Hainan and Bali are separated by approximately 3,000 kilometres. The two islands are parts of very different countries. But Indonesian fishing communities and NGOs discovered a lot of common ground with their Chinese counterparts at a recent workshop. Together, they discussed small-scale fisheries, climate change and coastal communities.
The workshop was convened in Bali, Indonesia, by Dialogue Earth with China Blue, a Hainan-based sustainable fisheries NGO. It provided an opportunity to talk about coastal fishing communities in terms of climate change, conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
The meeting was held under the Chatham House Rule, which bars attendees from revealing the identity or affiliation of participants. For that reason, Dialogue Earth will not identify individual speakers in this article.
Differences (and similarities)
China has traditionally seen itself as an agrarian society, focused on farming over its huge central land mass. By contrast, Indonesia is an archipelagic nation, made up of around 17,000 islands. Both, though, have coastal communities dependent on fishing.
Despite its focus on farming, China has a long history of maritime fishing and boasts the world’s largest fishing fleet by some estimates: perhaps two million small-scale fishers working 170,000 boats, in addition to larger vessels. Indonesia also has a major industry, with an estimated 2.5 million households involved in small-scale fishing.
In both countries, small-scale fishing communities have a long history and an uncertain future.
Highlighting the need to promote understanding between the two countries, workshop participants noted they did not even follow the same definition of a small-scale fishery. China Blue’s working definition is based on boat size: subsistence fishing by vessels less than 12 metres long. In Indonesia, a definition based on boat weight is more usual.
But participants also identified similarities in the coastal communities they work with, especially around their precarity and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, and other shocks. They also identified areas they could collaborate on in the future, and outlined proposals for technology exchanges, enhanced interaction between NGOs, and increased youth involvement in efforts to build communities’ resilience to climate change.
Changing seas
Regardless of how small-scale fishers are defined, experts from both Indonesia and China recognised that life has become harder for them in recent years.
One workshop attendee from China said fishers around Hainan island had seen their incomes decline from a level that had them “building houses”, to “barely making a living”. Fishers, they said, are “still working hard but [for] little profit”.
This was echoed by their Indonesian counterparts. “Fishing has become too hard, too difficult,” said one.
In both regions, declining fish stocks were seen as a major problem.
In Hainan, fishers from the city of Sanya began targeting the deep-bodied round scad (Decapterus maruadsi) around the turn of the millennium. Back then, they were catching animals the size of a large white radish (also known as daikon or mooli). By 2010, however, the fish they were catching were only the size of carrots.
Climate change is behind at least some of this, said one Chinese expert at the meeting.
Increased ocean temperatures can impact fish reproduction and growth and alter habitats. More violent storms and changeable weather can also alter the marine environment, damaging seagrass beds and coral reefs that shelter young fish. This can exacerbate existing problems with declining numbers of fish due to overharvesting.
Again, this decline resonated among the Indonesian attendees. “It is not just the size [of fish] that reduces – the number reduces,” said one.
Climatic changes are making life more difficult for fishers in other ways. Increased sea temperatures and unpredictable weather are disrupting their ability to go to sea and earn money. According to an Indonesian delegate, more frequent and severe storms mean “they can’t plan any more … it seems the fishing days become less and less”.
A participant from Indonesia said tuna fishing seasons are changing and becoming more unpredictable. Additionally, small-scale fishers must go further out to sea to fish, spending more on fuel and incurring greater personal risks. Another added that fishers know the patterns of the sea, but they are changing: “The waves becoming higher and higher. They start to realise and start to think about climate change.”
Super Typhoon Yagi
One example of the devastating extreme weather events that are likely to become more common with climate change is Typhoon Yagi. Just a few weeks before the workshop took place, this huge storm made landfall on Hainan.
Pictures of the resulting devastation were shown at the meeting: trashed solar panels, devastated aquaculture facilities and flattened buildings.
“Everything is destroyed because of the typhoon wind,” said an attendee from Hainan.
But some workshop attendees who work closely with local communities said climate change was not high on the agenda in many areas.
“I meet many local communities. When you tell them about climate change, they don’t believe it,” said one Indonesian delegate.
Others said that in many communities, the focus is purely local. For example, there is real worry about sea level rise and related salt-water intrusion into water supplies. But if the specific local microclimate is still pleasant, there may be little concern about the bigger picture of climate change.
The need to diversify
Many of those at the workshop shared details of projects that are helping fishers to diversify their incomes. “As our fisheries industry is decreasing, the income of our fishers is also decreasing. We need to help them … into other industries,” said one attendee. “This is easier said than done.”
The Chinese government has taken a top-down approach by providing subsidies that help fishers transition to alternative jobs. In Hainan, coastal communities are being helped to start their own mariculture projects, to work on other aquaculture sites, or to find work in agrifood processing plants. This transition is a substantial challenge, due to the sheer number of Chinese fishers.
In Indonesia, finding alternative incomes is a more localised affair, with NGOs playing an important role. Efforts to diversify include coral farming, as well as training fishers to become diving guides for tourists.
These projects also bring positive change to communities, stressed some attendees. For example, by bringing previously economically marginalised women into gainful employment via aquaculture.
It is important to recognise that climate change brings threats to small-scale fishers, said one attendee, “but they are not just adapting, they are driving change”.
Another participant noted that conservation – such as preserving and restoring reefs – must be the priority when creating new livelihoods. Both Bali and Hainan have struggled with the impact of damaging tourism and development. A healthy ocean is the foundation of eco-tourism and fishery activities, the workshop heard.
Being embedded in and led by the needs of local communities was repeatedly cited by attendees as vital to delivering successful change.
“Local communities are the experts,” said one person at the workshop. “Civil society’s job is to amplify their solutions.”
In the coming months, participants are planning to build on these discussions and work together. Projects include visits between Chinese and Indonesian NGOs to share best practices and the development of a scholarship programme for young people to work on sustainable fisheries and conservation. This, they hope, will turn the principle that local communities are the experts into practical action.
Additional reporting by Regina Lam and Yuhan Niu
