Socio-Economic Changes in Coastal Fishermen of West Sumatra as the Impact of Coastal Abrasion

Abstract

This study is about the socio-economic changes of fishermen on the west coast of Sumatra as a result of coastal abrasion. The purpose of this study is to explain the fishermen's struggle in dealing with abrasion and rebuilding the economy back to normal. The area on the west coast of Minangkabau facing the Indian Ocean is inhabited by people living on the coast. The west coast of Sumatra is very prone to coastal abrasion, because it faces the Indian Ocean which has high waves and big waves, so that coastal erosion always occurs in several areas, including Agam Regency, Padang Pariaman Regency, Padang City, and Pesisir Selatan Regency. In general, the west coast of Sumatra is a maritime-oriented residential area, both fishermen and other maritime cultural-oriented people. The nuances of their economic life are very dependent on the sea, such as fishing, processing of dried fish, sea transportation, port activities, shipping and trade. Ideally, all activities of fishing communities run smoothly according to the available natural and human resources. The method used is the historical research method, which includes heuristic (data collection), criticism, interpretation, and historiography. Several fishing settlements on the west coast of West Sumatra experienced coastal abrasion. As a result, they were forced to be moved to other settlements, so they could avoid the beach abrasion disaster. Automatically their livelihood changes and income also changes, resulting in social change. Those who initially worked as fishermen were forced to switch to the agricultural economy, because their settlement was far from the coast.