Life and Livelihood: Survival Strategies of Fisherman in Pa’jenekang Island

Pa'jenekang Island hosts a small-scale fishing community currently facing economic hardship, limited resources, and coastal environmental dynamics.This research employs an ethnographic method aimed at exploring the household survival strategies of fishermen on Pa'jenekang Island, using the framework of anthropological adaptation theory.The findings reveal that the fishing population employs diverse adaptive strategies across social, economic, and cultural domains to sustain their livelihoods.Economically, the community primarily depends on employment as fishing crew members (sawi) within a patron-client system known locally as punggawa-sawi.Beyond their main occupation, many fishermen engage in mobile fish trading (pa'gae).Within households, fisherman's wife adopts additional adaptive measures such as maintaining gold savings as an economic safety net fisherman in Pa'jenekang Island.Socially, adaptation is manifested through mutual cooperation, household role distribution, and social network relations.Culturally, fishermen continue to preserve local traditions through rituals and religious celebrations, such as the commemoration of Muharram and so on.This strategy shows that adaptation by fishermen on Pajenekang Island can be an alternative when resources are limited.