Uncertainty of the prosperous of local fishers in Bone district: Challenging social protection and unregulated maritime policies

Abstract

There are arguments that the welfare-state provision in Indonesia was following universalism paradigm. However, there are controversies surrounding social services and prosperity in which some people think that the welfare regimes have not affected certain individuals including Indonesian fishers. Concerning on this argument, the paper seeks to re-examine the social protection and unregulated maritime policies in which Bone District, South Sulawesi, has cases to encourage the chance of searching new model of welfare-state production for local fishers. The study used qualitative methods with a phenomenological approach. The researchers conducted observation, interviews, and desk review to gain the flourishing data. Findings reveal that the local fishers are dealing with uncertainty in terms of their prosperity because of several factors namely economic monopoly, power relations, and unregulated fishing. The findings imply protecting the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly the local fishers, should be integrated to the system of welfare provision so that they can achieve prosperity.