The Closing of the Frontier – A history of the Marine Fisheries of Southeast Asia 1850 – 2000 (book review)

Title :- The Closing of the Frontier – A history of the Marine Fisheries of Southeast Asia 1850 – 2000.
By :- John G. Butcher
Published :- Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore (2004) Paperback (400 pages)
Outline;- This book follows the history of fishing in Indonesian waters, starting with village sail boats fishing & spearing, and then simple land edge traps that developed into more sophisticated traps and then came nets. The boats got bigger, and villagers became more organized. However other Asian countries developed much faster that Indonesia, and post war (WW2) motorized and larger organized commercial fishing boats came in from Thailand, Philippines, Vietnal and so on. The government introduced fishing laws, but the off shore catches were never rely monitored. Fish caning factors developed competitive wars for cheaper products. Indonesian always lagged in development. However much of the new Asian emerging middle class now had access to cheap tinned fish as a significant protein to develop healthy children. Fish stocks began to dwindle around Thailand, placing even more pressure on Indonesian fishing grounds – and new fishing grounds coped for a while. Eventually the government fishing controls began to take effect, along with the dwindling profits from less Indonesian fish. An excellently researched book, and good reading to understand the interplay of social development, advance of technology, the influences of urbanization politics, and the isolated Indonesian fishermen. Gives sketches, maps and fish statistics.