Local Wisdom in Utilizing Skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and Scad (Decapterus macarellus) in The Regency of Sitaro Archipelago

Abstract

Local wisdom is any form of knowledge, belief, understanding, or insight as well as custom or ethics that can guide human behavior in life in ecological community. The utilization of fisheries resources, especially skipjacks and scads in the Regency of Sitaro Archipelago has long been based on the custom hereditarily, which is considered as local wisdom. The aim of this research is to describe the mechanism of utilizing fishery resources based on local wisdom, border areas of fishing ground ownership, and its impacts on the fish resource management. Fishermen who have right to catch skipjacks are those who identified the fish first. While in fishing scads, fishermen are limited by an individual local ownership obtained hereditarily. Therefore, not all the fishermen get access to the areas. Local wisdom owned by fishermen community in the area of small islands has not yet been aimed at sustainable fisheries management. It is only limited to avoiding conflicts among fishermen and among villages.