Mud Crab Fishery in Hoat Sorbay, Kei Kecil Island, Eastern Indonesia: Traditional management and adjustment to intervening regulations

Abstract

Local communities who live along the coast and have used marine resources for their livelihoods for generations certainly have a resource management and utilization system that was formed as a result of their interactions with and understanding of their aquatic environment. This research focuses on mud crab fishing among the Evu people occupying the shores of Hoat Sorbay Bay on Kei Kecil Island, and how they deal with market, state, and NGO intervention in their traditional harvesting system. Field data were obtained through observation of crab fishing activities in mangrove areas, interviews with mud crab fishers, and examination of documents regarding crab regulation. The result shows that even though mud crab fishing activities are still carried out following traditional practices and strategies based on knowledge passed down from their elders, the fishers also adjust to external requirements of changing market demands and conservation issues by incorporating them into their fishery system.