Author(s)

Grace Chen, Wenxi Deng and Jiarun Liu

Corresponding Author

Grace Chen

ABSTRACT

Overfishing is happening severely in Southeast Asia fishing grounds. It is noteworthy that overfishing hurts not only the marine resources and biodiversity of ocean species but also the fisher groups themselves. Furthermore, the poverty of these fisher groups is aggravated in a vicious circle between overfishing and privation. This review is to find out the reason and the solutions to the problem of overfishing and also the poverty problem among marginal groups. This review used an advanced harvest function as the primary method combining data from geographic information system (GIS) resources and graphs, Southeast Asia countries' official national database, and several secondary research with their surveys and interviews to present. Overfishing, throughout the literature review, is found to be more damaging to marginal poor fishers. Poor and marginal fisher groups are always more vulnerable to various conditions, including climate and the competition from robust fisher communities who are wealthier. With better policies and regulations by local government and efficient industrial transformation and upgrading, it is promising to help poor marginal fishers get out from the poverty-overfishing loop. Since fishers tend to have more people under the poverty line, this review is to help them get out from poverty and reduce overfishing activities among Southeast Asia marine areas.

KEYWORDS

Overfishing, poverty, small-scale fisheries, Southeast Asia