Fishing Business Going Online: How Government and Universities Helped

What is it about?

When COVID-19 lockdowns (the Movement Control Orders) shut down normal life in Malaysia, many small, informal businesses lost their usual customers. Informal operators are people like fishermen and small food sellers who work without formal contracts or large organisations behind them. To survive, many had to start selling online instead of face to face. That is harder than it sounds. It means learning new skills such as setting up online shops, handling payments, taking photos, and marketing. The researchers spoke to fishing communities to understand what difficulties they faced in making this switch. They looked at the situation through the "triple helix" idea. This is simply the notion that real progress happens when three groups work together: the people running the businesses (here, fishermen and entrepreneurs), the government, and universities or researchers. The study found that this three-way partnership gave fishing communities a good footing to keep trading online. The authors say the bond between the three groups offers informal workers a new path to a steadier income and a better quality of life.

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Photo by Mega Caesaria on Unsplash

Photo by Mega Caesaria on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Fishing communities are often left out of conversations about digital business, and informal workers can easily fall through the cracks of official support. This paper puts them at the centre. It shows how a group that works without formal structures or large organisations behind it can still move into online trading when the right help is available. The lessons also reach beyond COVID-19. The pandemic forced the shift, but the same challenges arise whenever small operators face disruption, such as bad weather, price crashes, or changing markets. What makes the work distinctive is its practical angle. Rather than blaming small operators for being "behind" on technology, it suggests that outcomes improve when government provides support and universities provide training and know-how, and it shows that these three groups can work well together. That idea could be useful to planners, local councils, and community groups designing digital training and support programmes, not just for fishermen but for other informal workers such as hawkers, farmers, and craftspeople.

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