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Number 160 (September–December 2019)

Produced by the Pacific Community, Division of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems, Information Section, BP D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia

Produced with financial assistance from the Australian Government, the European Union, France and the New Zealand Aid Programme

Editorial

Anchored fish aggregating devices, which facilitate small-scale fishers’ access to offshore fish such as tuna, are considered to be one of the most promising fishing tools in the Pacific Islands region. These FADs help compensate for declining reef fish resources and help meet the growing need for protein associated with a rapidly growing human population. But, as William Sokimi explains in his article, if anchored FADs are to become an essential component of the livelihoods of fishers and coastal communities, national fisheries authorities need to implement sustainable FAD programmes that are backed by stable and recurrent funding, dedicated specialist staff, and spare parts to replace lost FADs.

The few hundred anchored FADs in the Pacific are assumed to have a low impact on coastal resources and the environment, but the 30,000 to 65,000 drifting FADs (dFADs) deployed each year in the western and central Pacific Ocean by the industrial tuna fisheries raise concerns of a different magnitude (see article by Lauriane Escalle and colleagues). Knowing that a large proportion of these FADs are lost at sea, it is easy to imagine their impact on ecosystems, either at sea where they can ensnare protected species such as turtles or sharks, or on land where they can damage reefs and associated ecosystems when they become beached. Several management options are being considered, including further limiting the number of dFADs used by each vessel, using biodegradable materials, and recovering FADs at sea before they become lost or stranded.

FADs are, of course, not the only topic covered in this issue, which will take you to the high seas, American Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga, to talk about aquaculture, tuna tagging, reef conservation... and even spies! I hope you will enjoy.

Aymeric Desurmont
Fisheries Information Specialist

 

 

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Katarina Baleisuva checks the broodstock in her tilapia hatchery in Fiji. (image: Avinash Singh)

In this issue

SPC ACTIVITIES

  • Release of new shark and ray identification manual (pdf: )

  • Over 16,600 tunas tagged during the July–September 2019 cruise (pdf: )

  • Beaching of drifting FADs in the WCPO: Recent science, management advice and in-country data collection programmes (pdf: )

  • Tuna, the spy who came in from the sea (pdf: )

  • RTMCF3: Working with people in support of sustainable coastal fisheries and aquaculture (pdf: )

  • Establishing a national FAD programme (pdf: )

  • Enhancing fishery officers’ communication skills (pdf: )

  • Fisheries and aquaculture stakeholders from French Pacific overseas countries and territories work together (pdf: )

  • Seaweed farmers in Solomon Islands trained in basic financial literacy (pdf: )

  • Tongan mabe pearl farmers trained in basic financial literacy (pdf: )

  • Are you ready to make a difference in the Pacific aquaculture sector? (pdf: )

  • New tilapia hatchery to boost fish production in Papua New Guinea (pdf: )

NEWS FROM IN AND AROUND THE REGION

  • Ecological and socioeconomic impacts of trochus introductions to Samoa (pdf: )

  • Progress towards conserving Tonga’s coral reefs (pdf: )

  • Fish catches in American Samoa (pdf: )

  • Establishing a community pearl oyster farm in Vatulele Village, Fiji (pdf: )

FEATURE ARTICLES

  • Exploring the market potential for Fiji’s Rewa River oysters (pdf: )

  • Creel surveys increase understanding of fisher patterns across three atolls in Kiribati (pdf: )




pdfDownload the complete publication:

Fisheries Newsletter #160 (pdf: )



 

 
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