The dependence of fishermen and small-scale fish processing businesses on market mechanisms dominated by off-takers contributes to the high economic vulnerability of coastal communities in Medan City. Fluctuations in fresh fish prices and limited bargaining power lead to unstable household incomes. This community service program aims to implement a fisheries downstreaming strategy through the innovation of fish floss processing to increase added value and strengthen local economic resilience. The implementation methods included situational analysis, training in fish floss production, business management assistance, economic feasibility analysis (R/C Ratio, Break-Even Point, and Return on Investment), and facilitation of product legality and packaging. The results show that fish floss processing generates a net profit of IDR 21,000 per bottle, with an R/C Ratio of 1.72, a Break-Even Point of 48 bottles per month, and a Return on Investment of 52.5%. These findings indicate that the downstreaming model supported by academic mentoring is economically feasible and has strong potential to be replicated as a sustainable model for empowering coastal communities.
Sidauruk et al. (Thu,) studied this question.