Page 64 - ii_3_2020

62 Feature//

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE IN FISHING

COMMUNITIES IN ASIA: WHY IT MATTERS
Susana V. Siar and Kyoko Kusakabe

The out-migration of young people in search of better incomes and declining fishery resources are some main reasons
for the changes in age and gender representation as well as livelihood diversification that are taking place in fishing
communities in Asia. Recent studies have sought to document these trends in order to better understand the challenges
as well as to serve as a guide in the formulation of policy and programme support for sustainable and resilient smallscale
fisheries, as well as to ensure the social wellbeing of ageing fisher populations and women.

varied and worth exploring. These reasons, among others, may
include the state of the infrastructure and human resources
for data collection in the countries, population change in
fishing communities, the attractiveness/unattractiveness of
the fishing industry to potential new entrants such as the
youth, migration into and outside the fishing communities,
and ageing among fishers and fish workers.

Interest in demographic change in fishing communities
dates back to the macro-level studies conducted between
1994 and 1997 under the leadership of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The
2
studies revealed the following, among others: (i) the trend of
decreasing number of coastal fishers in the Philippines and
Malaysia and the increasing number of fishers in Bangladesh
Credit : Sok Serey
and India; (ii) inter-generational occupational mobility out
Introduction of fishing, indicating that fishing was no longer a “last resort
employment”; (iii) fishing households were not always the
poorest and in some cases may be better off than farmers;
Asia is home to millions of people dependent on fishing and and (iv) acknowledgement by fishers from the Philippines,
related activities for food, nutrition, livelihoods and trade. India and Bangladesh about declining resources and the
Whether marine or inland, these fishing communities are environment due to the increasing number of fishers and
changing because of environmental, economic and social fishing boats and domestic and industrial water pollution.
factors from within as well as outside. Many of these fishing
communities are vulnerable because of their geographical A presentation by Miki et al. (2018) during the 7th Global
3
location, social and economic situation, demographic Conference on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries, 4
characteristics, and the condition of the fishery and natural regarding changes in fishing communities and fisher women
resources on which they depend. in Japan, generated renewed interest on the topic. The
authors showed a declining trend in the number of fishers and
The topic relating to demographic change in fishing fishery workers, both women and men, between 1993 and
communities and how these factors influence livelihoods 2013, as well as a declining trend in the number of women in
diversification, climate change adaptation, and resource fisheries cooperative associations between 1990 and 2013.
sustainability, among others, has so far received little The presentation also revealed that the ageing rate of the
attention. The 2016 State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 1 population in fishing communities (38 percent) was higher
noted that there was a decrease of 1.5 million fishers globally compared with the total population in Japan (29 percent).
between 2012 (39.4 million) and 2014 (37.9 million). The
following year, the number of fishers increased and reached Table 1 shows that a decline in the number of fishers is also
its peak of 40.7 million, an increase of 2.9 million. The reasons happening in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the
for the decrease and increase in the number of fishers are Republic of Korea.

INFOFISH International 3/2020 ● www.infofish.org