Abstract:
This research has goal to know the survival mechanism of traditional fisherman and try to formulate this empowerment strategy, implemented in the village of Meskom of Bengkalis Regency, by observing
25 traditional fishermen and 6 informants from fishermen and sides that understand about the empowerment effort toward fishermen, which one is decided in purposive suitable with the observed variable. The qualitative method with phenomenonlogical approach is more used here. based on the teoritical concepts about the poverty, empowerment, and social development, that is relevant with the Sociology of Development and Social Change. Some survival mechanisms that they do are: involving human resource in family at the fishery production activity;not doing subsistention economy, but marketting catch result to make more use in the needs fulfillment; decreasing the quality of daily needs; selling or pawning valuable things in a cooperative or pawnshop; hanging on the savings; working as employee on modern fisherman; owing to neighbour or partner. The empowerment strategy to fix the standard of living and give the chance to traditional fishermanso they can do vertical mobility, can be done through: 1) modernization, by pushing status moving of traditional fisherman to be modern fisherman, through another program, the help of business modal, the help of modern technology of fish catching tool, fishery effort management training; 2) revitalization, by keeping on letting traditional fisherman in the traditional status, but giving facility in order to be more forceful and have the tough ability of economy buffer of family against crisis pressure.
