Fleet-operational, Economic, and Cultural Determinants of Bycatch Uses in Southeast Asia

A brief history of demersal trawling in Southeast Asia (here: Philippines, Thailand Malaysia, and Indonesia) is given. It is argued that this fishery, through its overwhelming emphasis on penaeid shrimps, imported the concept of "trash fish," which had been previously alien in this region, and which still generates considerable unease. In the long term, and for reasons not necessarily related to bycatch issues, the competition between small-scale fishers (who do not generate bycatch) and trawl operators (who do) for access to nearshore demersal resources may well be won by the former. This would lead to a resolution of the bycatch problem that would not only reduce social conflicts, but would also be culturally more acceptable than the current bycatch discarding practices of the trawling industry. .