The Negative Environmental Changes on the Sea and its Impact on the Aspects of Economic, Social and Health of the Fishermen Living in the East Coast Zone of Peninsular Malaysia

Problem statement: The sea has never been the same as before. Due to the environment and human factors, lot of negative environmental changes can be detected at the sea. Apparently, one of the main dependents of the sea which is the fishermen has the potential to be affected with such changes. Approach: This study would like to discover whether these changes have affected the aspects of economic, social and health of the fishermen living in the east coast zone of Peninsular Malaysia. This is a quantitative study where a total of 300 fishermen have been selected as the respondents. The number was gained from four states in the east coast zone of Peninsular Malaysia namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and East Johor. Results: The instrument used for this study is a developed questionnaire that was pre tested earlier before the actual data collection conducted. To gain the data needed, survey was employed. Based on the results gained it can be seen that the negative environmental changes that occurs on the sea have moderately affected the aspects of economic, social and health of the fishermen living in the east coast zone of Peninsular Malaysia. Conclusion/Recommendations: It is recommended that the fishermen all over Malaysia should be provided with information on the potential impacts of the negative environmental changes on the sea so that they can prepare themselves to face these negative changes.