Chozin, M: Illegal but Common

It is estimated that more than 53% of Indonesia‘‘s coral reefs have been threatened by destructive fishing such as blast fishing. Blast fishing (dynamite fishing) is the practice of using explosives to catch the fish. This illegal practice is extremely destructive to the surrounding ecosystem, especially to coral reefs. This book is an anthropological research on blast fishermen society in a small island within the Spermonde archipelago, Indonesia. It discovers the daily life of fishermen who deal with illegal and destructive fishing. The desire to achieve economic gain and modernization overcame their desire for resource sustainability. Exposure to the nearby city of modern life in Makassar (the mainland) combined with a lack of formal education plunges them into a greediness situation in which they have only limited alternatives available with which to participate in the material consumption that surrounds them. The high demand from global markets for fish attracts them to use short-cuts in fishing.