IDENTIFICATION OF CHARACTERISTICS AND SUSTAINABILITY OF FISHERMAN BUSINESS IN GERAK

The purpose of this study is to find out now the characteristics of respondents, business sustainability and yet determine the relationship between respondents' characteristics and sustainability of fishing business in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency. The method used in this research is using quantitative analysis, with the technique of determining the sample using simple random sampling, namely random sampling, with a total sample of 42 fishermen respondents. The results of the study show that: (1) the characteristics of the respondents generally have a productive age, the education level is very low, namely elementary school, with a very experienced category, and the respondents fishermen have their own boats and fishing gear, as well as the number of dependents in the small family category; (2) the sustainability of fisherman business including capital, marketing, technology and labor belongs to the high category.

Indonesia mostly consists of coastal areas which are areas that are home to people with unique family characteristics.The coast is an area that has natural potential in the field of fisheries which can be utilized for national development, so that the existing natural potential can provide opportunities for coastal communities, especially those who work as fishermen, one of which can improve their socio-economic life.Fishing communities are a group of people who do business to earn income from fishing activities (Aryanto & Sudarto, 2017).However, with such a large fishery potential, it has not been optimally utilized by people in coastal areas who have a livelihood as traditional fishermen.So that this makes fishing communities live on the poverty line and are seen as one of the layers of society with a low level of welfare.Simple houses and dirty surroundings are a common sight in fishing villages (Kurniawati, 2017).
Fishing communities generally live in coastal areas, and greatly utilize sea waters as a source of life to make ends meet by working as fishermen.The main factor that encourages working as a fisherman is to maintain the life of families and fishermen groups so that they can make ends meet.The sea is a natural resource that is very helpful in the life of fishing communities.However, the lack of knowledge and skills of fishermen to increase their business, makes fishing communities live on the poverty line.
Gerak Makmur Village is a village located in Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency and is a village located on the coast of Southeast Sulawesi Province.The people in Gerak Makmur Village have a fishing business that has been passed down from generation to generation by their ancestors.Fishing businesses in this village are generally catch fishermen, namely by using fishing gear in the form of hooks, nets, traps, charts and so on.
However, the main problem experienced by fishing communities is the problem of unstable income (fluctuating).This problem is motivated by the characteristics of fishermen, so that it can affect their income and business continuity.The formulation of the problem in this research is what are the characteristics of fishing fishermen, how is the sustainability of the fishing business, and what is the relationship between the characteristics of fishermen and the sustainability of the fishing business in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency.
One of the characteristics of fishermen that affects income levels is education, where the people in Gerak Makmur Village on average have low education, namely only elementary school graduates, thus affecting fishermen's income levels due to low knowledge and skills to increase their business.This is in line with (Putra & Kartika (2019), which found that the level of education has a significant effect on the income of fishermen in Kedonganan.Lamia (2013), also said that low education makes fishermen only tend to depend on marine products.
In addition, one of the factors that affect the level of income and the sustainability of fishing businesses is the capital factor.This is in line with research conducted by Suartawan (2017), which shows that capital has a significant positive effect on fishermen's income.This means, if the working capital increases, the fishermen's income will also increase and the fishermen's business will also continue.

RESEARCH METHODS
This research was conducted in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency.The research location was determined purposively (deliberately) with the consideration that based on the initial survey and data support managed from the Gerak Makmur Village Office in 2022, that there are 280 community members who work as fishermen and it is the area that works as the largest fisherman in South Buton.Besides that, other considerations are that this location tends to be affordable for researchers in terms of cost, distance and time.The time of this research was carried out in May-July 2022.
The population in this study were all fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency, namely 280 fishermen.If the total population is less than 100 people, then the whole sample is taken so that it is included in the research population, but if the population is more than 100 people, then the sample is taken 10% -15% or 20% -25% (Arikunto, 2002).The sample in this study was taken using simple random sampling , namely random sampling with truly equal opportunities, so the sample in this study was 15% of the existing population, because the total population exceeded 100, namely 280 fishermen.
Analysis of the data used in this study is to determine the characteristics of fishermen and the sustainability of the fishing business is measured using the intervals proposed by Sudjana (2006) The class interval formula is as follows.

Age
Age is one of the factors related to a person's ability, both affecting the physical ability to work, the way of thinking, and the level of response to new ideas.Age is also one of the factors that affect fishermen's income.A person's physical strength to carry out activities is closely related to age because if a person's age is past the productive period, then his physical strength decreases so that his productivity also decreases and his income also decreases.In this study, the age of fishermen is divided into 3 categories, namely: (1) non-productive age, (2) productive age and (3) less productive age, while the non-productive category ranges from 0-14 years, the productive age category ranges from 15-54 years, as well as the less non-productive age group ranging from 55 years and over.Farmers who are productive will work better and more efficiently than farmers who are not productive, Ryan et al., (2018).The results of research related to the age of fishing fishermen are presented in the following table.Table 1 shows that the largest age-based characteristics of respondents ranged from 15-54 years, with 38 people (90.48%) belonging to the productive category, while those aged >55 years, 4 people (9.52%) were classified as unproductive .This shows that most of the respondents are in the productive age, which means that they are still strong physically and physically and are able to carry out various activities in their business, and have a great ability to absorb innovative information and technology in the field of fisheries, so that fishermen are able to meet their needs., both to meet his own needs and the needs of his family.This opinion is supported by the opinion put forward by Rahayu el al., (2014) who argues that age is a factor that has a major influence on a person's way of thinking and acting, especially in making a decision.According to Aziz (2020) at productive age, farmers are physically strong and have extraordinary energy when compared to those under or above their productive age.In addition, farmers in the productive age of farmers are considered to have a better ability to think and act in formulating a plan or making decisions, so that it is possible for someone to work optimally to get maximum work results.

Formal Education
Education is one of the factors in optimizing one's work.Because the educational background possessed by the respondents can influence the mindset and way of working as well as decision-making in running their business so that it can affect the socio-economic conditions of the community which have an impact on their daily needs.So that with education it is hoped that it can overcome the backwardness of society.
The respondent's education is the level of formal education that the respondent has passed.According to Law No. 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System (SISDIKNAS), the formal education level consists of basic education, namely Elementary School (SD) and Junior High School (SMP), secondary education, namely Senior High School (SMA) and Teacher Training School (SMK), and higher education institution.To find out the level of education of respondents in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency, it can be seen in Table 2. Table 2 shows that the average education of respondents is elementary education as many as 33 people (78.58%), and those who are at the secondary education level are as many as 9 people (21.42%).This shows that the majority of respondents have very low education, so that the low education of fishermen will affect the mindset of fishing communities in making decisions in fishing activities and other fishing activities.In this case, the fishermen in question are fishermen whose main profession is being ordinary fishermen who have a lack of knowledge regarding the use of modern technological tools, where the majority of fishermen with low education only rely on experience that has been passed down by their ancestors, so this can affect economic empowerment.When compared with someone who has higher education, they tend to have more knowledge than someone with low education.Because the higher the fisherman's education he takes, the greater his knowledge to continue to improve his high business so as to increase the fishermen's income or economic empowerment.This is in accordance with the opinion put forward by (Handayani et al., (2017), which states that someone who has a relatively high level of education and a young age can cause a person to be more dynamic which is reflected in e-ISSN:  the way of work, mindset, and whether or not it is easy to accept innovation and new information that will ultimately affect the added value of the business.

Fishermen's Experience
The experience of fishermen has a very important role for a fisherman in developing his business, both accepting and implementing new technology.According to Emawati (2017), said that business experience is sufficient if you have been in the job for 5-10 years, while 10 years and over are categorized as experienced, and less than 5 years are categorized as inexperienced.Someone's experience makes them more courageous in making decisions because they have knowledge in their business.More details about the experiences of respondents in Gerak Makmur Village can be seen in Table 3. Table 3 shows that most of the fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency, are very experienced with a span of >10 years, as many as 24 people (57.14%) have run fishing businesses, as many as 18 people (42.85%) are quite experienced. .In this case it shows that the respondent fishermen have good experience in fishing fishing business activities, where from this experience fishermen have gone through a lot and have received provisions from their experiences.The longer a fisherman has been in his business, the more his knowledge will increase regarding how to fish which can produce a lot of fish and how to manage his business, because fishermen can learn from experience through a series of activities they have experienced.The more experienced farmers are in farming, the more knowledgeable and proficient they are about managing their farming (Maryani et al., 2017).

Fishermen's Catching Equipment
Fishing equipment is one of the economic factors that can affect the sustainability of fishing businesses.The means of fishing gear include boats and fishing gear.The respondents' fishing boats consisted of three types, namely canoes, katinting, and motorized boats, while fishermen's fishing gear included hooks and traps.The boats and fishing gear for respondents in Gerak Makmur Village can be seen in Table 4 for more details.Table 4 shows that the characteristics of respondents based on fishing gear in Gerak Makmur Village were 27 people or 64.29% of respondents who were in the sufficient category, 7 people with a percentage of 16.67%, and as many as 8 people with a percentage of 19.29%.respondents who are in the inadequate category.This shows that fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency have adequate fishing equipment in carrying out their business.Based on the results of the study, there were three types of fishing boats, namely canoes, katinting, and motorized boats, while the fishing gear for the respondents consisted of two types, namely hooks and traps (bubu).The fishing rod is one of the tools for catching fish, which functions as a place to put fishing bait so that fish are attracted to eat it, and then the fish's mouth is attached to the hook.While the trap (bubu) is a fishing gear made of bamboo or rattan and is used by respondent fishermen in catching fish, where the traps are stored in the sea with a depth of 5-6 ml, assisted by rope, bamboo and cork as a support, and decorated with coconut leaves so that the fish are attracted to enter the trap.
Respondents who use motor boats tend to have greater income when compared to fishermen who own canoes or katinting boats.This is due to the limitations of fishermen who have small boats (canoes) and katinting   boats in dealing with large waves, so these fishermen cannot travel longer distances to catch more and larger fish.The types of fish caught by fishermen are generally in the form of tuna, skipjack tuna, tuna, snapper, gatho fish and so on.

The Number of Dependents
The number of dependents is the responsibility for meeting the needs and welfare of all family members.The number of dependents is the total number of family members who live in the same house and are dependents of the respondent.The number of dependents of respondents can be seen in Table 5.Table 5 shows that as many as 3 people (7.14%) of respondents are included in the large family category, as many as 13 people (30.96%) of respondents are included in the medium family category, and as many as 26 people (61.90%) of respondents with small family category.This shows that the respondent has dependents that are not too burdensome in meeting family needs, so that the income he earns can meet household needs.The number of families does not burden fishermen to continue to strive to be more empowered because one of the supporting needs of fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village depends on the fishing business they are currently involved in.Awal (2018). said that the number of family dependents is an indication of whether or not a household is poor.The greater the number of household members, the greater the number of dependents and the greater the income they spend on living expenses.According to Suhartati et al., (2019), a large number of family dependents will create a great need.In general, the dependents in the family are the wife, children and other relatives who live with the respondent.

Business Sustainability
Business continuity is a stability of business conditions, where sustainability is a business continuity system that includes additions, continuations, and approaches to protect business continuity and business expansion (Widayanti et al., 2017).Business continuity is always associated with bankruptcy, which is related to conditions that have the potential to harm the business.Prediction of business continuity is very important for management and owners of business entities to anticipate the possibility of potential bankruptcy, because bankruptcy involves production costs (Suarmawan, 2015).Sustainability is also a condition where the business will continue to operate or develop in the long term.The sustainability of fishing businesses in this study includes: capital, marketing, technology and labor.The business continuity of respondents in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency can be seen as follows: Table 10 shows that the sustainability of fishing businesses is in the high category of 33 people with a percentage of 78.58%, and those in the medium category are as many as 9 people with a percentage of 21.42%.It can be concluded that the sustainability of the fishing fisherman business in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency has met the indicators of business sustainability, both business continuity from the aspects of capital, marketing, technology, and workforce.This is in line with the opinion put forward by Handayani (2007), which says that business continuity is a condition or condition of a business, in which there are ways to e-ISSN: 2809-9850 maintain, develop, and protect resources and fulfill all the needs that exist in a business.Business continuity is also related to capital, marketing carried out, technology used and existing workforce or human resources.

Capital
Capital is a collection of money or goods used by respondent fishermen as working capital.The capital used by the fishermen respondents comes from their own capital, without loans from anyone.The working capital of the respondent fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency can be seen in Table 7. Table 7 shows that the sustainability of the fishing business from the aspect of fishing capital in Gerak Makmur Village is in the range of Rp. 200,000-300,000 as many as 27 people with a percentage of 64.28%.The capital issued is used by fishermen in one go at sea and the fishing time can be up to 10-13 hours.This shows that fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village have adequate capital to finance their sustainable business.
Based on the results of research in the field, the sustainability of fishing businesses from the aspect of capital, respondent fishermen said that they use their own capital to run their business, and they can get business capital loans easily and quickly.The capital issued by fishermen is used to buy the necessities needed in the fishing process, such as buying fuel, ice cubes, bait, buying fishing gear, and so on.Capital for fishermen, working capital is needed for the sustainability of their business.This is in line with research conducted by (Astuti, 2015)), which found that capital has a significant effect on fishermen's income.Research conducted by Ridha (2017), also found that capital has a significant effect on fishermen's income.This is also in line with the opinion expressed by Mulyadi (2015), who found that some of the capital in these fishermen such as ships, fishing gear, and fuel is used in the production process to find fish.Fishermen's capital is used for production or operating costs, provision of production inputs (production facilities), such as owning a boat/ship, fishing gear used and fuel for the boat.Whereas in supporting infrastructure fishermen are used to buy ice, fish baskets, and food supplies that are brought.So, capital greatly influences the sustainability of fishing businesses.

Marketing
Marketing is one of the efforts made by fishermen to market their catch in the market through promotions so that consumers are interested and make purchases in order to create offers which can then meet their individual needs.The type of market used by fishermen in marketing their catch is the traditional market.However, the marketing of fishermen's catch is also usually marketed around fishing villages or markets around the village.The marketing of fishermen for respondents in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency can be seen in Table 8.Table 8 shows that the sustainability of the fishing business from the marketing aspect of capture fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village is classified as in the high category with a percentage of 100% for as many as 42 people.This shows that the marketing of fishermen's business results in Gerak Makmur Village is very good related to technical aspects, starting from the aspect of adequate market availability, competitive prices, satisfactory sales, and there are markets in and around the village to market fishermen's business results., so that the results of this sale will affect the income of fishermen.
Based on the results of research in the field, the sustainability of the fishing business from the marketing aspect, the respondents stated that there is an adequate market available to market their business results, with prices that can compete in the market.However, market days in Gerak Makmur Village are only 3 times a week, so they have to sell fish around the village or ketengkulak with unsatisfactory prices for the fish being marketed.As for the market around the village to sell the results of their business, it costs money to ride a vehicle, meanwhile the fish products they get are sometimes small to be sold in markets around the village.Therefore, marketing for fishermen is very influential on their income.This is in line with the opinion expressed by (Sanawiri & Iqbal (2018), who argue that marketing is one of the things that must be considered in business development, because marketing targets can determine the size of the profits earned.

Technology
Technology is all available facilities and infrastructure, or items needed for the sustainability of fishing businesses.Fishermen who have canoes, katinting boats, and motorized boats, of course, each have differences in the use of technology.The use of technology by fishermen respondents in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency can be seen in Table 9.Table 9 shows that the sustainability of fishing businesses from the technical aspect of fishing fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village is in the good category with a percentage of 69.04% with 29 people, who are in the pretty good category with 13 people with a percentage of 30.96%.This shows that fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village generally have good technology related to technical aspects, namely, having their own boat, using a machine, having hooks, mastering fishing methods, and having adequate equipment to make it easier for fishermen to run their business.
Based on the results of research in the field, the sustainability of the fishing business from a technological aspect, in general, respondents use their own fishing machines and equipment, and they also master fishing methods which can produce lots of fish.As for the respondents who do not use machines, they also work as fishing laborers, so they can use machines and master fishing methods which can produce lots of fish.This technology greatly facilitates fishermen in running their business.This is in line with the opinion put forward by Alirman (2013), who argues that the more sophisticated the technology used by fishermen, the more fishermen's productivity will increase and their production results will increase, in which the conclusion is implied that people will earn higher incomes.

Labor
Labor is the number of workers used by respondents when carrying out fishing activities.The workforce used by fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village usually comes from their own family or friends, and they appoint fishermen who use canoes as the respondent's workforce.For more details, the number of workers used by fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village can be seen in Table 10.Table 10 shows that the sustainability of the fishing business from the labor aspect of fishing fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village is in the good category with a percentage of 54.76 % for 23 people, and those who are in the quite good category with a percentage of 45.24 % for 19 people.This shows that fishermen in Gerak Makmur Village generally have a good workforce, namely workers who assist in catching fish, making fishing gear, and working together in starting, controlling and directing boats.
Based on the results of research in the field, the sustainability of fishing businesses from the labor aspect, in general, respondents use labor to run their business, and a small number of them also become fisherman workers due to the limitations of the technology they use, namely only owning canoes, thus requiring them to become fishermen.fishermen workers in order to get a bigger income.The workforce used by the respondent fishermen also does not work every day.This depends on the fishing season, where respondents usually use labor when the tuna season is up.Meanwhile, respondents who own canoes and katinting do not use labour.This workforce is needed to facilitate fishermen in running their business.This is in line with the opinion put forward by Mashyuri (2014), which says that every fishing business that will be carried out will definitely require manpower, and the number of workers needed must be adjusted to the capacity of the motorized boat being operated so that it will reduce the cost of going to sea (more efficiently).it is expected that labor income will increase.

CONCLUSION
Based on the results of the analysis and elaboration carried out by the researchers, the characteristics of the respondents in the fishing business in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency, generally respondents have a productive age, with a very low level of education, namely basic education (SD/SMP), but some Most of the respondent fishermen are also very experienced in running their business.Meanwhile, the fishermen respondents had adequate fishing gear, and most of the respondents had dependents in the small family category, namely 1-2 people.Meanwhile, the sustainability of the fishing business including capital, marketing, technology, and labor in Gerak Makmur Village, Sampolawa District, South Buton Regency is classified as high.This shows that the fishing business is sustainable.

Table 7 .
Sustainability of Fishermen's Business from the Capital Aspect

Table 8 .
Sustainability of Fishermen's Business from a Marketing Aspect

Table 9 .
Sustainability of Fishermen's Business from a Technological Aspect

Table 10 .
Sustainability of Fishermen's Business from the Manpower Aspect Herlina et al. e-ISSN: