Seaweed Farming: An Alternative Livelihood for Small-Scale Fishers?

Development of alternative livelihoods has become a popular policy to uplift the socioeconomic status of small-scale fishers and to reduce fishing pressure on overexploited fisheries. Seaweed farming has been incorporated into many community-based coastal resources management projects and fisheries management initiatives as an alternative livelihood option for fishers in tropical developing countries. This is typically based on several assumptions, either unstated or explicit, of program designers, project managers and senior policy makers. First, it is often assumed that small-scale fishers are poor and that this is related in many cases to the overexploited nature of the resource. Secondly, it is assumed that fishers are willing to give up fishing in favor of more lucrative economic opportunities, such as seaweed farming. Lastly, it is assumed that as fishers take up alternative livelihoods such as seaweed farming, this will reduce pressure on the fisheries. This is an excellent example of a project logic framework whereby certain inputs (e.g. promotion of seaweed farming) will lead to specific outputs (e.g. improved socioeconomic status of fishers, reduced fishing pressure and improved resource status). This paper will examine the evidence underlying these assumptions and the extent to which development of seaweed farming as an alternative livelihood can increase socioeconomic status of fishers and reduce fishing pressure based on a number of examples from coastal communities in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.