Thickening Mangrove Vegetation to Support the Diversification of Fisheries Production in Tanjung Pecinan Village, Situbondo

 
Crab fattening

Crab fattening, Tanjung Pecinan village, Mangaran sub-district, Situbondo © Cynthia Nurcahya/MFF-Indonesia

Objectives

The project objective is to protect mangrove areas in Mangaran Sub-District from coastal abrasion through mangrove rehabilitation and livelihood activities.

Background

Mangrove forests on the Northern coast of Situbondo, East Java have been continuously degraded since 2000. Massive mangrove forest conversion into ponds occurred in the north coast of Mangaran Sub-District. This condition resulted in abrasion of 50-100 meters and eroded farmlands and ponds. The absence of thick mangrove forests as coastal belt made the abrasion massively increased. The high number of private ponds and less mangrove areas in Mangaran Sub-District decrease the livelihood options of local people. Income source of local people from mud crab and milk fish were considerably lessened.

The Samir Bamboo Conservation (SAMBACO) is a community based organization with specialization in nature conservation, aimed to restore mangrove ecosystem in Mangaran Sub-District. Through SGF program, Sambaco along with communities rehabilitated approximately 7 ha of mangrove-degraded areas by planting 40,000 mangroves in estuary and along the pond dikes. The rehabilitation program is expected to increase mangrove areas by 30%. SAMBACO also worked with three communities groups to improve their skill and capacity in income generating program. Three livelihood activities that includes the production of fish cracker, crab fattening and milk-fish aquaculture were chosen as potential economic activities that generate family income.

Target beneficiaries

Approximately 100 people were involved in mangrove rehabilitation activities and more than 80 people involved in income generating program. Two groups of 24 members (54% females and 46% males) were formed during the project implementation. However, at least three community groups were actively involved in the project activities. They also received empowerment training/workshop in order to increase their knowledge, skills and proficiency in crab fattening, milk fish aquaculture and fishery-based food processing.

Outputs

In the beginning of project, 40,000 mangrove seedlings that included Rhizophora spCeriops Tagal and Soneratia caseolaris were grown in the nursery. In the second quarter of project, 25,000 mangrove seedlings were planted along the coastal area and 15,000 others were planted on pond dykes with 5 ha areas restored in total. This rehabilitation activity involved Junior High students and teachers. The output of rehabilitation activities showed a good result with a high survival rate (86%).

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In the capacity building program, SAMBACO had facilitated women's groups or 30 female communities in the training on boneless milk fish, fish cracker production and product packaging. A group now has been producing and selling the crackers at the local market. The project had significantly empowered female groups where they could use their time more effectively and helped them to generate additional income to support their family. Even though the amount was not yet significant, but they could allocate this additional income to support daily needs or children's education. 

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SAMBACO had also facilitated groups of men consisting of 25 fishers on crab fattening training and milk fish aquaculture. Crab fattening and milkfish aquaculture were chosen as the alternatives livelihoods tested during the MFF SGF project implementation. At the end of production cycle, 325 kg of milkfish were harvested. For the crab fattening, the net profit the group made was ranging from IDR 1,000,000-1,750,000 per month (with two production cycles). The crab fattening keeps going up to now. The income from crab fattening was quite profitable, thus it can be used to improve health care and personal security.

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Accomplishments and challenges

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Contributions to cross-cutting themes

This project can be considered to significantly contribute to tackle climate change issue within the region. Mangrove rehabilitation activities helped to reduce coastal erosion and strengthen community's resilience towards natural disaster caused by climate change. Further, additional carbon sequestration from mangrove planting will reduce Green House Gas Emissions and also contribute to government's mitigation program.   

Another contribution, this project has addressed gender in the first place and it has been reflected in project activities where the engagement of men and women is fairly balance. 50% of women were involved in mangrove rehabilitation activities, and they received the same cash payment as men. Women also have rights to make decisions of how many days they can work to support rehabilitation activities without neglecting their household chores.

Lessons Learned

  • During the initiation of project implementation/rehabilitation activities, grantee should also consider the availability of mangrove propagules in its location. The availability of propagules highly depends on the flowering season. For some species, propagules can be found throughout the year, but for some others seeds can only be found in certain seasons. Grantee tends to assume that MFF projects only prioritise the selection of true mangrove species for the rehabilitation. As a matter of fact, in some locations other coastal vegetation is considered to be more ecologically appropriate.
  • While choosing the types of livelihood activities to be conducted, it is best to use participatory approach, where grantee has gone through consultation process with the communities as the implementers on the ground. In addition, it is important to identify the all supporting aspects related to the livelihood activities/small-scale business starting from the provission of the raw materials, production, marketing to the management of the profit generated and cash flow to ensure the sustainability of the business.

Project Facts

Country

Location

Tanjung Pecinan village, Mangaran sub-district, Situbondo

Topic

Duration

2nd Mar 2016 to 31st Dec 2016

MFF Grant Amount

IDR 170,002,000

Co-financing Partner

In kind from others IDR 8,265,000 (USD 677.45)

In kind from Grantee IDR 4,318,000 (USD 353.93)

Implementing Partner

SAMBACO

Jl. Seruni RT04/01 Perante Village, Asembagus Sub-District, Situbondo, 68373 

Contact Person: Zainal Aliyy Musthofa

Phone/mobile: +6285232269344

Email address: sambacoo@yahoo.com

 

 

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