Available recent statistics show that the ASEAN countries have a combined area of about 2.7 million km2 and about 295 million people (Table 1). Of these there are about 2.7 million fishermen in ASEAN (Table 5). It is estimated that at least three quarters of this or about two million are small-scale fishermen. In a recent paper for the 1986 World Food Day (FAO, 1986) FAO describes small-scale or artisanal fishermen as follows: “They may own a small boat and a few nets, or they may work for a man who does. They often live in villages subject to floods, tidal waves and violent storms — remote communities with few, if any, social services. Most are landless and few have an alternative to fishing for their livelihood. Hampered by the limited size, range and speed of their craft, they are restricted to nearby fishing grounds. They frequently lack materials for boats and nets, and face chronic shortages of funds to buy essential equipment or even to tide them over lean periods. Where credit is available, they tend to be considered a bad risk.”
The same report informs that there are about 10 million of these fishermen worldwide so that some 20 percent are in the ASEAN region.
Although the small-scale fishermen supply about 25 percent of total world fish supply and 50 percent of the portion for human consumption, the economic and social status of the sector in the population is considered to be one of the most depressed in the countries where they exist.
In the ASEAN Region, in particular, this situation is very well known so that the countries in this region are eager to initiate programmes to improve the economic and social status of the small-scale coastal fishermen. One of the major steps taken in this regard is the use of seafarming as a supplement or alternative to the inadequate or declining coastal fisheries.
