Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167

A prospect for adoption of grouper mariculture in Indonesia

Abdul Halim*

Department of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island, Washburn Hall, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

Received 15 May 2002; accepted 22 November 2002

Abstract

While grouper mariculture program has been widely advocated to provide alternative incomes for grouper fishermen and to

manage the wild grouper, no empirical studies to examine its adoption have been employed. This study was conducted to evaluate

grouper fishermen and middlemen perceptions toward the adoption/nonadoption of a mariculture program. The study shows that a

significant percentage of fishermen and middlemen are willing to adopt a mariculture program. The implications of these results for

project managers and policy makers are also discussed.

r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Grouper mariculture; Innovation diffusion; Fishery policy

1. Introduction

Grouper populations are declining due to high marketdemand as live food and aquarium fish in the global livereef fish trade (LRFT) network. This situation hasdrawn attention from managers and policy makers toformulate an effective groupers management that canaccommodate the need to fulfill the market demand andto ensure their sustainability in the wild. The bestgrouper management options are protecting grouperspawning aggregation sites [1], and accompanied byintroducing mariculture [2–4,].

Although Indonesia has a long established traditionof implementing shrimp culture in brackish water,grouper mariculture is a relatively new innovation. Thisinnovation is directed at helping manage the grouperfishery by providing alternative occupations for bothgrouper fishermen and middlemen. Mariculture willsupply the market demand during the seasonal closureof grouper fishing ground. This closure will also allowthe natural stocks of grouper to reproduce.

As a newly introduced program, mariculture could beeither adopted or rejected. An individual’s decision toadopt or reject a new practice passes through severalstages, and does not happen at once. Innovationdiffusion studies have recognized the adoption/non-

adoption of a new introduced practice is influenced bywhether or not it matches with the adopters’ needs,situation, and perceptions of the innovation [5,6]. Therate of adoption might differ among individualsdepending on his/her level of innovativeness [5]. Themore innovative an individual the shorter the adoptiontime [5,7].

2. Methods

2.1. The study area and population

This study was conducted in five different provinces inIndonesia: Sulawesi Tenggara, Sulawesi Selatan, NusaTenggara Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat, and Lampung(Fig. 1). Two sets of questionnaires were developed todetermine the perceptions of middlemen and fishermentoward the adoption/nonadoption of mariculture. Thestudy population consists of middlemen and grouperfishermen. A grouper fisherman is simply a personinvolved in catching live grouper, and a middleman is aperson who finances grouper fishermen to operate thefishery and who buys the grouper from the fisher forresale.

There are two categories of middlemen, namelythose who are also live fish exporters and those whodo not export live fish (local middlemen). Grouperfishermen are also categorized into two categories

*Tel: +1-401-788-1069; fax: +1-401-874-2156.

E-mail address: ahalim@fulbrightweb.org (A. Halim).

0308-597X/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/S0308-597X(02)00087-8

namely individual and well-organized grouper fisher-men. Individual fishermen refer to those who work aloneor with one or two persons in a small boat usingtraditional fishing equipment on day trips. Well-organized fishermen refer to those who work in groupsequipped with more complex fishing gear for longer timeperiods than a day.

2.2. Mariculture adoption models

The characteristics, situations, and perceptions offishermen influence their perceptions of innovativechange over time. Downs and Mohr [8] argue that thesame individual could react differently to a singleinnovation depending on his circumstances. With respectto mariculture, they could be determined by severalvariables namely: (1) individual attributes, (2) socialattributes, and (3) perceived attributes of innovation [9].

The individual variables of fishermen measured in thisresearch consist of:

1. Age: Measured in years, is likely to be related toinnovation adoption.

2. Education: Measured in years, is likely to bepositively related to innovation adoption.

3. Bound to middlemen: Measured as whether or notfishermen have middlemen.

4. Fishermen types: Measured as whether they areworking alone or in groups.

5. Kinship ties: Measured as whether fishermen have afather who fished.

6. Mariculture experiences: Measured as whether ornot fishermen have prior mariculture related experi-ences.

7. Access to awareness program: Measured in Likert-type scale, could also be related to innovationadoption.

8. Percentage of income from grouper fishery:Is likely to be related to mariculture innovationadoption.

9. Years of experience, measured in years: Is likely tobe related to innovation adoption.

10. Number of present grouper fishermen: Could berelated also to perceptions of mariculture adoption.

11. Current wild grouper status: Is also likely toinfluence the perception of innovation adoption.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/CITY.GUIDES/WORLD/Asia/indonesia/map.html

Fig. 1. Research Locations (�)

A. Halim / Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167160

In addition, the additional individual attributes ofmiddlemen measured in this research consist of:

1. Exporter: Measured as whether or not middlemen arealso live fish exporters.

2. Primary business: Measured as whether or notgrouper trade is their main business.

3. Number of present middlemen, could be related toperceptions of mariculture adoption.

4. Partner influence: Measured in categorical scale, islikely to influence the perception of innovationadoption.

The social context attributes of adopters include theirperceptions on the economic conditions in fishingactivities including their chance to get access forfinancial support from formal institutions such asbanks. Fishermen were excluded because pre-testsurveys indicated that many fishermen did not perceivedeconomic conditions as important factor that couldinfluence their decision making process. Therefore,perceptions of social context attributes were onlyobtained from middlemen. These variables consist of:

1. Current economic conditions (year 2001): measured inLikert-type scale, could be positively related toinnovation adoption.

2. Future economic conditions (year 2006): Measured inLikert-type scale, could also be positively related toinnovation adoption.

3. Accessibility to loans from bank, Measured as whetheror not middlemen have access to loans from banks,could be positively related to innovation adoption:

4. Current access to loans from bank (year 2001):Measured in Likert-type scale, could also be posi-tively related to innovation adoption.

5. Future access to loans from bank (year 2006):Measured in Likert-type scale, could also be posi-tively related to innovation adoption.

Perceived attributes of an innovation such as relativeadvantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability, andperceived risks have been used extensively in previousinnovation studies to evaluate innovation adoption.Rogers [5, p.213] defines relative advantage as ‘thedegree to which an innovation is perceived as beingbetter than the idea it supersedes’. Complexity is definedas ‘the degree to which an innovation is perceived asrelatively difficult to understand and use’ [5, p.230].Trialability is defined as ‘the degree to which aninnovation may be experimented with, on a limitedbasis’ [5, p.231]. Rogers [5, p.223] defines compatibilityas ‘the degree to which an innovation is perceived asconsistent with the existing values, past experiences, andneeds of potential adopter’. Perceived risk is defined asthe degree to which an innovation is perceived to beeconomically risky.

In essence, there are two distinctions between theprevious related innovation studies (cf. [10,11]) and thisstudy. First, grouper mariculture has not been widelyimplemented as a business in Indonesia. Therefore,interviews were conducted to grouper middlemen andfishermen to determine their perceptions what wouldhappen if mariculture were to be commercially imple-mented. Second, mariculture is different from fishing.Both involve two very different working characteristicsnamely farming for mariculture and hunting/gatheringfor fishing. Mariculture will not provide fishermen quickcash return.

Other characteristics of the grouper fishery inIndonesia are: (a) it is associated with the use of cyanidesolutions, facilitated by air compressor to catch live fish,(b) there is an existing unique relationship between themiddlemen and fishermen, where middlemen lend thefishermen their daily needs with an obligation to be paidback later. Therefore, three additional variables werehypothesized to influence perceptions toward maricul-ture innovation. These variables are middlemen/bosses

influences1, timeliness of financial reward, and perceived

compressor risks.As a new project, grouper mariculture will be either

adopted or rejected by grouper middlemen and fisher-men. If this program is adopted, it will become either anew occupation or a part-time job (see Fig. 2). We willrestrict our definition of middlemen adoption ofmariculture to a part-time job. Hence, we will havethree different dependent variables. First is a dichot-omous dependent variable indicating middlemen adop-tion or non-adoption of mariculture as a part-time job.Second is a dichotomous dependent variable indicatingfishermen adoption or non-adoption of mariculture as apart-time job. Third is a dichotomous dependentvariable indicating fishermen adoption or non-adoptionof mariculture as a new occupation. Stepwise logisticregression analysis is used to explore the proposedmariculture adoption/non adoption models [12,13]. Thesmall sample size limits the power of the statisticalanalysis used.

3. Analysis

3.1. Individual characteristics of middlemen

Age of middlemen ranges from 22 to 70 years witha median of 40 years. Among them, 12% are alsolive fish exporters. A large number of middlemen(61%) have only been involved in the occupation for

1In essence, the term middlemen/bosses here is referred to the same

thing namely those who finance the grouper fishery. Bosses specifically

refer to those who finance live grouper middlemen, while middlemen

refer to those who finance grouper fishermen.

A. Halim / Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167 161

less than 5 years. In addition, 73% respondents said thatthe current number of middlemen is higher than that of5 years ago. This increase could be attributed toimproved perceptions of the present economic condi-tion. Forty-six percent said that present economicconditions are better than 5 years ago. The improvedperception of economic conditions can be attributed tothe active roles of bosses, who provide loans for localmiddlemen

Among the middlemen interviewed, 61% obtain theirprimary income from the live fish trade. Even so, manyhave more than one occupation and do not dependtotally on the live fish business. During rough weather,when the live fish supply decreases, they engage in otherfisheries product businesses. For example, local middle-men might become involve in seaweed trade, which alsoposes a good business prospect.

A relatively large number of middlemen (52%)perceive that the status of grouper in the wild is erratic.Based on their experience, they believe that theavailability of grouper depends on the season. Accord-ing to middlemen, during seasons with rough weatherfishermen harvest few grouper. This only occurs a fewmonths a year. However, a considerable number ofmiddlemen (41%) also believe that the current numberof wild grouper have decreased.

3.2. Individual characteristics of fishermen

Grouper fishermen ranges between 17 and 71 years ofage with a median value of 30. Seventy-two percent ofthem have middlemen. Fifty-two percent of them gainedtheir income mainly from the grouper fishery. Thosewho gained income mainly from the grouper fisheryare the well-organized type of grouper fishermen.Those who do not obtain their income mainly fromthe grouper fishery are individual grouper fishermen.However, both types practice more than one type offishing. For example, many grouper fishermen inSulawesi Selatan shift to the Spanish mackerel fisheryduring grouper off seasons, while in Nusa TenggaraTimur they shift to the squid fishery, locally known asbagan fishery.

In term of educational level, 87% of the respondentshave attended elementary school. There is a significantcorrelation (Po0.05) between education and maricul-ture experience indicating that fishermen with highereducation tend to have mariculture experience. Indeed,mariculture is an innovative activity that is differentfrom traditional fishing occupations. It requires anunderstanding beyond of the traditional knowledgerequired for capture fishing. Therefore, level of educa-tion will probably be related to level of innovativeness.

Fig. 2. Proposed Model of Variables Assumed to Influence the Perceptions of Middlemen and Fishermen Toward the Adoption/Non Adoption of

Mariculture Program.

A. Halim / Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167162

According to fishermen, the live grouper fishery beganin Indonesia somewhere around 1986. Many grouperfishermen (61%) have been involved in this fishery forless than 5 years. Only 21% of them have been involvedin the fishery for between 11 and 16 years. This data alsocorresponds to information provided concerning theincrease in the number of current grouper fishermenover the past 5 years. The numbers suggest a relativelyquick development of this fishery. The live fish fishery isattracting fishermen because of the enormous financialreward offered compared to that of traditional fishingoccupations.

When fishermen were asked about their opinionregarding grouper status in the wild, 50% said that ithas decreased, and only 4% said that it increased. Mostfishermen attribute the grouper population decline tothe practicing of ‘modern fishing methods’ such ascyanide and dynamite fishing. A considerable numbersof fishermen (47%) pointed out that the availability ofwild grouper is erratic, depending on the seasons.According to fishermen, they are still able to catch livegrouper during regular grouper fishing seasons in a year.The catch fluctuates, occasionally it can be higher but itcan be lower as well. They tend to believe that luck, notthe availability of wild grouper influences their catch.Nevertheless, data on Indonesia’s fish exports indicatethat the export of live fish has dropped since 1996 [14].

3.3. Middlemen and fishermen perceptions of attributes of

mariculture innovation

A large number of middlemen (95%) said that theywould adopt a commercial grouper mariculture pro-gram if there is a market for cultured grouper (Table 1).Middlemen view this program as a prospective extensionto their business. In fact, several middlemen who arealso live fish exporters in Sulawesi Selatan have begun togrow-out hatchery produced grouper juveniles in float-ing fish cages. Many local middlemen are also enthu-siastic to become engaged in grouper grow-out business.According to middlemen, they are actually practicinggrow-out by keeping live fish temporarily in fish cagesbefore they are transported, although it is only for a veryshort of time.

The percentage of fishermen willing to adopt groupermariculture as new job, if it provides them at least thesame amount of income as their current fishingoccupation, is 74% (Table 1). The two most frequentlymentioned reasons are their expectation to obtain atleast the same economic rewards or better than theirscurrent occupation and their willingness to try groupermariculture activity. A considerable percentage of fish-ermen (77%) are willing to accept mariculture only as apart-time occupation, although it will provide them atleast the same amount of income as they currentlyobtain. They are aware that mariculture will not offerthe rapid returns they obtain from fishing. Nevertheless,these fishermen are also willing to try grouper mar-iculture. Supplemental data collected indicated that80% are expecting to be involved in grouper mariculturetraining or some kind of grouper culture apprenticeshipprograms.

It appears that both middlemen and fishermen’sperceptions of mariculture innovation attributes arelargely alike as indicated by relatively comparable meanscores for each attribute (Table 2). Their perceptionsconcerning adoption/non adoption of mariculture arealso as expected. Independent variables such as relativeadvantage, trialability, compatibility, and boss influenceare positively related to adoption. Conversely, indepen-dent variables such as complexity, perceived risk,timeliness of financial reward, and compressor risk arenegatively related to adoption.

The high mean scores of timeliness of financial rewardvariable, which are close to the upper limit of 5-pointLikert scale, indicates that middlemen and fishermen arestrongly aware of a delay in obtaining financial rewardfrom mariculture. In addition, the low mean scores ofthe variable middlemen/bosses influence, which are closeto the lower limit of 5-point Likert scale, indicates apowerful influence of middlemen/bosses direction to-ward their fishermen in the field. Similar low meanscores of the variable middlemen/boss influence alsoappear for middlemen dependent variable, but it issomewhat less extreme compared to that of fishermendependent variable. Fishermen are also strongly awarethat fishing with cyanide solutions facilitated by the useof air compressor is very risky.

3.4. The perceived attributes of innovation model of

mariculture adoption/non adoption

Logistic regression results indicate that perceivedattributes of an innovation are more frequently statis-tically significantly related to attitudes toward adoptionthan individual and social attributes. In general, themodels proposed to explain the relationship betweenperceived attributes of an innovation and attitudestoward adoption/non adoption of mariculture programare statistically better. This is indicated by the higher

Table 1

Percentage of potential adopters/non adopters of mariculture

Dependent

variable

Adopters Non

adopters

Percent

adopting

Na

Middlemen 78 4 95 82

Fishermen

new job

62 22 74 84

Fishermen

part-time job

71 21 77 92

aN=total number of respondents.

A. Halim / Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167 163

P-value of the Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness-of-fitmodels (P>0.05), namely 0.90 for dependent variable ofmiddlemen’s attitudes toward accepting mariculture aspart-time job, and 0.87 for fishermen’s attitudes towardaccepting mariculture as a part-time job, and 0.63 forfishermen’s attitudes toward accepting mariculture as anew job (Table 3).

In essence there is only one variable that is statisticallysignificant in all models of attitudes toward adoption/nonadoption of grouper mariculture, namely timelinessof financial rewards. It is negatively related to attitudestoward adoption of grouper mariculture (Table 3). Theanalysis indicated that grouper middlemen and fisher-men tend to view that smaller financial rewards can beobtained from mariculture activity. Although many ofthem agree that mariculture will benefit them, the costsduring time interval of growing out the grouperjuveniles until they reach marketable sizes are perceivedto outweigh the benefits.

There are three variables that significantly contributeto middlemen’s attitudes toward adoption model. Thesevariables are compatibility, timeliness of financialreward, and middlemen/boss influences. The compat-ibility variable is positively related to adoption withP-value of 0.06. This indicates that middlemen perceivegrouper mariculture as being compatible with theirpresent work practices. In fact, they often keep live fishin fish cages before they are exported. This practice issimilar to that of the fish grow-out process inmariculture.

The middlemen/boss influence variable also contri-butes to middlemen’s attitudes toward adoption ofmariculture. It is positively related to attitudes towardadoption with a P-value of 0.06. Many groupermiddlemen obtain loans from bosses. In many instances,local middlemen act as the ‘right hand’ of bosses, inwhich they purchase live fish from local fishermen andare obligated to sell the fish to their bosses. These bossesthen export the live fish. This trade pattern is commonlyfound in Indonesia, where the live grouper businessoccurs. In short, the role of bosses in determining thebusiness direction within the live grouper fish trade isvery crucial.

Relative advantage is positively related to fishermen’sattitudes toward adoption of mariculture as a part-timejob with a P-value of 0.005. This means that fishermenwho are willing to adopt mariculture as part-time jobperceived mariculture to provide them with economicbenefits. The fishermen perception of relative advantageis negative related with timeliness of financial reward. Asalready noted above that the fishermen perceived thecosts of growing grouper juveniles in the fish cages untilthey reach marketable sizes outweigh the benefits.Therefore fishermen perceived the timeliness of financialreward to be negatively influenced their adoptionattitudes.T

able

2

Mea

nsc

ore

sand

standard

dev

iations(in

pare

nth

esis)ofm

iddlem

enand

fish

erm

en’s

per

ceptionsofin

novation

attribute

sto

ward

adoption/n

onadoption

ofm

aricu

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Dep

enden

tvariable

Per

ceived

attributesofm

aricu

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innovationa

Relative

advanta

ge

Com

plexity

Com

patibility

Trialability

Per

ceived

risk

sbFin

ancialre

ward

scBoss

influen

cesd

Com

pre

ssorrisk

se

Mid

dlem

en3.26

(1.07)

2.68

(1.19)

2.80

(1.64)

4.07

(0.68)

1.84

(0.62)

3.86

(0.84)

2.02

(0.89)

NA

Fisher

men

new

job

3.2

5(0

.98)

3.0

9(1

.17)

2.8

1(1

.32)

3.7

5(0

.83)

1.8

1(0

.83)

3.8

7(0

.83)

1.7

6(1

.51)

1.5

7(1

.21)

Fisher

men

part-tim

ejo

b3.2

5(0

.99)

3.2

2(0

.99)

2.8

6(1

.31)

3.7

7(0

.81)

1.8

5(0

.82)

3.8

9(0

.82)

1.7

6(1

.48)

1.6

1(1

.19)

aVariablesare

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sure

din

5-p

oin

t-Lik

ert-sc

ale

(fro

m1=

theleast

to5=

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igher

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.cH

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valu

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.dH

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.

A. Halim / Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167164

The model also shows a positive relationship betweenthe independent variable of compatibility and fish-ermen’s attitudes toward adoption of mariculture as apart-time job with P-value of 0.0007. Many of thesefishermen perceive that mariculture work would nottake much time. Therefore, they still can participate inboth fishing and mariculture activities. They also arguethat their wives might become involved in taking care ofthe fish cages while they are away for fishing. Inaddition, the trialability variable contributes negativelytoward fishermen’s attitudes toward adoption of mar-iculture as a part-time job (P=0.10). It seems thatfishermen are doubtful about trying this innovation,bearing in mind the experimental costs and risksinvolved with mariculture. The middlemen/boss influ-ence variable is positively related to fishermen’s attitudestoward adoption of mariculture as a part-time job(P=0.01). This result is not surprising, considering theexisting traditional relationship between the grouperfishermen and their middlemen. This relationship isstill well maintained because both parties are inter-dependent.

The last variable that also influences the fishermen’sattitudes toward adopting mariculture as a part-time jobis compressor risk. This variable negatively contributesto adoption with a P-value of 0.03. This indicates thatthe higher fishermen perceive the risks associated withthe use of an air compressor to facilitate capture of livefish, the less likely they will have positive attitudestoward adopting mariculture as a part-time job. Thisperception could be related to their daily experiences in

fishing with this risky equipment, which results in atendency to ignore the dangers involved.

4. Discussion

Overall, our findings indicate that there is onevariable that is statistically significant in all theproposed adoption models, the timeliness of financialreward. I will argue that this variable is the primaryattribute influencing attitudes toward mariculture in-novation. It is specifically associated with mariculture,distinguishing it from capture fishing. Mariculture doesnot provide middlemen and fishermen income until thefish became bigger and are sold in the market. Thiscontrasts with a long established characteristic of manymiddlemen and fishermen in Indonesia where they areused to receiving quick income. Therefore, this variableis negatively related to attitudes toward maricultureadoption.

Logistic regression results indicated that perceivedattributes of the innovation best explain the modelsconcerning middlemen and fishermen’s attitudes towardadoption of mariculture. Each adopter category has adistinctive subset of variables that influence theirattitudes toward adoption. In fact, there are noindependent variables that are statistically significantin all the proposed models, except for the timeliness offinancial reward variable.

There are two important reasons, which can beproposed to explain these results. First, it indicates that

Table 3

Logistic regression coefficients that determine the effect between dependent variable of adoption/non adoption and independent variables of

perceived attributes of innovation of middlemen and fishermen

Model fits statistics Dependent variables

Middlemen Fishermen new job Fishermen part-time job

P-valuea 0.90 0.63 0.87

�2 Log Likelihood 10.18 87.06 49.99

Regression DF 3 7 7

Residual DF 2 1 1

Intercept �7.16 2.96 2.40

Independent variables Coeff. P-value Coeff. P-value Coeff. P-value

Relative advantage Omitb Omit 0.17 0.38 1.58 0.005

Complexity Deletec Delete �0.18 0.27 0.63 0.15

Compatibility 6.64 0.06 �0.53 0.39 4.30 0.0007

Trialability Omit Omit Delete Delete �0.67 0.10

Perceived risks Delete Delete �0.49 0.19 Delete Delete

Financial reward �2.21 0.10 �0.79 0.02 �2.52 0.002

Middlemen/boss influences 2.19 0.06 0.21 0.26 0.65 0.013

Compressor risk NAd NA �0.29 0.23 �0.85 0.03

aP-value for the Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness-of-fit tests of the proposed models.bOmit means variable is manually omitted from equation.cDelete means that a variable is deleted from the equation due to alpha>0.40.dNA means variable is not available.

A. Halim / Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167 165

adopters’ perceptions on each independent variablecharacterize their different needs. For example, theperception of middlemen and fishermen toward therelative advantage of mariculture is dissimilar. As it isshown in table 3, the relative advantage significantlycontributes to fishermen’s attitude to adopt maricultureas part-time job. In contrast, the middlemen do notperceive the relative advantage as a significant variablecontributes to their adoption attitude. As mentionedpreviously, these local middlemen are the right hand ofbosses or live fish exporters. Hence, whether themariculture business is economically advantageous tothem is not really important, because their bosses supplythem financial capital to conduct the business, and bearmost of the risks. In sum, middlemen and fishermen tendto adopt mariculture because it matched their needs.This finding supports Downs and Mohr’s [8] argumentthat innovations are adopted when they match the needsof the adopters. This result is also consistent withAcheson and Reidman [11], and Dewees and Hawkes[10] findings in their innovation studies in fishingcommunities.

Second, it shows that a distinctive subset of variablesdetermine adopters’ attitudes toward adoption ofsimilar innovations. While, Downs and Mohr [8] writethat the adopters’ independent variables are similar forinnovations with the same primary attributes, this studyindicates that grouper middlemen and fishermen havediffering perceptions of similar innovations. This resultis analogous to that of Dewees and Hawkes [10] in theirtechnological innovation study concerning Pacific Coasttrawlers.

The middlemen are likely to be ready to becomeinvolved in the grouper mariculture business if themarket for the product is available. Mariculture willsupply them with live grouper consistently, in contrastto the fish supply from the wild, which is unpredictable.In fact, some middlemen have begun to implement thisprogram commercially. However, there are other factorsthat could determine market demand, such as live fishconsumer preferences. Anecdotal information in theglobal LRFT is that consumers prefer wild grouperbecause of their better taste.

There are several possible factors that could explainthe perceptions of individual fishermen who tend tohave positive attitudes toward adopting mariculture as anew occupation. The ultimate factor is that individualfishermen perceive that mariculture will give themchance to produce more live grouper, and furthermorereceive higher income. Psychologically, these fishermenthink that working in mariculture could somewhatcompensate for the limits of their fishing equipment.Another contributing factor is that individual fishermenbelieve that they have enough time to grow out the fishin the cages. Also, they perceive that mariculture isrelatively less dangerous than capture fishing.

The better the chances middlemen have to obtain aloan from bank is likely to positively influence theirattitudes toward adoption of mariculture. At present,this opportunity seems limited only to those who arealso live fish exporters because they have the competenceto deal with bank requirement procedures. In contrast,local middlemen prefer to obtain loans from their bossesbecause procedurally, it is easier and simpler. Forexample, at one time, a minority of local middlemen inNusa Tenggara Timur was offered a loan from agovernment bank, and they simply refused it. It seemsthat local middlemen are question dealing with bankinginstitutions.

The model proposed to explain the relationshipbetween perceived innovation attributes and fishermen’sattitudes toward adoption of mariculture as part-timejob appears satisfactory. There are several variables thatsignificantly contribute to the model such as: relativeadvantage, compatibility, trialability, timeliness offinancial reward, middlemen/boss influence, and per-ceived compressor risk. These grouper fishermen agreethat mariculture could provide them economic benefit.They also perceive that it is compatible with theircurrent work patterns in which they are accustomed toworking in more than one job. Most of these respon-dents believe that mariculture activities will not take along time. Hence, they would still be able to practiceboth, mariculture and fishing for wild grouper. Inaddition, the middlemen/boss influences also contributepositively in influencing the attitudes of this type offishermen concerning adoption of mariculture as a part-time job. This indicates that most of these respondentsare fishermen who are bound to middlemen.

Conversely, the variables trialability and perceivedcompressor risk are negatively related to the attitudes offishermen towards adopting mariculture as a part-timeoccupation. It seems that grouper fishermen arepessimistic concerning experimenting with mariculturebefore it is truly tested as a new occupation. Thisperception is legitimate considering the high costs andrisks of being involved in grouper culture. This assertionis supported by the fishermen intentions to becomeinvolved in fish culture training programs beforeentering the mariculture business.

The negative relationship between perceived compres-sor risks and adoption of mariculture as a part-time jobis interesting. It indicates that the higher the perceptionsof compressor risk the less likely these fishermen are tohave positive attitudes toward adoption of maricultureas a part-time job. Although, it has been widely knownthat many divers have suffered from paralysis or evendied associated with using air compressors, they tend toignore it. There are some interpretations proposed toexplain this phenomenon. First, grouper fishermen areaccustomed to seeing and hearing about such accidentsso they assume that they are just part of a normal daily

A. Halim / Marine Policy 27 (2003) 159–167166

life that could happen to anybody, anywhere. Second,the high income to be gained in this fishery entices thefishermen to become voluntarily involved in it ignoringall associated risks. Third, middlemen, who loan fishingequipment to fishermen, force them to catch more fish topay off their fishing equipment loans.

5. Conclusion

The introduction of commercial mariculture inIndonesia is likely to be adopted. This study showedthat 95% of middlemen are willing to adopt maricultureas a business. In addition, 74% of fishermen are willingto adopt mariculture as a new job, while 77% offishermen are willing to adopt it only as a part-time job.Mariculture innovation attributes, such as: relativeadvantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability, per-ceived risks, middlemen/bosses influences, timeliness offinancial reward, and perceived compressor risk con-tribute more significantly to the attitudes towardadoption/nonadoption models than the individual andsocial attributes. In addition, each adopter category hasa typical subset of variables that characterize theirattitudes toward adoption.

There is one variable that contributes significantly toall three mariculture adoption models namely thetimeliness of financial reward. This variable is theprimary attribute that distinguishes the mariculturefrom capture fisheries. The implication of this variableis obvious in that fishermen do not obtain income untiltheir cultured-fish become bigger and are sold in themarket. This circumstance conflicts with the needfishermen have for immediate cash. Indeed, this incomedelay is the most crucial factor that could hamperfurther involvement of fishermen in mariculture. There-fore, managers and policy makers should address thisissue first.

Individual as opposed to the group type of fishermenare more likely to adopt mariculture as a newoccupation. This type of fishermen fish only withtraditional fishing gears, such as hook and line in smalltraditional boats involved in 1-day trips. They perceivethat mariculture will provide them with the chance togrow-out live grouper, and furthermore compensate fortheir income differential with well-organized grouperfishermen. Managers and policy makers could prioritizethis group as a target to be involved in mariculturedevelopment.

Middlemen who have better opportunities for obtain-ing loans from banks are more likely to have positiveattitudes toward adopting mariculture. This groupconsists mostly of middlemen who are also live fishexporters. Local middlemen are hesitant in their deal-ings with banking institutions. In many instances, local

middlemen think that getting a loan from a bank is notcompatible with their existing practices because they areaccustomed to borrowing capital from their bosses. Inaddition, bank requirements such as a personal assetsguarantee hinder their attempts to obtain a loan frombank.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge Dr. RichardPollnac for his valuable revisions and comments on theearlier draft of this paper. Also, I thank The NatureConservancy-Bali Marine Program, Indonesia thatprovided a partial funding for this research.

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