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Identifying reporting needs for fishermen

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November 27, 2015

Information is increasingly available for small–scale tuna fishers in Indonesia. BESTTuna student Sophie Neitzel argues that fishers have very clear demands for information and understand a wide range of graphical formats.

Wageningen and the Indonesian NGO MDPI has been implementing enumeration and traceability systems in Indonesia for the last three years. Information is made available to the government for stock assessment. But the aim of the project is also to ensure that information returns to fishermen.

Based on research in Ambon and Buru Islands in Maluku province, Neitzel found that fishers want to know more about catch per month, fuel use per trip per month, catch compositions, total catch per month and catch per fishing grounds. But the results also showed they have preferences. First on the list is information on catch and fuel.

Working with fishers to understand the information takes time. Some fishers had trouble understanding and reading the information they were presented with. But contrary to common perceptions about these fishers, the study also found that all fishers were able to read the information displayed.

Based on these results Wageningen researchers in collaboration with MDPI will be developing a digital reporting system to deliver information back to these fishers.