An Appraisal of the Economic Potential of Mangrove Swamps
Natural resources have always been in the centre of discussion since time immemorial. They are the basic building blocks of an economy just as amino acids are the basic building blocks of protein. One issue that has always been and will continue to be emphasized in future is the role of natural...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
1977
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/7993/1/FEP_1977_1_.pdf |
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| Summary: | Natural resources have always been in the centre of
discussion since time immemorial. They are the basic
building blocks of an economy just as amino acids are the
basic building blocks of protein. One issue that has always
been and will continue to be emphasized in future is the
role of natural resources in the economic development of the
country. In this respect the current preoccupation seems to
be on the question of whether or not natural resources could
be so managed as to support and subsequently contribute
significantly to the development objectives of the country.
Implicit in this is the issue of resource allocation.
This study evaluates the economics of the present
alternative uses of the mangrove swamp resource base in
Sabah with the view of isolating an optimal combination of
resource use that is consistent with Sabah state development
priorities. Specifically, the relative contributions of
each alternative with respect to income, employment and
foreign exchange generations are determined and then
compared. This study also investigates the present domestic
consumption of fish and its future requirements relative to
supply.The primary data source is a survey of two chip mills
and five prawn factories in the state of Sabah in 1976.
Supplemental data were obtained from published statistics.
Essentially, the study employs two procedures--regression
and partial investment criteria analysis. The former is
used to determine the domestic consumption of fish, the
derivation of production possibility curve and the maximum
sustainable yield of fish landing. The latter is used to
determine the trade off between the alternative uses.
The study reveals that if income and foreign exchange
earnings were given priorities, there is a strong case for
conserving the mangrove resource base for prawn fishing
industry rather than for chip production. However, the
reverse situation would prevail if the objective was for
employment generation. The study also shows that the
future requirements of fish and fish products would exceed
supply.
The study concludes that given the present priorities
in the state's development objective (i.e. bias in favour of
income generation), it would be in the interest of the state
to allocate the resource base in favour of the prawn
fishing industry than in chip production. A more restrained
felling of the mangrove trees is, therefore, suggested. |
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