The definition of small fisher: legal conflicts and their impacts

Abstract

The management of small fisher in Indonesia is faced with unclear definition boundaries. Furthermore, the unclear boundaries will have impacts on the rights and obligations of small fisher as regulated in Indonesian laws and regulations. Small Scale Fisher (SSF) has been contributing to poverty alleviation, food security, livelihoods, local economy, and human rights. This is appropriate with fishing activities in Indonesia, where captured fishing fleet is dominated by small scale fisher. This study aims to map the definition of small fisher based on the government regulation, identify the impact of different definition of small fisher, and recommend the arrangement planning of small fisher in fishing activities. Normative juridical and comparative analysis are applied in this study. The result shows that there are various limitations of small fisher definition that impact illegal fishing practices, where small fisher are accused due to the absence of ship registration ownership documents. Therefore, synchronization needs to be implemented in relation with small scale fisher termination boundary to prevent one sided interpretation. Legal clarity is required with regards to the authorization of fishing vessel registration owned by small scale fisher.