All in all, only 10% of the respondents felt that local groups had no role in decision-making at
all. Most respondents (87%) said that outsiders had no influence in village decision-making,
but all agreed that every stakeholder should be involved in decision-making.
6. Ease of entry (costs)
Entry into the fishery is perceived to be, on an average, more difficult because of rising costs.
Fishers expect costs to rise even more in the future. In Nolloth, fishing has become more
expensive because people cannot fish in the sasi area; they have to go further out to reach
pelagic resources and they have to buy new types of gears in order to have good catches. The
recent increase in the price of fuel and the currency devaluation make fishing and purchase
of fishing gears and engines even more expensive.
7. Control over access
Government control over access to the fishery has increased and is expected to become stronger
in the future. This is especially the case where it concerns the enforcement of sasi. Over 50% of
the fishers felt that they should be able to ask for and get harvesting rights in the closed sasi
area if needed. Strikingly, relatively many fishers (43%) found it no problem to sell rights to
outsiders. In contrast, our key informants had stated that fishers/villagers strongly objected to
the sale of harvest rights to the Chinese because they wanted to keep the benefits for themselves.
8. Compliance
Compliance with fisheries rules as perceived by our respondents is said to be relatively high
(score 7.47) and has not changed significantly over time. This is contrary to the fishers in the key
informant interviews who stated that compliance has become better now that there is a new village
head who is trustworthy. There are no changes in compliance to be expected in the future.
10.8.3 Social sustainability
9. Family well-being
Generally, family well-being is moderate compared to other villages and has remained stable
over the years. No changes are expected in the future.
10. Income
The actual income of people has not changed dramatically, but individuals noted an upward
or downward change depending on whether they have seen their catches increase (fishers
with modern gears), or decline (artisanal fishers).
11. Tradition of collective action
Most fishers perceive the tradition of collective action in Nolloth to be stable over time. Many
fishers rate past performance very highly (score 9-10). The comments that some fishers made
about this question indicated a perception that people’s interests are shifting towards individual
profits due to economic pressures. Still, the church and the village government collaborate closely
in organizing the villagers. The decision to sell the sasi harvest rights to the KUD instead of to
outsiders is a good example of cooperation between the leading village institutions.
Desa Nolloth, Saparua Island 117