Community Strategy in Economic Improvement Based on the Utilization of Perlis Marine Natural Resources

The Perlis village is an oceanside community with abundant marine natural resources. However, the local economy needs to be better structured, contributing to the village's reputation as impoverished and undeveloped. As a result, the village's fishermen earn very little money, which is a shame because the village should be considered prosperous, particularly in the fishing industry. The researchers in this study set out to answer two questions: how can the people of Perlis Village enhance their economy? And second, what steps can they take to protect the sea and its marine biota so that they can use it to their advantage? They used a descriptive qualitative research approach to answer these questions and scoured academic journals, books, statistics, and BPS Langkat Regency for information. They then conducted in-depth interviews and observations with five fishermen and three UMKM seafood representatives. Data analysis by description to understand the field's, market's, and village's status; data validity through source triangulation through comparison with other sources. Based on the findings, the people of Perlis Village have improved their economic situation by implementing strategies that use marine products. These include increasing their fish catches, turning seawater into salt, creating shrimp paste artisans, making salted fish from unsold fish, and managing mangrove tourism. The plan implemented by the residents of Perlis Village has the potential to enhance the economic situation in Perlis Village.

the ocean's immense potential as a resource anymore.The ocean has a wealth of untapped natural resources that may provide great benefits to mankind, including energy and minerals.
There is a lot of potential in Indonesia's maritime and coastal areas.With 17,508 different island clusters, Indonesia is legally classified as an archipelagic country, so this makes sense since Indonesia has abundant marine natural resources.Indonesia has various types of coastal resources, including renewable and non-renewable resources and environmental services.Several important coastal living resources, including mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, seagrasses, and fisheries, are a testament to Indonesia's natural wealth (Witarsa, 2015).
Marine resources include various species, from the deep sea to tidal zones on highland beaches and vast estuarine areas.Almost all communities in Perlis Village are involved with the sea and its waters, including marine biologists, shellfish harvesters, commercial fishermen, and sailors (Irawan et al., 2023;Yuwita et al., 2022).
Community involvement in improving economic conditions is one approach to achieving community welfare because it increases capacity and independence.
Empowerment based on local potential that helps community development is carried out using existing natural resources.Community welfare can be improved through effective natural resource management (Witarsa, 2015).
Slums and low-income coastal communities in Indonesia are notorious for their lack of development and infrastructure (Asfahani, 2023).Coastal communities should focus more on community empowerment related to the village's potential, considering that the socio-economic conditions of our fishermen are very different from the potential of their natural resources.Coastal communities still have relatively low economies.Due to the underutilization of this great potential, coastal cities in Indonesia are still experiencing difficulties and have yet to achieve economic prosperity.Empowering coastal communities aims to help their economies thrive by providing them with the best information and tools to use their natural resource potential.
Langkat Regency includes the settlement of Perlis in the West Berandan District.
The large number of fishermen in Perlis Village proves the huge potential of fisheries in this village, balanced with its vast sea waters.The following circular chart provides more information (Mukrimaa et al., 2016).
Chart 1. Profession of the people of Perlis Village, West Brandan District From the results of the diagram above, it can be seen that the majority of Perlis Village people are fishermen, 10% are producers of MSMEs from the sea, 10% are farmers, and 10% are traders, employees, and canoes, as seen from the graph it can be concluded that the producers in the most economic improvement in Perlis Village are the results of the Sea Natural Resources Smber.

Its proximity to the beach in Perlis Village and other coastal communities in
Langkat Regency makes it an ideal location for fish processing and fishing.By changing how we manage and respond to nature, we can all work together to improve environmental and economic conditions.Behaviors in planning sustainable living and protecting nature can help technological progress, which in turn can help humans align balanced growth with the characteristics of natural ecosystems.
Previous research conducted by Axel Arabi (Arabi, 2022) found that fishermen in Perlis Village, West Berandan District, Langkat Regency, have a very poor economic life, as evidenced by their low-income figures, in his research entitled Socio-Economic Situation of Perlis Coastal Communities in West Berandan District, Langkat Regency.
The house gives the impression that this is not a pleasant or practical place to live.

Analysis of the Economic Potential of Coastal Areas Based on the Blue Economy
Concept in Realizing SDGs in the Village Case Study of West Brandan District, Langkat Regency is the title of the preliminary study of Salsabila Raihan Daulay (Dzulhidayat, 2022).Based on the study's findings, the coastline of Langkat Regency is rich in untapped marine resources and offers viable solutions to the challenges posed by the Blue Economy.Both this study and its predecessors have examined the economic situation in Perlis Village and the marine potential in the Perlis Sea.
The findings of short-term observations conducted in Perlis Village point to several problems, such as a need for more organization in the local economy (as seen by the high poverty rate) and a lack of environmental awareness (as indicated by the abundance of natural resources).There must be more creativity in utilizing natural resources, and community leaders have yet to do much to help coastal areas prosper.
The Perlis Sea has a lot of garbage that harms marine life.Researchers in Perlis Village are primarily interested in two things: first, how locals manage their economies more efficiently, and second, how they manage to keep the oceans healthy so they can harness marine life as a new resource harnessing the abundant marine resources for the benefit of the people of Perlis and their economy.This method processes information obtained from research findings as a data analysis tool.Data analysis is a series of processes to process research data scientifically.This research uses data analysis, narrative analysis, and discourse analysis tools.This is because these methods provide high-quality research data and findings.After all, they come from research studies that include interactions between researchers and research participants (Wijaya, 2019).The triangulation approach of data validity was used in this study.Data triangulation refers to the practice of verifying information using many sources and at different points in time.Source triangulation is a method for evaluating the correctness of a power by comparing, and contrasting information from many sources.Triangulation Method: Triangulation involves comparing data or information in some way.Researchers use observation and interview techniques to verify facts and gain full perspective on specific information.

This
Triangulation Theory: The final step of triangulation is to compare the results of qualitative research with appropriate theoretical viewpoints to eliminate the possibility of researcher bias in the results.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Most of the people of Perlis Village make a living as fishermen.Their home is naturally bordered by rivers, estuaries, and beaches, which are all coastal locations.
Near the mouth of the Perlis River, Perlis Village is on the shores of the Perlis Sea.
Fishing, seafood trade, tourism, and transportation are just a few of the various activities that take place in the Perlis Sea (Arabi, 2022).The community needs to understand the importance of improving the economy by utilizing natural resources, especially Perlis' marine resources.This will enable them to manage resources wisely and enhance their creativity through education and training.Ultimately, the goal is for these resources to become marketable commodities.To protect its natural resources, Positioning System (GPS) to find the exact nautical location, plan your path, and annotate important places like shallow areas, shipwrecks, schools of fish, and more.
Since routes can be identified using GPS, the chances of traveling in the wrong direction are relatively small, so you can save fuel.In addition, Fish Finder will facilitate the scanning of fish by fishermen in the sea and display the fish on the screen.
Fishermen can increase their success rate with this tool because it is easier to find fish.
This tool allows fishermen to use better technology and equipment, ultimately increasing their catch's productivity.
Residents of Perlis Village, West Berandan District, took advantage of the plan to increase their fish catch by using GPS and Fish Finder.As a result, their annual fish catch income increased from 13,558 Kg in 2021 to 15,633 Kg in 2022.To boost the economy of the fishery sector community, it is hoped that the annual fish catch of fishermen in Perlis Village can increase.
The sea is a rich source of natural resources.The sea is rich in natural resources because it provides energy, food, means of transportation between islands and markets, and protection from marine threats.Seawater is a source of salt used in cooking, manufacturing, and other applications.Due to its high salt content, seawater has a salty taste and aroma.Salt is one of the by-products of seawater treatment.Many people obtain food from the sea, especially the water used to make salt.The locals also take advantage of the wealth of the sea.Local communities in Perlis Village have the potential to produce 50 kg of salt per MSME community from seawater (Patricia, 2021).
A better quality of life, particularly economically, can be achieved through responsible water use.
Although farmers in Perlis Village still rely on traditional salt-making techniques, they have made progress in using insulation media during the crystallization process to improve salt quality and increase salt production.In Perlis Village, the original knowledge of making salt differs from that of other places.Related fields, such as using membrane technology in salt production as an insulating medium, produce a denser and more transparent final product (NIDA, 2019).Utilizing sea water for salt can help improve the economy of families in Perlis Village.
One of the initiatives in the field of traditional knowledge preservation is Rumah Their admission shows that Belacan manufacturers do not currently rely on the Belacan business as a source of main income, thus further strengthening the bond between them.Fishing is still their main source of income (Nabilah & Zuska, 2022).
Since the empowerment of Rumah Terasi, homemakers in Perlis Village have experienced changes in socio-economic conditions.As a consequence of becoming a member of Rumah Terasi, homemakers saw improvements in family health, education, and economic situation, as well as an increase in their income.Why?
Homeowners can learn all the tricks of the trade and start their own successful shrimp paste company by registering at a shrimp paste house.By using the trusts, conventions, and distribution network of shrimp paste, the position of Rumah Terasi can be used to build a shrimp paste business.Rumah Terasi is valued as a place for homemakers to establish relationships and collaborate (Muslihkah & Kismini, 2022).
People do this because they care about their families and want to ensure their survival or well-being.As a result, salted fish was born from using unsold fish in its production.This culinary item, salted fish, is made by preserving fish with a high salt concentration.During processing, a natural preservative named salt is added to the fish to make salted fish.Despite the need to keep it tightly closed, preserving fish meat allows it to be stored at room temperature for months, increasing its shelf life.In addition, marinated fish meat has a longer shelf life and is less likely to be physically damaged by pests such as flies, insects, and caterpillars.As one of the cheap and crucial components in improving nutrition, salted fish is one of the favorite foods of the Indonesian people (Indrastuti et al., 2019).
Fishermen can harvest up to 10-20 kg of fish from the sale of unsold fish; with such a large harvest, each family can produce 7-15 kg of salted fish.Therefore, fishermen's wives make salted fish by dividing the fish to start utilizing the results.
Salted fish are created from fish caught by the community, so almost every yard of the house becomes a place for drying salted fish.Some argue that salted fish, both ordinary and fish that cost more, such as certain fresh fish, are staple foods in Perlis Village (Yunda Sari et al., 2020).
Mangroves have two purposes: as a source of fuel for fishermen and as animal feed in the past (Wardhana, 2016).Due to the continuous cutting of mangrove trees and the deforestation of their leaves, the number of mangroves will inevitably decrease if current practices continue.The importance of mangrove areas to environmental sustainability and fishermen's welfare is becoming increasingly clear to them.As a result, fishermen are making greater efforts to protect and maintain these forests (Purba et al., 2018).
To ease their financial hardships, fishermen began looking for other livelihood options.To ease their financial hardships, fishermen experimented with growing shrimp in ponds and mangrove crabs in cages, which proved fruitful.Restaurants in Mangrove Ecotourism sell the catch of local fishermen thanks to mangrove tourism built by the community.The fishing community and their families can get jobs in Perlis Village thanks to the mangrove ecotourism industry.Even if there is mangrove tourism in the region, fishermen who used to work in the sea catching fish are now shifting their focus to mangrove crab farming and supervising ecotourism.Many things might be improved in this tourist destination; therefore, only a few people know or are interested in visiting Perlis Village.However, locals are constantly working on finding new techniques to boost mangrove tourism.
The steps the Perlis Village Community took in overseeing mangrove ecotourism: 1) mangrove seeding scheme.2) the structure and organizational structure of mangrove supervisors selected by field managers.Third, provide and instruct managers on how to serve visitors.4) As part of the community's efforts to raise awareness of mangrove ecotourism, Perlis Village promotes it through social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, as well as documentaries.Because fisheries are the main source of income in Perlis Village, mangrove tourism is believed to be increasingly popular and attracts many tourists.This, in turn, will boost the local economy.But keep in mind that not all fishermen participate in mangrove tourism; Some continue to practice traditional fishing methods.
Perlis villagers meet their daily needs through economic activities, including selling and trading seafood, tourism, farming, and other related activities.Because income from working as a fisherman can be obtained directly, this activity provides Perlis Village residents with an additional source of income that they can use to meet their daily needs.Coastal cities are expected to boost their economies by providing information and supplies to help them better use marine natural resources as part of a broad community plan to boost economic growth through resource utilization.The purpose of empowering coastal communities in Perlis Village is to improve their standard of living and economic welfare, which ultimately benefits the entire community's economy.Villages can achieve their empowerment goals by involving coastal communities as partners in this effort.
The research conducted in Perlis Village allowed the researchers to collect GRDP data categorized based on many industries represented in the Perlis Community.(Paramita et al., 2018) Developing maritime and marine economic potential, rather than focusing on land-based extraction, can result in rapid economic growth (Vinata, 2017).Every ecosystem has natural resources, and humans can utilize these resources in many different ways.With huge untapped potential, marine natural resources have great potential to overcome food insecurity, improve the lives of directly and indirectly affected communities, and strengthen the national economy (Asfahani et al., 2023).
Sustainable resource management is essential to ensure that these dreams are not in vain.Modern fisheries management in Indonesia has made a big leap by utilizing marine natural resources, namely fish resources, as a development tool.In this era of autonomy, communities should have enormous authority to control themselves in managing coastal and marine resources as part of the community's socio-economic empowerment plan (Alfiana et al., 2023); (Haslinah et al., 2023).Despite the rapid pace of modernization, the people of Perlis Village enthusiastically welcome outside influences as long as they do not damage their long-standing way of life, such as their cultural values, fishing practices, or way of life.Social leadership develops in response to environmental factors.The fate of the people of Perlis Village and their capacity for social integration depends largely on their capacity to plan, adapt, and react effectively to the difficulties posed by social change (Talaud & Mawara, 2022).
The vulnerability of marine ecosystems to adverse impacts caused by humans is increasing today.The preservation of marine ecosystems is increasingly receiving attention, such as pollution and destructive fishing: problems caused and solutions to the accumulation of plastic waste in Indonesian waters.One of the environmental hazards around the world that significantly impacts Indonesia's maritime ecology is plastic waste.Indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste by humans, especially in coastal and marine areas, endangers marine ecosystems and their species.Therefore, all residents of Perlis Village must play a role in maintaining the health of marine ecology so that they can continue to benefit the community.Communities play an important role in determining the effectiveness of environmental development projects.
Therefore, encouraging community members to learn about environmental issues and find ways to make a difference is crucial.The people of Perlis Village have made many efforts to preserve the Perlis marine environment, such as; To keep the environment around mangrove tourist sites beautiful and beautiful, Perlis Village residents are careful to avoid throwing garbage into the water and use as little plastic as possible.One of the attractions of prospective visitors to Perlis Village is its cleanliness.Guests will have fun and feel comfortable spending a lot of time on mangrove tours if it is clean.Therefore, people are very concerned about the cleanliness of the sea.They want the Perlis Village tourist area always to be crowded with visitors because it will increase the money that enters their pockets.The fishermen of Perlis Village have never been Destroyers fishermen and have never gone to sea without reliable nets, fishing gear, and sophisticated equipment such as GPS and Fish Finder.
As part of the beach rehabilitation efforts, Perlis villagers planted thousands of mangrove trees along the shoreline.Planting mangrove seedlings helps replenish the stock of tree seedlings in coastal areas after they have been damaged, died of old age, or been cut down for fuel.Mangrove tree planting helps reduce coastal erosion and preserve the habitat of aquatic species such as crabs, whitefish, and seabirds.The environment of the bay and beach can also be preserved by replanting the beach using mangroves.We must plant mangrove trees along coastlines to preserve our planet from the ravages of ocean erosion.About marine life, mangroves are very valuable.
You can find crabs, small fish, and various seabirds laying eggs in mangroves.In addition to being a habitat for fish, mangrove trees are also a food source for coastal residents.

CONCLUSION
Based on the descriptions in the previous section, several conclusions can be drawn; the strategy carried out by the Perlis Village community to improve the economy is to increase fish catches by utilizing technology, managing seawater into salt, building shrimp paste houses to form shrimp paste artisans, utilizing fish that are not sold in the market to become salted fish and managing mangrove tourism, With the strategy carried out by the Perlis Village Community, the community can improve the village economy from year to year.The people of Perlis Village also maintain the preservation of the Perlis Sea by maintaining the beach's cleanliness, fishermen do not do destructive fishing, and reforesting the beach by planting mangrove trees can help maintain the sustainability of the Perlis marine ecosystem.
the residents of Perlis Village rely on traditional knowledge and experience.Most of the Earth's surface is water, and almost the entire surface consists of oceans (97% by volume).The sea has an important role in human life because of its vast territory.The ocean has many marine resources that can be used to meet human needs and further economic development, and it is also an important part of the Earth's water cycle, climate creation, flora, and wildlife habitats.One industry that depends on natural resources and helps advance the global and national economy is fisheries.Based on the achievements of MMAF's main performance indicators from 2023 to the third quarter of 2023, fisheries production reached 18.5 million tons, consisting of capture fisheries of 5.67 million tons and aquaculture of 12.74 million tons consisting of fish 4.75 million tons and seaweed 7.98 million tons, making fish one of the most traded commodities globally(Novita & Gultom, 2017).Some argue that the fishing industry can help alleviate poverty along the coast.Most Perlis Village people work as fishermen, which shows that the marine and fisheries sector has the most prominent community potential.Bloating, pomfret, skin, ringing, kettle, crab, and shrimp are some of the catches of Perlis Village fishermen who now exist.The people of Perlis Village have made good use of the village's total water capacity, which they put to good use for fisheries and agriculture, and the village's fishery resources are rich with untapped potential.Although fishing opportunities in Perlis Village are abundant, local fishermen are still marginalized and considered primitive because of the low quality of human resources (Fishermen) and limited access to capital, knowledge, and skills of fishermen to encourage productivity.Institutional problems (such as use and authority disputes and legal uncertainty issues), damage to marine habitats (such as coral reefs and mangroves), and lack of understanding of resource values are major problems.Other problems are a lack of facilities and infrastructure, poor quality of human resources, and lack of capital.The community strives to protect the environment by developing marine and fishery resources in Perlis Village.They reduce the rate of destruction of coral reefs, conserve other marine life, and implement strict regulations for research and tourism.Meanwhile, they manage environmentally friendly marine aquaculture to form fish farm community groups to jointly monitor fish nurseries and hatchery sites and not disturb environmental sustainability.Protect coastal and marine resources by raising public and user awareness.The people of Perlis Village have begun to utilize modern technology such as GPS and Fish Finder to increase their fish catches provided by the government as a form of government efforts to improve the village economy.Use the Global Terasi, which focuses on the production of shrimp paste.The Rumah Terasi program is supported by the Perlis Village Government, which provides production house facilities for its members to use as their activity centers.Two families in Hamlet 7 and one family in Hamlet 8 are shrimp paste MSMEs in Perlis Village; one family can produce 10-15 kg per day in Perlis Village.The first shrimp paste house in Hamlet 1 sparked the development of shrimp paste artisans, and many people began making shrimp paste in their homes.In total, seven families are living in the hamlet nicknamed Dusun Belacan because most of the households there produce shrimp paste or Belacan.

Table 1 .
GRDP by Business Field of Perlis Village Community in 2018 and 2022 the economy of the Perlis Community is expected to grow rapidly, as per the table above.The people of Perlis Village will begin implementing strategies to Increase The economy, as shown in the table above.The economy in Perlis Village has also increased after the Perlis Community began to manage and utilize its marine resources well.The initiative to build fishing villages through community economic empowerment through using marine natural resources aims to raise awareness of the village's potential and take steps to realize this promise(Zakariya, 2019).The