The Local Wisdom in Marine Resource Conservation for Strategies of Poverty Reduction in Indonesia

Indonesia as the largest archipelagic state has a wealth of marine ecosystem and biodiversity. Besides its ecological function, the potential marine resource is an important factor in improving the indigenous economy in the fishing communities, and even it could be used as a source of the future welfare of people. The Indonesian government has committed to establishing marine conservation areas, each of which has an important role in supporting local sustainable fishery management and human resources having the local wisdom. To study such issues and their concerns demonstrate that some activities for the marine resource conservation management are major parts of the fishermen’s strategy for the poverty reduction at the coastal communities. This ethnographical dissertation mainly treats the village of South Tiku, Tanjung Mutiara District, Agam Regency, the Province of West Sumatra in Indonesia, which was researched by the anthropological fieldwork along the Tiku coast. 4 aspects could be observed at the village of South Tiku, viz. spiritual wisdom, environmental sustainability wisdom, cultural tradition wisdom, and economic wisdom. The dissertation describe that the existence of the traditions from the local wisdom such as cultural ceremony or fishermen’s party is indispensable for the marine resource conservation, which comprise controlling fishing gears, using no harmful gears, catching and killing no sea turtles, or throwing no rubbish into the sea, managed by the controlling sector and seeding and planting mangroves or coral reefs along the shore, managed by the resource sector. At the village of South Tiku, the various forms of activities concerning marine and coastal resource conservation are carried out by local fishermen, whose behaviors are always based on the value and culture of their local wisdom. This dissertation would predict the further necessity of future marine resource conservation along the Tiku coast, which could improve the balance between marine resource conservation goals and poverty reduction outcomes