planning, and enhancing fishermen's access to credit. These suggestions are hoped to provide basis for concerned parties to develop adaptation strategies that are in line with small-scale fishermen's needs, abilities and interests.

Individual adaptive capacity of small-scale fishermen living in vulnerable areas towards the climate change in Malaysia

The present study attempts to identify the individual adaptive capacity of small-scale fishermen living in coastal areas that are vulnerable to the climate change in Malaysia. This study is quantitative in nature and involves a total of 240 respondents from four areas in Malaysia. It can be concluded that small-scale fishermen in Malaysia have adaptive strength in two aspects: namely formal and informal networks; and environmental awareness, values and attitudes. Although the fishermen were found to record a high mean score for three other adaptive aspects – local environmental knowledge; attachment to job; and attachment to place – this actually demonstrates their adaptive weaknesses. Employability is another area of concern, as it emerged as the fishermen's weakest adaptive aspect. This study demonstrates the potential of alternative skills, managed retreat, accommodation and protection, information management, periodical assessment and access to credit to produce progressive adaptive capacity of small-scale fishermen in Malaysia.

Individual Factors on Readiness of Youth Fishermen in Malaysia to Use Global Positioning Systems

Individual Factors on Readiness of Youth Fishermen in Malaysia to Use Global Positioning Systems

Mapping the Patterns of Mobile Phone Usage Among Fishermen in Malaysia

The main attempt of this paper is to identify the patterns of mobile phone usage among fishermen in Pangkor Island in Malaysia. This study is quantitative in nature, where a total of 250 fishermen were selected as the respondents. The findings confirm that although the majority of fishermen do not spend much time and money on making and receiving calls and messaging, the mobile phone is still a crucial tool for them, particularly in its role in enhancing their safety and easing the communication process with their family while conducting their fishing operation. Although the mobile phone has superior functions in marketing, fishermen in Pangkor Island seem to place less importance on it. The findings also show the similarities and differences relevant to the patterns of mobile phone usage in Pangkor Island, and hopefully this can be applied to other fishing areas and further intensify the development in the fisheries industry.

Knowledge, Training and Access to Global Positioning Systems: Views of Young Fishermen in Malaysia

The main aim of this study is to identify the knowledge around, access to and training for use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) among young fishermen in Malaysia. This is a quantitative study, wherein a total of 240 young fishermen aged between 15 and 40 years old from four fishing areas have been chosen as the respondents. Based on the analyses performed, it can be seen that young fishermen in Malaysia have a good level of knowledge on the potential role GPS could play in their fishing activities. In addition, there is a lack of access to GPS training. A number of recommendations have been placed which, it is a hoped, can be used to further enhance the use of GPS among young fishermen in Malaysia.

Social Influence in Using ICT among Fishermen in Malaysia

One of the main factors that changes individuals’ behavior is social influence. Social influence is defined as a change in an individual’s thinking, feelings, attitudes, or behavior that results from interaction with other individuals or groups. Within the scope of ICT adoption among fishermen, social influence is expected to spread, and this study attempts to discover the social influence that impinges on fishermen’s use of ICT in their fishing routine. This is a quantitative study in which a total of 400 respondents have been selected based on multi-stage simple random sampling. SPSS is used to gain the required analyses, and descriptive analysis is also performed. The results reveal that social influence has less impact on fishermen’s use of ICT based on the low level of mean scores recorded for each of the eight statements studied.

Global Warming at the East Coast Zone of Peninsular Malaysia

Problem statement: Global Warming is not a new phenomenon and it is already been felt by people all around the world. Not only the people affected by the global warming, but also our sea. There are a lot of potential threats that can be caused by global warming on the sea such as rise of sea level, changes in waves action, water current and wind velocity, but do one of the main users of the sea which are the fishermen have already felt these impacts? Approach: This is a quantitative study where a developed questionnaire was used to gain the data needed. Through a stratified random sampling a total of 300 registered fishermen from four states in the east coast zone of Peninsular Malaysia namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and East Johor have been selected. Results: This study provided a greater understanding of the fishermen views on the changes that happened to the sea due to the global warming impact. They stressed that the temperature, the rainfall season and the coastal areas have changed. Furthermore, according to them, the sea nowadays are no longer easy to predict as the water current, wind velocity and waves actions can easily change their pattern and endanger them while they are at the sea. Conclusion/Recommendation: Effective actions can be taken to assist the fishermen to adapt to impacts of global warming. One of it is to provide them with more information on global warming. Besides, fishermen in Malaysia also can be provided with trainings in order to provide them with other skills besides fishing.

Riverine fish and fisheries in Malaysia: An ignored resource

There is an urgent need to manage and conserve riverine fish resources in Malaysia. These resources have largely been ignored, but are an important source of both income and food. Having particularly diverse fish fauna in rivers provides the basis for a fishery, and it has been estimated that there are over 300 species of freshwater fish dwelling in the many riverine ecosystems of Malaysia. The fishing industry has generated a substantial income in Malaysia, and although the number of anglers visiting riverine habitats is still vague, it has been estimated that most fishermen in Malaysia are freshwater anglers. Consumption of these freshwater fish in inland rural areas is widespread. There is thus a need to protect the fishery resources and fishery-related habitats, and at the same time promote the enjoyment of fishing as a recreational activity. This paper aims to identify the riverine fish ecosystems in Malaysia, as well as to suggest achievable management and conservation plans in order to preserve this valuable resource.