Trust and Rural Enterprise in the Trade Activities of Small-Scale Fisheries: Lessons Learned From Pangandaran, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper explores the approach used by fisheries-related stakeholders to break the complex relationship between fishermen and middlemen in the fishing village of Pangandaran, West Java, Indonesia. This location was selected because the fisheries trade there has been institutionalized by the presence of rural enterprise. This is unusual, especially in traditional small-scale fisheries where trade is governed by middlemen. The information was obtained by interviewing key stakeholders from various parties and combining this with relevant secondary data. The main argument is that formalizing the fisheries market is not as simple as implementing technical regulations. There are non-technical factors that affect the entire process. The findings indicate that trust is the important variable that catalyzes the process and binds stakeholders in certain trading mechanisms. Furthermore, this situation is very helpful to divert the fishermen from patron-client relationships that are often unfavorable in the long term.