The legal basis of managing grouper and snapper fisheries in Saleh Bay is the Governor Regulation of West Nusa Tenggara No. 32 of 2018. This study aims to assess stock performance and understand fishers' perception of the regulation. In this study, we used length-based assessment, perception analysis, and Rapid Appraisal for Fisheries technique. The overall results showed that the implementation of the governor fisheries management regulation was still not optimal, although the potential spawning ratio (SPR) of most fish stocks has higher than the threshold, being over 20% (SPR limit reference point), except Epinephelus coioides. However, fishers had diverse perceptions of the governor regulations and had not fully complied with the most important ones. These included the minimum size of catch and the allowed type of fishing gear. Therefore, we identify four management strategies to improve a more sustainable fisheries management are: an intensive program to increase public awareness about sustainable fisheries needs to be conducted, the policy to limit the legal size must be enforced and should be adopted as provincial regulation in the future, the surveillance capability and law enforcement of destructive fishing practices (bombs and potassium) should be strengthened, stakeholder participation should be engaged, and social institutions of the fishing community should be empowered by co-management. This study also highlights the urgency of establishing a combination of market-based management (e.g., seafood certification) and a closed fishing season in spawning aggregation areas to complement existing fishery management.

In the policy context, managing grouper and snapper fisheries resources for sustainability is a big challenge due to the complexity of small-scale fisheries in Saleh Bay. This study implemented two analytical methods: length-based analysis and ecosystem approach to fisheries assessment to evaluate the performance of the implementation of the grouper and snapper fisheries management in Saleh Bay. The results showed after policy implementation, the mean length of species has been slightly larger and three species already reached the spawning potential ratio (SPR) target reference point. However, two of the 11 species regulated had SPR values below the limit reference point, which indicated that these species are currently fished at unsustainable levels. Overall, the assessment of fishery risk index indicated the risk status of this fisheries in the category of moderate risk, 1.185, in which two dimensions need to be improved: socio-economy and habitat. Therefore, this study highlighted leverage points to achieve ‘good’ performance level, such as socialization program intensively, enforcing regulation to provincial regulation, strengthening the surveillance and law enforcement of destructive fishing practices, empowerment of local institutions by co-management, and rehabilitation of coral reef ecosystems.

This study aims to determine the performance of small-scale grouper fisheries in Saleh Bay using a spatial bioeconomic approach. The optimal fishing trip allocation and economic rent based on the fishing grounds and its season were estimated using this approach. The results showed from the seven main fishing grounds (DPI) in Saleh Bay, the highest optimal trip need to be allocated to DPI-7 with approximately 2833 trips per year, followed by DPI-5 (2107), DPI-1 (1158), DPI -4 (1064), DPI-6 (970), DPI-2 (940) and DPI-3 (524). The intensity of fishing trip responded to the quasi-profit. The grouper catches produced quasi-profits of IDR 1.4 billion per year. The maximum and minimum annual profits of IDR 428 million and IDR 55 million were achieved in DPI-7 and DPI-3, respectively. This trip allocation complements the existing restriction management instrument, related to the control of input, area and season closure options. This strategy choice eases the fisheries managers to focus on spatial and temporal control efforts with high resolution.