Description

The case deals with collective learning on the diversity of bycatch species and their importance (roles and functions) in estuary ecosystem in relation to the blue swimming crab Portunus pelagicus fishery in Kung Krabaen Bay (KKB), Chantaburi Province, Thailand. This case is on-going implementation and it is an evolving sequence from the first ComMod process in this area focusing on the co-learning on the blue swimming crab biology and sustainable management (see more detail in “Ideas_Fishery” by Leteurtre, 2010). The bycatch issue was raise by the coming of an international regulation on crab fishery. Fishermen have to adapt their fishing technique to conserve bycatch species. If fishermen cannot show that they use a good gear to reduce number of harvested bycatch or implement some strategies to conserve bycatch, they might not be able to sell the target species, blue swimming crab in this case, to international markets. This led to an implementation of the second cycle in 2013 focusing on bycatch management issue. The ComMod process start by the scientific study on bycatch diversity harvested by different gear types in different zones of the bay. The result showed that different zone had different opportunity to catch bycatch in both species and numbers. Thereafter, a set of game cards composed of bycatch pictures and names, and blue swimming crab pictures was prepared. The participatory field workshop was conducted on March 2014 with 12 fishermen from Thaclang village. During the de briefing session, participants drew a diagram representing a food web by linking bycatch, blue swimming crab and human together, and collectively learned the importance of bycatch. Moreover, by sharing information on the impact of international regulation on fishery with researchers, all participants agreed that they have to manage bycatch and discussed some management practices. They also wanted to use this game with fishermen from the other villages to learn this bycatch issue. Therefore, more sessions will be carried out in near future.