The Papua New Guinea (PNG) marine aquarium fishery was partly managed by total allowable catch (TAC) limits, implemented since the fishery's inception in 2008. Species-specific TACs, based on stock ...assessments conducted prior to the commencement of fishing, were established for all fish and invertebrate species presumed to be fished by the fishery. By analysing the selectivity of the PNG fishery in 2012, a large portion (74.9%) of the managed fish diversity (n = 267 species) was found to be “weakly” to “strongly” avoided relative to their availability. More than half (53.2%; n = 142) of the fish species with TACs were never fished in 2012. Of those species with TACs that were actually fished, 76.8% (n = 96) of fish and all invertebrate catches never exceeded 1% of their TACs. Catches of only seven fish species exceeded 10% of their TACs. Catch records also identified 124 fish species that were fished in the absence of species-specific TACs. Unbiased recursive partitioning was used to examine ecological attributes of these species to help identify flaws in the methods used for initial TAC assignment. Refining the role species-specific TACs play in the management of this fishery is necessary to optimise managerial resources. The lessons learned from this approach to marine aquarium fishery management are likely to be of interest and value to PNG, other developing island nations, and marine aquarium fisheries globally.
•The use of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for a marine aquarium fishery are explored.•TACs based on underwater visual surveys omitted many commercially fished species.•The selective nature of the fishery limited management value of TACs.•Of 369 species-specific TACs, only four fish species merited such management.
The recent resurrection of a Tridacna maxima sensu Rosewater (1965) ecotype as a distinct species, Tridacna noae (Röding, 1798), has raised concerns that inadvertent confusion of the two species in ...the past may have led to overestimates of T.maxima densities and errors in determining demographic parameters. To assess the potential impacts of such a scenario, this study examined the population demographics of T. noae within the center of its geographic distribution in the Kavieng lagoonal system of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. The study found that 42% of the T. maxima sensu Rosewater population could be delineated as T. noae, with T. noae being the most abundant giant clam species at 7 of the 20 study sites. Past confusion of the two species is likely to be of the greatest concern on reef sites with high or medium levels of exposure to oceanic influences where T. maxima (2.08 ± 0.41 per 400 m², 1.86 ± 0.59 per 400 m², respectively) and T. noae (2.06 ± 0.36 per 400 m², 1.25 ± 0.28 per 400 m², respectively) densities were similar (P > 0.05). In analyzing size (shell length) frequency distributions, it was determined that the T. noae population had a larger mean size (206 ± 6 mm) than that of T. maxima (161 ±6 mm, P < 0.001). Thus, in areas where the two species have overlapping distributions and fisheries regulations are based on size, reassessment of T. maxima stocks should be considered a priority given the high frequency at which the larger T. noae may comprise historical populations of T. maxima sensu Rosewater.
The majority of the world's fisheries lack formal management and assessment due to limitations in data, management capacity, or both. Capacity-limited fisheries generally contain some combination of ...limited infrastructure, personnel or expertise which hampers the ability of fisheries administrations to develop, implement and maintain desired management structures. Fisheries that fall within this category are at greater risk of performing poorly in terms of sustainability and economic benefits. In the process of applying a number of recently developed data-poor specific tools to Tonga's deepwater line fishery, it was apparent that reconciling the lack of resources with options for management required greater attention. Some of the challenges encountered are highlighted herein and processes to consider in order to overcome these are discussed. This resulted in a reprioritisation of the stepwise processes often used to develop harvest strategies by giving earlier prominence to management capacity and stakeholder engagement within a more iterative framework. This provides capacity-limited managers with a mechanism to develop a coherent harvest strategy across all components that is more viable long-term, irrespective of available management resources. Our case study extends the discussion on harvest strategies from data-rich to data-poor fisheries to include those fisheries that are both data-poor and capacity-limited. Application of formalised harvest strategies has been promoted as a tool to relieve the excessive fishing pressure apparent in many regions. The proposed refinements to the harvest strategy development process proposed here should improve capacity for fisheries management in circumstances where it is lacking.
•Challenges faced by fisheries managers in capacity-limited instances discussed.•Solutions are discussed using Tonga's deepwater line fishery as a case study.•These guidelines witll help to improve management of capacity-limited fisheries.
Sea cucumber, processed into beche-de-mer (BDM), is one of the oldest commercial marine commodities in the Pacific Islands Region. Sea cucumber fisheries in the Pacific have historically followed ...boom and bust cycles. Papua New Guinea (PNG) was an important supplier of BDM to Asian markets until overfishing of sea cucumbers led to a moratorium being declared by the PNG National Fisheries Authority (NFA) in 2009. The Tigak Islands in New Ireland Province were the site of a targeted fishery for the high-value sea cucumber sandfish (Holothuria scabra) for a short period in the late 1980s before it was overfished. The history of sandfish exploitation in the Tigak Islands has been comparatively well documented, and it is described here using published articles, fisheries and export data, and contemporary interviews. Sea cucumber fisheries are very difficult to manage effectively to maintain sustainable yields. The PNG NFA is revising their National Beche-de-mer Management Plan to be implemented when the sea cucumber fishery reopens. Sandfish is regarded as a promising aquaculture candidate that may provide livelihood options for remote coastal communities in New Ireland Province and elsewhere in PNG. The next phase of the Tigak Islands’ sandfish fishery has exciting potential for mariculture to be integrated into fisheries management strategies but its success relies on fishers adopting more sustainable harvesting practices, and BDM buyers promoting better quality processing.
•Overfishing of Papua New Guinea’s sea cucumber fishery led to a moratorium in 2009.•Published and anecdotal sources describe the Tigak Islands sandfish fishery in PNG.•Sandfish are a promising mariculture candidate for sustainable livelihoods.•Sandfish mariculture must be integrated in fishery management and social context.•Improved harvesting and production practices will benefit fisheries and mariculture.
Livelihood diversity factors such as flexibility within fisheries, geographical mobility, reallocation of fishing effort into the broader economy, and the non-material benefits that fisheries provide ...are important areas of research in marine policy. We use two small-scale fisheries related socio-economic surveys of communities in the Tigak Islands of Papua New Guinea. The first conducted 5 years before a ban on the harvesting of sea cucumbers was imposed and the second from the present day, 5 years after the initiation of the ban-with the objectives of exploring changes in household fishing strategies (types and numbers of species targeted) and to identify any important socioeconomic factors that help explain those changes. Fishing's contribution to total household income has increased significantly (p = 0.019) up from 61% in 2004 to 73% in 2014 with the percentage of female residents living in a household now positively and significantly (p = 0.018) associated with fishing income. The average number of species categories targeted per household increased insignificantly while households with more women are significantly (p = 0.018) less likely to target more species than households with more men. Moreover, customary management practices contribute to this difference. Together, these results show that households are not worse off financially 5 years after the ban on sea cucumber harvesting and that gendered seascape use has implications for the role of livelihood diversity as a marine policy tool.
Numerous policy and international frameworks consider that “destructive fishing” hampers efforts to reach sustainability goals. Though ubiquitous, “destructive fishing” is undefined and therefore ...currently immeasurable. Here we propose a definition developed through expert consultation: “Destructive fishing is any fishing practice that causes irrecoverable habitat degradation, or which causes significant adverse environmental impacts, results in long‐term declines in target or nontarget species beyond biologically safe limits and has negative livelihood impacts.” We show strong stakeholder support for a definition, consensus on many biological and ecological dimensions, and no clustering of respondents from different sectors. Our consensus definition is a significant step toward defining sustainable fisheries goals and will help interpret and implement global political commitments which utilize the term “destructive fishing.” Our definition and results will help reinforce the Food and Agricultural Organization's Code of Conduct and meaningfully support member countries to prohibit destructive fishing practices.
Purpose – To critically assess engagements with capitalism in coastal fisheries development, considering their success or otherwise for coastal villagers.Approach – Using field research and written ...reports of projects and the concept of “social embeddedness” we analyze two fisheries development projects as local instances of capitalism.Findings – Coastal peoples in the Pacific have been selling marine products for cash since the earliest days of contact with both Europeans and Asians. Since the 1970s, there have also been fisheries development projects. Both types of engagement with capitalism have had problems with commercial viability and ecological sustainability. One way to understand these issues is to view global capitalist markets as penetrating into localities through the lens of local cultures. We find, however, that local cultures are only one factor among several needed to explain the outcomes of these instances of capitalism. Other explanations include nature, national political and economic contexts, and transnational development assistance frameworks. The defining features of “local capitalisms” thus arise from configurations of human and nonhuman, local and outside influences.Social implications – Development project design should account for local conditions including: (1) village-based socioeconomic approaches, (2) national political economic contexts, (3) frameworks that donors bring to projects, and (4) (in)effective resource management.Originality/value of paper – The chapter builds on the experience of the authors over 15 years across multiple projects. The analysis provides a framework for understanding problems people have encountered in trying to get what they want from capitalism, and is applicable outside the fisheries sector.
A major difficulty in managing wildlife trade is the reliance on trade data (rather than capture data) to monitor exploitation of wild populations. Collected organisms that die or are rejected before ...a point of sale often go unreported. For the global marine aquarium trade, identifying the loss of collected fish from rejection, prior to export, is a first step in assessing true collection levels. This study takes a detailed look at fish rejections by buyers before export using the Papua New Guinea marine aquarium fishery as a case study. Utilizing collection invoices detailing the species and quantity of fish (Actinopteri and Elasmobranchii) accepted or rejected by the exporting company it was determined that, over a six month period, 24.2% of the total fish catch reported (n = 13,886) was rejected. Of the ten most collected fish families, rejection frequency was highest for the Apogonidae (54.2%), Chaetodontidae (26.3%), and Acanthuridae (18.2%) and lowest for Labridae (6.6%) and Hemiscylliidae (0.7%). The most frequently cited reasons for rejection were fin damage (45.6% of cases), undersized fish (21.8%), and fish deemed too thin (11.1%). Despite fishers receiving feedback on invoices explaining rejections, there was no improvement in rejection frequencies over time (r = -0.33, P = 0.15) with weekly rejection frequencies being highly inconsistent (range: 2.8% to 79.4%; s = 16.3%). These findings suggest that export/import statistics can greatly underestimate collection for the marine aquarium trade as additional factors such as fisher discards, escapees, post-collection mortalities, and unregulated domestic trade would further contribute to this disparity.
International Workshop on Developing Strategies for Monitoring Data-Limited Deepwater Demersal Line Fisheries in the Pacific Ocean by Ashley J Williams, Simon J Nicol, Nokome Bentley, Paul J. Starr ...et al is reviewed.
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