The Gulf of Mottama is one of the most important and dynamic intertidal wetland systems and declared a Ramsar site in 2017 and 2020. It is home to critical habitats, species of conservation concern, commercially important fisheries and communities that rely on these resources. However, these resources and communities are facing threats such as overexploitation of fishery resources, depletion of critical species and unsustainable practices of resource extraction and management. Therefore, the Gulf of Mottama Project (GoMP) is protecting its natural resources and well-being of its local communities, management that address ecosystems, livelihoods, and governance. One of the activities of GoMP is diversifying livelihoods opportunities for people in small-scaled fishery market chain to not only improve their well-being but only reduce heavy dependency on the fishery resources. One of the opportunities is supporting establishment of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) for the fishers. However, there is a significant knowledge gaps in understanding the potential SMEs for developing support framework by the project. So, the action research was conducted to understand the SME opportunities in fishing communities in Gulf of Mottama for GoMP and associated organizations to support SMEs for communities to uplift the well-being of communities while reducing their dependency on fishery resources.

The action research was conducted in 9 villages of 5 townships in Mon State and a total of 221 household interviews, 17 focus group discussions were sampled. A total of 107 men and 114 women who are both members of GoMP (33.5%) and non-member (66.5%) are included in the sample. The study collected status of current livelihood activities, changes in livelihoods, potential SMEs in the community, interest in SMEs and opportunities, challenges and supports needed to initiate SMEs by the community.

The study highlighted that there is high potential for development of SMEs in fishery value chain as well as high interest rate from fishing communities to establish them. Then, based on the interest and opportunities, the nine fishery related SMEs are recommended to focus supporting in the Gulf of Mottama. The nine identified includes 1) fishery input shop, 2) grocery shop, 3) aquaculture, 4) fishery product trading business, 5) transportation services, 6) livestock, 7) fish paste production, 8) fish and rice integrated farming, and 9) rice selling. The key constraints identified in the study to implement these SMEs are limited to no financial capital, limited skills, and knowledge especially in business and financial management as well as specific technical skills relevant to each SME, and access to markets and corporations for distributions of goods and services and investment opportunities. Therefore, the study recommends supporting in creating financing opportunities for fishing communities such as assessing financial opportunities in the regions, support financially to implement the SME activities through establishment of informal financial support systems and advocate the SMEs to formal financial institutions such as banks, and microfinances. Then, the local human capacity should be raised through technical skill trainings and capacity building supports. As the understanding of SMEs in fishery sectors in the context of GoMP are poorly known, further research on market demands and investment opportunities from private sectors and enterprises on the SMEs should be conducted to fill the knowledge gap. Finally, this information should be advocate to relevant stakeholders to enhance better collaboration in development of SMEs in the region.