A Causal Model on Sustainable Fisheries Management as Predicted by Fishing Practices, Community Support and Government Intervention

The establishment of a closed season from June to August for the conservation of small pelagic fishes in the Davao Gulf was observed for the eleventh year… The study aims to determine the best fit model of sustainable fisheries management with its three exogenous variables namely fishing practices, community support and government intervention. It aimed to assess the level of fishing practices, community support and government intervention. The study determined the significant relationship among the exogeneous variables with endogenous variable. All indices of exogenous variables have statistically significant positive relationships with sustainable fisheries management. The R value of 0.529 indicates that 52.9% of the variation in sustainable fisheries management was validated by three predictors: fishing practices (ß=0.501), government intervention (ß= 0.253), and community support (ß=0.052). This revealed the critical role of fishing practices in pursuit of sustainable fisheries management. The study used a Structural Equation Model, and 400 registered fisherfolks were selected through stratified random sampling. Generated Model 3 was found the Best Fit Model in Standard Solution from a Summary of Goodness of Fit Measures of the three generated models. These findings will serve as scientific recommendation to evolving policy in Davao Gulf closed fishing season.