Author : Haryoto, R.

Summary : Two hundred sixty small-scale open sea fishermen of Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, Aceh, Indonesia were surveyed to determine: 1) the socio-economic profiles, communication patterns, perceptions, and attitudes of fishermen in the area; 2) differences between profiles of fishermen who were Kud Mina Bhakti members and non-members as well as, pawang and crew-fishermen; and 3) the relationships of socio-economic, communication, perceptual, and attitudinal characteristics of these fishermen with membership, participation in and impact of Kud Mina Bhakti on their fishing activities and socio-economic status. Fishermen believed that Kud Mina Bhakti had positive impacts on the fishing activities and socio-economic status of its members. They had positive attitude toward Kud Mina Bhakti. Fishermen members owned more productive and non-productive resources than the non-members. They had a high level of participation in terms of loans and services availment and low level of participation in terms of duties and other obligations. They regularly listned to radio, primarily for entertainment but were more interested in information on fishing-related matters than about politics and current events. Their usual source of information were radio, friends, and neighbors. They rarely contacted extension agents. Fishermen non-members expressed their desire to join Kud-Mina-Bhakti but did not join when loans became unavailable.