Title
New report urges management reforms to save Fiji’s sea cucumber fishery
Author(s)
Lalavanua, Watisoni ;Mangubhai, Sangeeta ;Purcell, Steven W.
Published
2017
Publisher
SPC Fisheries Newsletter
Abstract
Sea cucumbers are one of the oldest traded commodities in Fiji, dating back 200 years (Ram et al. 2016). Due to their high economic value in China, sea cucumbers have been heavily exploited in Fiji over the past two decades (Mangubhai et al. 2017a), as they have in many other Pacific Island countries. Between 1998 and 2012, Fiji was the second largest exporter of sea cucumbers in the Pacific, and sea cucumber was the second-most valuable commodity, after tuna (Carleton et al. 2013). In the past 10 years, Fiji’s sea cucumber fishery has been evaluated in three major reports; a study made by the PROCFish project of the Pacific Community (Friedman et al. 2010), a study on the status of sea cucumber resources and fisheries management (Pakoa et al. 2013a), and a study on the economic value of sea cucumbers in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga (Carleton et al. 2013). All three concluded that Fiji’s sea cucumber fishery is overexploited and called for urgent management actions. Pakoa et al. (2013a) further recommended the finalisation and implementation of the national sea cucumber management plan to address depleted stocks. However, no management actions were taken in Fiji and the national sea cucumber management plan was drafted but is still not enacted.

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