“Fish Forever” Campaigns: Enacting Communities of Care and Semangat Through Indonesian Fisheries Cooperatives

ABSTRACT

To illustrate communities of care in conservation, this essay provides three brief examples of campaigns in rural fishing communities in Indonesia. Based on long term fieldwork, we illustrate how the non-profit environmental organization Rare has trained campaign managers to develop community-based programs that promote people’s well-being in relationship to their environments and communities through nutrition, financial stability, education, and collective engagement. In numerous campaigns across fishing communities in Indonesia, campaign managers work together with community members, and especially fishers, to develop marine protected areas or managed reserves with access that function as community fisheries, savings clubs or micro-credit unions, and fishery cooperatives in which fishers determine rules and regulations that community members agree upon. These approaches create a network of care that embodies the Indonesian term, semangat [spirit].

KEYWORDS:

• fisheries
• marine protected areas
• fishing cooperatives
• conservation campaigns
• credit unions
• Indonesia

Introduction

Close to three billion people living in or near coastal communities around the world depend on fish as their major source of protein and nutrition (“Membangun kapasitas,” 2015). At the same time, the coral reefs and marine ecosystems that house fish populations are threatened through overfishing, coral bleaching, reef destruction, and warming waters, among other dangers. The causes of fish stock decline and habitat loss are complex, but are related to climate change and global demand for fish consumption. Of the some 120 million fishers in the world, 90% of them are subsistence or small scale fishers, meaning they fish for their own needs and/or to sell in local markets (“Membangun kapasitas,” 2015). In order to address overfishing and to combat ecological impact, malnutrition, and poverty, the U.S.-based environmental non-profit organization Rare has worked in many countries to promote science- and community-based designed conservation campaigns that promote “Fish Forever.” This essay will focus on how such campaigns invoke an ethic of care within communities from the global to the national to the local level. Rare has worked in more than 50 countries, but because of space, we will focus on sporadic fieldwork trips in Indonesia from 2008 to 2019, in which one of us (Stacey) worked with Rare’s campaign managers as communication master’s degree-level students. Based on other fieldwork site visits in Mozambique, Colombia, the Philippines, and Palau, the strategies are similar: Rare’s program trains campaign managers who come from rural communities to collect information from their communities so that they can engage community members on conservation initiatives that also play a role in addressing fishers’ financial situations, nutritional matters, and science education. Critiques abound of Western/Global North organizations like this one and the roles they play in conservation, poverty reduction, health and nutrition, and other causes; points raised in these critiques are valid, and apply in some instances to Rare as an organization. However, this essay focuses more on the positive and culturally inclusive work that Rare does, but we do want readers to be aware of such critiques and problems with Western/Global North organizations that operate in countries like Indonesia, including displacement of people and epistemologies, so-called “skills transfer,” and “internalized orientalism” (Thaker, 2022, p. 201). As Jagadish Thaker contends, understanding how local communities see environmental issues as part of their daily existence is essential for equity and democratization for such communities. In what follows, we briefly consider notions of care in Indonesia, and then we explore how care is enacted in the mobilization of community-based fisheries, savings clubs, and fishery cooperatives.

Racial ecologies and care

As this forum considers matters of care in conservation and environmental communication, especially as contrasted with rhetorics of crisis, we want to acknowledge (as others have done in this forum) how racial ecologies relate to care. Nishime and Hester Williams’s (2018) edited collection, Racial Ecologies, provide many excellent examples of how we might consider the intersections of environmental issues and race, gender, Indigeneity, and identities. As they note, “Environmentalism is often understood as universal and postracial, whereas environmental justice is seen as primarily, if not exclusively, concerned with racial equity. By contrast, we argue that race is inextricable from our understandings of ecology, and vice versa” (pp. 3–4). Racial ecologies as a theoretical framework attempts to account for the many ways in which groups of people are racialized and how such people respond and participate in racial ecologies. Settler colonialism, plantation systems, neoliberalism, capitalist structures, and patriarchal epistemologies have gravely impacted land and peoples around the world. Invoking care, then, has to mean more than just people in power caring about the “environment.” As Phaedra Pezzullo explores in her 2023 book, Beyond Straw Men, networks of care flourish in multi-faceted and intersectional ways around the world:

Placing value in a praxis of care, then, is an act of embracing the often racialized, classed, and gendered work required to create and to maintain life while resisting individuals, institutions, and structures that aim to alienate, colonize, estrange, and exploit. (p. 11)

In Indonesia, these “networks of care” are related to and operate within community, religion, family, and work. For example, in spaces where domestic laborers work, care and service cannot be separated from the ability of such work environments to provide care. Yuli Irawati, an activist for migrant workers, states that care work is an essential aspect of human interaction, but the field of domestic and migrant labor, which is synonymous with caregiving, is actually vulnerable to exploitation (Sekolah Pemikiran Perempuan, 2023). The low wages, lack of welfare benefits, and weak protection, especially for female migrant workers, are issues that haunt the landscape of domestic labor in Indonesia. The domestic work that is still associated with gendered division of labor also makes Indonesian women workers the most overlooked and invisible. Therefore, the networks of care in this particular instance are reconstructed by questioning the well-being of the people involved – does the work environment for care workers provide a space where they can take care of themselves? How do these networks of care protect domestic and migrant workers from being subjugated and exploited? Networks of care are then manifested through activism and advocacy by labor activists. Incorporating the lived experience of domestic and migrant workers is essential for legisliation such as the Domestic Worker Protection Bill (Rancangan Undang-Undang Perlindungan Pekerja Rumah Tangga) to establish solid protections (Humas, 2023).

In other fields, networks of care emerge in the form of survival and resistance to conflict. The interreligious conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi, which took place from 1998 to 2001, resulted in protection movements for the affected parties, one of which was Institut Mosintuwu. Institut Mosintuwu was initiated by Lian Gogali based on her concern for the violent events that were carried out in the name of religion, as well as the existence of economic-political interests behind the violent conflict that ended in the management of natural resources that did not favor poor and marginalized communities. Gogali then built Institut Mosintuwu by involving the perspectives and experiences of women affected by the conflict. With one of its programs, the Mosintuwu Women's School (Sekolah Perempuan Mosintuwu), Institut Mosintuwu created a network of care by providing a space for women in Poso to learn and critically engage with the sociopolitical realities that have been impacting their everyday lives and allowing them to translate their embodiment of care and their longing for peace into a social movement (Mosintuwu, 2019, April 16). In taking up these forms of care, we now turn to marine ecosystems and networks of care that are defined by communities, as illustrated through Rare’s program to promote conservation in community-based fisheries and no-take zones, savings clubs, and fishery cooperatives.

Mobilization of community-based fisheries

For more than a decade, Rare has been offering a training program designed to build leadership, research, and communication skills for selected leaders in coastal communities around Indonesia. One of the strategies is for these trained leaders to return to their communities to lead community meetings, engage with people one-on-one, target key audiences, collect scientific data, and work to implement conservation campaigns designed with as much community involvement as possible. Marine protected areas (MPAs), no-take zones (NTZs), managed access with reserves (MA + Rs), and other related approaches often rely on scientific research to determine best locations for fish stock to grow in size and number as well as to allow coral reefs and mangrove forests to rehabilitate. However, through community engagement, these areas are also determined with fishers’ and other community leaders’ participation. In 2023, for example, after years of working with national and provincial governments in Indonesia, Rare leaders along with many others facilitated “managed access” fishing sites. What this means is that communities co-manage these sites, along with local and provincial governments in the coastal waters that house coral reefs and mangrove forests: “communities in these six areas will manage access to about 100,000 hectares of coastal waters and almost 5,000 hectares of reserves. These areas will support more than 12,000 fishers and 68,000 people – and the reserves, where fishing is off-limits, will allow fish to grow and repopulate” (Rare, 2023a; See videos explaining managed access with reserves systems and the specific program in Indonesia at Rare, 2023a, 2023b). In consultation with marine ecologists and a wide range of community members, these reserve areas come to enrich local people’s knowledge, diets, and livelihoods, while also producing conservation results related to improved marine ecosystems.

One of these campaign managers, Bertha Matatar from the Mayalibit Bay Regional Marine Conservation Area, worked with local fishers to establish year-round no fishing days to allow more fish eggs to be produced, thereby yielding more and larger fish; fish catch increased from 1.64 kg to 4.9 kg per day with this implemented and community-agreed upon approach (Rare, 2015). One example of how she worked with local fishers was to engage in small group discussions, participatory mapping, and community events in the village of Lopintol (Afianto & Sucahyo, 2014). The results of such activities led to a formal agreement on local management and rules for mackerel fishing. Through this community of care, Matatar enabled community organization that led to not just increased fish size, but the positivity of a community working together to improve livelihoods and environmental protection.

Savings clubs

In addition to the development of managed access with reserves approach, another way in which Rare’s campaign managers build local capacities is through savings clubs, or micro-credit unions. Using collective saving as a way to build community livelihoods, a campaign manager helps develop knowledge about the meaning, benefit, and impact of these savings clubs, which might include the ability to: “pay for their child’s education, purchase school supplies for children, buy medicine for sick family members, restore houses damaged by tropical storms, replace broken fishing tools and boats, pursue new business opportunities” (Rare, 2023c). These savings clubs can be especially beneficial for women who need income to support their families, often because their spouse has died, left, or cannot provide enough money for the entire family’s needs (see Sasmita’s story, Rare, 2023c). Devi Opat, one of Rare’s campaign managers working Komodo National Park, worked with community members to develop the Padakauang Credit Union, in which there were 53 members who had saved approximately 215,000,000 Rupiah, which is less than $20,000 USD. This model allowed members to borrow or use money to buy safer and more environmentally friendly fishing equipment when needed, instead of forcing fishers to try to catch more and more fish to earn enough money to cover their needs instead of relying on expensive and predatory fishing industry practices:

The name Padakauang is taken from the Bajo Language and it means ‘achieve goals together.’ This cooperative was formed to release the fishers’s [sic] from relying on middlemen to obtain business capital and eliminating things that impeded fishers from complying with zoning rules. (Afianto & Sucahyo, 2014, p. 21)

Not only do such initiatives provide access to capital for fishers who are either subsistence or close-to-subsistence fishers, but they also help the fishers, their families, and other community members develop financial literacy and appreciation for savings access. Certainly, the micro-credit union approach has been critiqued for problematic practices, most notably in the form of high interest rates that can perpetuate rather than alleviate poverty; but in this approach, community members are putting in their own money and lending and borrowing from each other, rather than from predatory outsiders, like agents who sell and finance expensive fishing equipment. In this sense then, the credit union or savings club becomes a community of care for fishers, their family, and other community members.

Fishery cooperatives

Another key component to community building of care is through the fishery cooperatives. As an extension of the managed access with reserves approach, Rare’s campaign managers work to develop cooperatives that engage in a number of activities that might include: setting fish prices, creating buoy systems that mark the no-take zones and marine protected areas, community patrolling and reporting, managing rules regarding fish catch and quotas, and establishing sanctions for those who violate the community established rules and norms (Rare, 2015). The fishers come together to establish rules on fish catch related to total fish catch, type of fish, season for fishing, and allowed fishing gear. The conservation impact can be huge: “The larger a fish is allowed to grow, the more eggs it is able to produce. For example, one snapper weighing 11 Kg produces the same number of eggs as 250 snappers weighing 1.1 Kg each” (“The Rising Tide,” n.d.). Again, most of these fishers are subsistence or near-subsistence fishers and fish mostly in coastal waters near where they live. They all know each other, so coming together to establish norms and rules for fishing is important for their primary protein source and livelihoods.

Many of these cooperatives also engage in data collection, community patrolling, and awareness campaigns. That is, working with marine scientists and ecologists, they help to determine how fish are growing in size and quantity as a result of the establishment of marine protected areas. In turn, these data help determine how the zones can and should be used in the future. In order to enforce the no-take zone, the community members build buoy systems so that the zones are clearly marked. Then they employ community team patrols and reporting mechanisms for informing those who do not yet know about the protected areas as well as to issue fines or sanctions for those who violate the community-established norms. To help inform community members who are not part of the cooperative, the conservation campaigns play a big role. The campaign manager, along with other community leaders, seek broad awareness of good fishing practices. For example, Ahmad Sahwan in Bumbang Bay Regional Marine Conservation Area, worked with fishers in small groups, made stickers with a campaign logo and slogan for fishers’ boats, gave presentations at local schools to promote “Catch fish only in the sustainable fisheries zone,” and helped religious leaders to give sermons on sustainable fishing during Friday prayers (Afianto & Sucahyo, 2014). This kind of social marketing and campaigning that Rare promotes generates community involvement, good will, and awareness about conservation and community livelihoods.

Conclusion: Semangat

The campaign managers mentioned here worked for two or three years with their communities to develop campaigns that would raise awareness about how managed access with reserve systems, savings clubs, and fisher cooperatives work and are successful, with extensive community input. What we see as a result is not just about improved livelihoods, poverty reduction, better nutrition, more education, or healthier ecosystems, but also semangat. This Indonesian word can be translated as enthusiasm, spirit, soul. The meaning invokes pride, joy, hope, and optimism, especially as a result of hard work. It is a term that was repeated again and again over the course of 11 years of fieldwork with Rare’s campaign managers, both in their classes and at their field sites/home communities. It is this idea of semangat that embodies how a community of care can work through collaboration over time for true community-based conservation solutions. Furthermore, these campaigns embody care in thinking about people’s actual lived experiences, especially related to vulnerabilities, marginality, and exploitation (see Humas, 2023), as a move towards a more peaceful co-existence within semangat (e.g. such as Gogali’s work in Central Sulawesi).

This practice of caring through communities also reflects an essential value in Indonesian society as it embodies the second and the fifth principles of Pancasila, Indonesia’s national and governing philosophy, which are: the unity of Indonesia (persatuan Indonesia); and social justice for all Indonesian people (keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia). By interacting and taking care of each other, they manage to work together strategically as a collective force to solve environmental and societal problems while at the same time support the well-being of the community to ensure a sustainable and equal future for everyone. Through these examples and ideas of care/semangat in Global South communities, we call for greater attention in the field of environmental communication to how people already care, engage, and participate in conservation and community, particularly in so-called “understudied” areas of the world in which local knowledge exists but is marginalized, is practiced but not amplified, and is conservation-oriented but not recognized as such.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).