The study conducted interview with 40 processed fishery producers and 9 sub-collectors from four villages within Mon State in the Gulf of Mottama (GoM) to understand the complex value chain, community dependency, and future directions for further development of the production systems. The processed fishery products processed and marketed in the region are dried shrimp, dried fish, salted fish and fish paste but the production rate and dependency varied across the study villages. The variations are influenced by fishing gear, fish species, and village location. For example, Zee Gone and Ah Lat (A Nauk Paing) heavily depends on the production of processed fish products whereas Wae Pa Tan has lower dependency. Dried shrimp production reportedly contributed as an important source of income for Small-scaled Fisheries (SSF) communities in Zee Gone and Ah Lat (A Nauk Paing), while salted fish is more important in Koe Tae Su. However, the dried fish are producing opportunistically in all study villages.

The value chain is simply composed of processed fishery products producers, collectors, or traders (in village, township, and city levels), and consumers. Throughout the value chain, the SSF fishers oversee production, and women are essential to the processing and marketing of the goods. In terms of women participation, they are prominent in management of value chain, with some expressed concerns in relation to workload and income balance although most of the women have no challenges in managing the whole process. The study also recorded changes over the past decade such as issues like diminishing fish catches and a rise in the use of illegal fishing gear caused in lower productivity of the products. However, the demand got higher and consequently received better prices.

Even though the majority of respondents do not intend to change to improve the value chain, the SSF producers can be empowered to produce better products and can align with the market through skill development and resource availability. To address declining fish catches and guarantee long-term viability, sustainable fishing practices and management should be promoted. In alignment with ongoing fishery management activities, the focus should be eliminating or reducing the use of illegal fishing gears (Than Za Kar) which is one of the primary causes of major fish decline. In addition, other intervention should be supporting community- based fisher management practices such as establishment of fish conservation zones. In conclusion, although conventional processes have produced high-quality items suitable for market demand, the value chain for dried and processed fishery products has room for improvement and sustainability especially in access to market systems which promote better roles for SSF producers in selecting favourable markets and improve their power in negotiating the prices of the products.