Post Tsunami Job Satisfaction Among the Fishers of Na Pru Village, on the Andaman Sea Coast of Thailand

The paper examines job satisfaction among fishers in a tsunami-impacted area on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Following the
tsunami, many predicted that fishers would be reluctant to resume their fishing activities. Observations in the fishing communities,
however, indicated that as soon as fishers obtained replacements for equipment damaged by the tsunami, they began to fish
again. Nevertheless, most fishers reported they would change fishing type, and that if they had the opportunity they would
leave fishing altogether. Whether or not these attitudes can be attributed solely to the impacts of the tsunami is not clear
at this point, but this supposition is provided some support from data collected from small scale fishers in two towns near
Bangkok in the Gulf of Thailand which reflected more positive attitudes towards the occupation. While attitudes towards the
occupation are more negative than those reported for many other fisheries, the scores for the job satisfaction categories
indicated that the sample means for all job satisfaction categories except Self-Actualisation are above the midpoint on the
scales. This, in turn, indicates general satisfaction with the occupation—perhaps the challenge and adventure of the job are
perceived as being a little too much following on the heels of the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated the area. Hence, although
fishers say that they would leave the occupation for another, it is unlikely that they will unless the alternate occupation,
at the very least, meets the satisfactions provided by fishing.