The 8th Pacific Heads of Fisheries Meeting is taking place March 4-8 in New Caledonia. The meeting, convened by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), brings together heads of fisheries departments from Pacific Islands countries and territories (PICTs) to discuss not only the work of SPC’s Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division, but also fisheries-related issues of regional importance. Notable topics on the agenda this year include management of sea cucumber fisheries and biosecurity for aquaculture.
The Pacific’s sea cucumber or beche-de-mer (as the tradeable product is known once it has been cleaned and dried) trade is the region’s second most valuable marine product trade after the tuna trade.
The trade has a long history and has been characterised nearly from the beginning by a boom and bust cycle, with the money to be made during periods of boom, leading people to over-exploit the easy-to-harvest animals, thus leading to bust conditions as stocks are all but wiped out in certain locations.
A study of the beche-de-mer industries in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and undertaken by SPC, has revealed that more precautionary management of the fishery could result in stable revenues, year in and year out, that are equivalent to the average of recent harvestseliminating the boom and bust cycle while ensuring the resource is sustainable.
A 1020% gain in value could be realised by exercising greater care in processing. In addition, the study found that had this precautionary management approach been taken in the past, medium-run revenues from the fishery would have been double those actually achieved.
Currently, several factors contribute to lower overall revenues from the fishery. Serial over-exploitation of resources means that the stocks of each species are below the size of stock that would yield the maximum sustainable yield. In addition, process management and the general quality of processing is not good.
Because fishers focus on harvesting the largest individuals of each species available to them, and most stocks have been over-exploited, there is a preponderance of smaller sized individuals in the populations of each specieswhich translates into lower value.
The highest value species tend to be slow growers that are found on the fishing grounds in relatively low densities. Because the greater fishing effort tends to be focused on these higher value species, and the stocks of these species are not given sufficient time to recover, the average size of individuals available tends to steadily decrease over time, again leading to lower values.
As the availability of high value species decreases, so effort on lower value species increasesas a result the relative value of exports tends to decrease over time as the mix of species sold tends towards lower value species.
To implement the precautionary approach that it describes, the study makes specific recommendations aimed at better and more uniform enforcement of existing controls. Controls are deemed to be largely sufficient but inconsistently and ineffectively enforced.
Recommendations also focus on implementation of adaptive management that takes into account results of past management actions, as well as on strengthening availability and sharing of data for management and enforcement and building regional cooperation in managing the trade.
Aquatic animal diseases are a significant threat to the sustainability and productivity of aquaculture in the region, along with the potential threat of trans-boundary spread of diseases.
Capacity in aquatic biosecurity in the region is limited and uneven, and there is a need for better regional coordination in this area.
In response to this need, SPC and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) surveyed PICTs on their needs in the areas of aquatic animal health, aquatic species introductions and aquaculture statistics. Results of the survey were discussed in a workshop jointly convened by SPC and FAO in October 2012.
The survey and workshop identified several needs in order to improve aquatic biosecurity capacity in the region, including improved policy and planning, better monitoring and control and specialised infrastructure.
The survey and workshop identified guiding principles for the regional aquatic health programme that focus on areas such as international and regional harmonisation and ensuring that aquatic health management helps aquaculture make an economic contribution to PICT economies and contributes to environmental sustainability.
The survey and workshop also identified broad elements or categories for the programme and activities to manage the biosecurity risks relating to the introduction of aquatic species. A draft strategy based on these findings will be presented to the meeting.
Islands Business International