Local knowledge of the traditional fishermen of Pangandaran, West Java, Indonesia, on how to catch fish with arad nets, the species of fish caught, and the determination of the fishing season

Abstract

Budiyanti D, Iskandar J, Partasasmita R. 2018. Local knowledge of the traditional fishermen of Pangandaran, West Java,
Indonesia, on how to catch fish with arad nets, the species of fish caught, and the determination of the fishing season. Pros Sem Nas
Masy Biodiv Indon 4: 115-121. People who reside in beach area of Pangandaran, West Java, have main livelihood as fishermen. They
have source of the household income from the catch of various fishes in the sea. Some equipment has commonly used by fishermen of
Pangandaran village to catch fishes in the sea. One of the equipment is ‘jaring arad’ (trawl). The aim of this study to investigate
techniques of applying ‘the jaring arad’ to catch fishes, various fishes caught by ‘the jaring arad; and season time for fishing fishes.
Method used in this study was qualitative, while several techniques, including the field observation, participant observation, and semistructured
interview or deep interview with informants were applied in this study. The results showed that the fishermen of Pangandaran
village have knowledge and technique using ‘the jaring arad’. It has been recorded 11 fish species have been predominantly caught by
fishermen of Pangandaran village by using the jaring arad. Various fish species are classified by the fishermen based on morphological,
color, and behavior. The season time of fishing can mainly be divided into two seasons, namely the West Wind Season (angin barat)
between January and March, and East Wind Season’ (angin timur) between May and August. The West Wind Season is perceived as not
good for catching fishes due to a lot of rains, big waves, and little fish cough. Unlike in the past, today most fishermen get problems to
predict time of the West Wind Season and The East Wind Season that is perceived as good time for catching fishes in the sea due to
unpredictable changes of weather and climate.