Factors affecting fisherman satisfaction with fishermen's self-governance organizations: A case study of the Taiwan Donggang Sakuraebi (Sergia lucens) production and management group

Abstract

This paper elucidates the factors affecting fisherman satisfaction with participation in a Taiwanese fishermen's self-governance organization (FSGO), the Donggang Sakuraebi Production and Management Group (DGSPMG). The qualitative analysis indicates that the DGSPMG can reinforce production and sales systems and sustainable use of fishery resources through various initiatives including sales promotion, crisis handling, and funding. Furthermore, DGSPMG initiatives are intangibles or abstract in nature. Based on a survey of fishermen, individual attributes and fishery operation factors that increased fisherman satisfaction with DGSPMG comprised: fishermen who are 40 or older, operations with a larger number of workers, operations with larger total Sakuraebi catches, fishermen who thought that DGSPMG efforts contributed to their incomes, and fishermen who perceived no problems with maintaining product freshness on land. Factors related to DGSPMG efforts were higher fisherman satisfaction with penalties, PR, and sales in collaboration with local restaurants. Furthermore, some fishermen valued uniform auction times and the provision of improvement costs for safety equipment. It is anticipated that skillful use of the factors identified will contribute to the formation of sustainable fishery management. To increase fisherman satisfaction with FSGOs, it is important to overcome funding problems and develop solutions to concrete problems, such as preserving catch freshness.