Producing fair tuna, reproducing inequality in a small-scale fishing community in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Commodity certification is based on the premise that providing producers with economic incentives will encourage them to follow certain production standards. However, most certified products are sourced from developed economies, marginalizing producers from developing economies in an increasingly competitive market. Fair Trade (USA) incentivizes small-scale fishers to be part of global market, offering above-market price and premium fund for community development. Framing the certification as a form of payment for ecosystem services (PES), this dissertation investigates the implementation of market approach to fishery governance in facilitating environmental and social improvements. It is based on a 9-month fieldwork in Kiapu, a fishing village in Sulawesi, involving non-participatory observations and semi-structured interviews predominantly with Fair Trade-registered and conventional tuna fishers.In offering monetary incentives, Fair Trade assumes a well-functioning market where its above-market price and premium would promote sustainable fishery and development. This vision, however, confronts customary fishing and trading practices on the ground that are shaped by complex, ever-changing ecological processes, social dynamics, and labor relations in small-scale fishing communities such as Kiapu. As a result, the scheme has unintentionally reinforced and reproduced inequalities among supply chain actors. The findings in the study suggest that the appropriateness and effectiveness of incentive-based environmental governance depend on the condition of the target community.