Sustainability of the anchovy purse seine fishery in the Java Sea: An assessment using Fishery Performance Indicators (FPIs)

Abstract

The North Coast of Central Java is a key location where 12% of Indonesia's anchovy catch, or 23,560 tons, is produced by purse seine fishing. We used the FPIs tool, which has 68 different measures scored from 1 to 5 by experts, to evaluate the environmental, economic, and community performance of the anchovy fishing industry on Java's north coast. The result shows that the community pillar performs relatively better (an average score of 3.6) than the ecology and economy pillars, only 2.63 and 2.68, respectively. This research highlights the overcapacity of the fishery and the decreased trend of the anchovy's abundance index, indicating the fishery's unperformed ecology and economic dimension. This research suggests that despite the fishery's poor ecological and economic performance, the local community's dependence on anchovy resources remains high, as suggested by significant involvement in the fishing and processing of the catch and ownership of most vessels the local fishers possess.