Development phases and socio-cultural contexts of the reef-based fishing economy of the Sembilan Islands community, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Generally, this research aims at drafting the historical phases of the dynamic fishing economy in the Sembilan Islands, South Sulawesi (Indonesia) from the past to the present, based on the internal (local) and external (global) socio-cultural contexts. Particularly, the research aims at constructing the local patterns of fishery resources utilization practices associated with coral reef ecosystems that characterize each phase of the dynamic fishing economy. The data were collected by field research conducted in 2017 and several relevant previous types of field research in the Sembilan Islands, in which the authors had participated. These field researches used a qualitative-ethnographic method with in-depth interviews and observations as the basic data collection techniques. By focusing on dominant seafood export commodities associated with the coral reef ecosystem and the types of production technology applied, the researchers found three phases of dynamic fishing economy. They start with the sea cucumber and shellfish business (early phase: at the beginning of 1980-90s), continue with the live fish and lobster efforts (transitional phase: the end of the 1980's - early 2000), and with seaweed farming (current phase). From the constructionist perspective (in ecological anthropology), three local patterns of fishery resources utilization practices are constructed, characterizing each phase of economy development. They are the "collecting pattern" of sea cucumber and shell business, the "hunting pattern" of live fish and lobster business, and the "planting pattern" of the seaweed farming. The results of the analysis showed that the first pattern is gradually leading to overfishing practices (exploitative), the second pattern contributes to the destruction of the coral reef ecosystem (destructive), and the third pattern preserves the marine environment and supports the sustainable fishery resource utilization (protective). The development phases of the reef-based fishing economy of the Sembilan Islands fishermen have taken place in a historical series and internal-external socio-cultural contexts.