Project Detail

Community Participation in the Sustainable Management and Fishing of Terubok in Sarawak

A community-based, pilot demonstration and capacity building project that aimed to: (i) Achieve sustainable and environmentally compatible Terubok fishing through community participation; (ii) Reduce the dependence of the local fishing communities of Tebaang Village of Daro, Sarawak on Terubok fishing by encouraging them to adopt alternative livelihoods; and (iii) Reduce as far as possible the consumption of Terubok and Terubok eggs by the fishing communities and the public at large.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Sarawak Development Institute

Country:

Malaysia

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

Phase 2

Grant Amount:

US$ 42,371.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 1,846.97

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 5,277.04

Project Number:

MAL/01/10

Start Date:

4/2001

End Date:

2/2003

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Gender Focus

Although the fishing community of Daro comprises of mainly men, the other men and women of the Daro community will be involved in workshops to educate them on the importance of terubok conservation, an important strategy to reduce the public's consumption of Terubok fish and eggs.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Discussed on a one-on-one basis by NGO and project participants over the course of the project. Also highlighted by the SGP NC during his M&E visits.

Capacity - Building Component

The fishing community of Daro attended workshops and focus group meetings to increase their awareness of the importance of Terubok conservation and to increase their skills in conducting and participating in the Participatory Rural Appraisal approach to be used by SDI for the project. Also a manual and video was produced on the lessons learned, experiences gained and technologies tested during the project for their dissemination and use for communities elsewhere.

Notable Community Participation

The fishing community of Daro was actively involved in participatory community meetings aimed at raising awareness amongst the local fishing communities of Tebaang Village on Terubok conservation a socio-economic survey by SDI and the results of the survey were used to design an educational programme and a community-managed and based full project and Terubok Management and Conservation Plan.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The fishing community of Daro was also involved in workshops to identify alternative livelihood strategies to reduce their dependence on Terubok fishing (eg. observing closed season when Terubok are spawning, raising livestock, etc.).

Project Results

The project allowed us to work with 2 principal stakeholders, a fishing community at a pilot project level and policy makers although they are not the only exclusive stakeholders as there are others like the traders and the general consuming public.
We started of the project not confident of achieving our objectives in sustainable, environmentally compatible Terubok fishing, as we were aware that in the past there had been much talk on terubok conservation and management with no concrete actions being taken.

We focused our work on a pilot fishing community. The emphasis of the project was community participation, which we did through the PRA exercises. These exercises gave the villagers a sense of control over what they were assessing and suggesting in terms of managing terubok resources. The villagers agreed that Terubok conservation strategies were necessary and agreed to try out alternative livelihood options, to reduce the pressure on terubok fishing. Community participation was a positive aspect of the project with encouraging results as a core group of villagers turned to prawn rearing as an experiment.
The next positive aspect of the project was getting top policy makers interested in Terubok conservation and management. The government responded positively and agreed to introduce policy changes.
A government committee was set up and its work is to recommend and implement Terubok conservation and management strategies especially on closed fishing seasons and dissemination and education.

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