Public Lecture on Small-Scale Fisheries Issue at Mataram University

MATARAM- Ahmad Riza Baroqi, MDPI co-management officer and Kai García Neefjes, an MDPI Intern, had an opportunity to held a public lecture to 83 Aquaculture students and two lecturers of Mataram University. They talked about small-scale fisheries issues based on their fisheries co-management experiences.

During this session, the scenarios of Southern Belize and several sites of Indonesia were introduced and explained. The lecture started with Kai García Neefjes briefly explaining the co-management theory, followed up with a description of the fisheries management status in Southern Belize, Central America (country where Kai performed field work in 2018) and some results from the work.

In the second session, Riza Baroqi continued with the presentation, explaining the current work of MDPI in six provinces of Indonesia: NTB, NTT, Maluku, Maluku Utara, Sulawesi Selatan and Sulawesi Utara. The Fisheries Co-management Committee (FCMC) and the importance of stakeholder participation were also explained within the presentation. Moreover, the individual and collective roles from the key stakeholders of the FCMC were also mentioned.  The last part of the presentation was the comparison of advantages and disadvantages of the fisheries management in Southern Belize and the sites of Indonesia. These served as good examples for the students because they present two different places in the world that are aiming for sustainable small-scale fisheries.

Once the lecture finished, Kai and Riza decided to involve the students by asking input, thoughts, and questions regarding the presentation. The students actively participated in lively discussions and asked interesting questions that showed the interest and the will of understanding the topic. This lecture triggered the interest of the Mataram University lecturers to continue performing such informative sessions. The previous experiences from MDPI interns alongside the current work of MDPI, can be useful for the new and current generation of students to think about relevant topics regarding fisheries management.

Written by: Kai Garcia Neefjes