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SPC Fisheries Newsletter #76 — January/March ‘96

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NUMBER 76JANUARY — MARCH 1996

Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE

SPC ACTIVITIES Page 2

NEWS FROM IN AND AROUND THE REGION 5

PRELIMINARY SURVEY FOR FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN Page 21FOR AITUTAKI LAGOON (COOK ISLANDS)by S. V. Matoto

POTENTIAL FOR AQUACULTURE OF BAIT IN GUAM Page 24by B. Fitzgerald

DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES FOR Page 28BOTTOMFISH IN AMERICAN SAMOA (1961–1987)by D. G. Itano

During the field survey of the Aitutaki lagoon, fish traps weredeployed to catch fish for tagging

South Pacific CommissionPrepared by the Fisheries Programme Information Section

Printed with financial assistance from the Government of France


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SPC ACTIVITIES

TWENTY-SIXTH REGIONAL TECHNICAL MEETING ON FISHERIES

The South Pacific Commission’sRegional Technical Meeting onFisheries provides the only op-portunity for senior fisheriesofficers from all member coun-tries and territories to meet anddiscuss technical aspects of fish-eries development and, throughthe exchange of experience,ideas and information, to iden-tify mutual needs and problemswhich can best be met by a re-gional approach.

The meeting assists the work ofthe Commission’s FisheriesProgramme by reviewing andcommenting on existing or pro-posed activities, formulatingnew initiatives where required,and making recommendationsfor consideration by the SPCCommittee of Representativesof Governments and Adminis-trations and, if appropriate,approval by the South PacificConference.

The Thirty-second South PacificConference (Fiji, 1992) gaveapproval for this meeting to beheld biennially.

As a result of this regular pro-cess of review and discussion,the work of the SPC FisheriesProgramme is able to retain itsrelevance to the evolving needsof Pacific Island countries andterritories. The guidance pro-vided over the years by succes-

Draft Agenda: 25th SPC Regional Technical Meeting on Fisheries

Monday 5 August – Opening formalities– Fisheries Programme Manager’s report– Technical session #1: Western Pacific Tuna Fishery overview

stock status– Technical session #2 : South Pacific Regional Tuna Resource

Assessment and Monitoring Project (SPRTRAMP)—Progress report

Tuesday 6 August – Oceanic Fisheries Programme—Overview– Technical session #3 : Report of the Sixth Meeting of the South

Pacific Albacore Research Group– Technical session #4 : Hazard analysis and critical control point

(HACCP)—regional implications

Wednesday 7 August – Coastal Fisheries Programme—Overview– Technical session #5 : Integrated Coastal Fisheries Management

Project—progress report– Technical session #6 : Use of live milkfish as longline fishing

bait, and selection of longline fishing vessels

Thursday 8 August – Coastal Fisheries Programme—Overview (continued)– Statements by other organisations– South Pacific Regional Aquaculture Programme: proposal for future

regional arrangements in aquaculture– Report on ACIAR Pearl Oyster Project– Offshore Fisheries Development Project Tripartite Review

Friday 9 August – Institutional Review in the Marine Sector—discussion/update– Future arrangements for the Regional Technical Meeting on Fisheries– Other business– Adoption of the report– Close of meeting


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SPC ACTIVITIES

The 26th SPC Regional Techni-cal Meeting on Fisheries will beheld at SPC headquarters inNoumea, New Caledonia, from5 August to 9 August 1996. Adraft agenda for the meeting,subject to modification, is shownon page 2.

sive Regional Technical Meet-ings on Fisheries has been anessential element in developingthe wide range of activities thatare undertaken by the FisheriesProgramme, which is now theSouth Pacific Commission’slargest single programme.

INFORMATION SECTION

SPC 1996 Fisheries Address Book

Our readers will remember thatthe FAO/UNDP Regional Fish-eries Support Programme(FAO RFSP) used to publishannually the well-known ‘Ad-dresses useful to Pacific Islandsfisheries personnel’. This pub-lication was very appreciated inthe region.

In 1992, the FAO RFSP ceasedits activities and the South Pa-cific Commission decided tocarry on publication of the ad-dress book. The 1996 edition isnow ready and has been distrib-uted widely in the region. Inaddition to more than 1,000addresses covering 49 countriesand territories, basic fisheries

statistics, Exclusive EconomicZone areas and a map are in-cluded for each Pacific Islandcountry or territory.

Copies of the Fisheries AddressBook can be obtained by writ-ing to the Fisheries InformationSection, South Pacific Commis-sion, B.P. D5, 98848 NoumeaCedex, New Caledonia. Pleasenote that this year, due to in-creasing mailing costs, there willbe a charge of US$ 25.00 per copyfor packing and postage. Wetrust this document will remainpopular and we are always opento suggestions for making iteven more useful.

Henry Yule leaves the Commission

Henry Yule, Fisheries Informa-tion and Training Associatewith SPC for the past year, leftthe Commission in early March1996.

During his attachment with theInformation and Training Sec-tions, Henry gained useful ex-perience. He will be putting hisnew skills to good use at theNational Fisheries Authority inPapua New Guinea.

In particular, he will certainlytake initiatives that will assistthe development of the PapuaNew Guinea fisheries sector,such as production of a news-letter on national fisheries is-

sues and coordination of thepreparation of national and re-gional training activities.

Henry’s secondment wasfunded by the French Govern-ment, which has recently reiter-ated its interest in funding thisposition for another year. Theposition is to be filled by a Pa-cific Islander from the Ministry/Department of Fisheries, or froma department involved in pro-ducing or using fisheries infor-mation, in one of the Island coun-tries and territories of the region.

Appointment will be by se-condment, for one year only.An SPC Savingram announcing

the position has been issued. Itsduties and reponsibilities asso-ciated are listed below:

☞ Maintain full familiaritywith and active participa-tion in the full range of ac-tivities being undertakenby the Information andTraining Sections of the SPCCoastal Fisheries Programme;

☞ Gather, edit and collatematerials for inclusion inthe Fisheries Education andTraining Information Bulle-tin, and assume responsi-bility for all aspects of theBulletin’s timely produc-tion on a bi-annual basis;


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SPC ACTIVITIES

☞ Prepare teaching resourcematerials for use duringfisheries training work-shops and group teachingactivities run by the Com-mission;

☞ Assist as required with theproduction of the SPC Fish-eries Newsletter and otherInformation Bulletins;

☞ Assist with the manage-ment of the Informationand Training Sections’databases;

☞ Assist with the develop-ment and management ofan internal system to storeand retrieve informationon training issues, activitiesand opportunities in theregion;

☞ In liaison with the SPC Li-brary and other staff of theFisheries Programme, re-spond to requests for infor-mation from Pacific Islandgovernments, training in-stitutions and individuals.

Applications should be ad-dressed to the Secretary-Gen-eral, South Pacific Commission,B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex,New Caledonia, and reach himno later than 15 May 1996.

Henry Yule (Fisheries Information and Training Associate) and Jean-Paul Gaudechoux (FisheriesInformation Adviser) working on the design of the SPC Fisheries Newsletter

First issue of a new Special Interest Group Bulletin on Live Reef Fish Exports

In Fisheries Newsletter #73, wementioned that the InformationSection would establish a newSpecial Interest Group on LiveReef Fish. This issue was raisedby the participants in the FFA/SPC Workshop on Manage-ment of South Pacific InshoreFisheries, which was held inNoumea last year.

Dr Bob Johannes, well known tothe readers of the Fisheries News-letter, has agreed to be the tech-nical co-ordinator of this newgroup (at least for the sectionconcerning living marine resourcesfor human consumption).

We are currently looking for acoordinator for the aquarium

fish section and we are sure thatthere is a keen and willing edi-tor just waiting for the oppor-tunity to take the reins andwork with us. If you think youcan help, please contact the In-formation Section.

The first issue of Live Reef Fishhas been printed and distrib-


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SPC ACTIVITIES

uted widely in the region. Itcovers various subjects and ar-eas of interests such as the re-gional workshop on the livereef food-fish trade in Asia andthe Western Pacific, the aqua-rium fishery in the Cook Islands,the management of Palau’saquarium life fishery, and the

environmental, economic andsocial implications of the fisheryfor live coral reef food-fish inAsia and the Western Pacific.

Contributions for the second is-sue of this Information Bulletinare sought, including: statisticson the trade, including quantities

of live fish exported or im-ported by various countries;description of efforts to run thetrade on an environmentallysustainable basis; managementmeasures; forthcoming confer-ences, workshops and otherevents; and copies of reportsand newspaper articles.

First issue of a new Special Interest Group Bulletin on FADs

The first issue of the SPC FADBulletin came out of the printeryat the end of March. If we con-sider the wide distribution of aquestionnaire to future SIGmembers in August 1995 as thestarting point of the operation,the whole process took almostnine months . . .

This first issue is organised inthree main sections:

• The first section presentsoriginal contributions on gen-eral matters. François Conand

and Emmanuel Tessier leadoff with an article on the FADprogramme of La RéunionIsland in the Indian Ocean.Then Keniichi Kikutani ex-plains the way fishermenhave set up and run their ownFAD programme throughtheir cooperative on the Japa-nese Island of Okunoshima. Itis interesting to note that, inboth cases, FADs have cre-ated an important new sourceof income for artisanal fisher-men and, in both cases also,fishermen themselves have

taken up the management ofthe FAD programme.

• The second section is dedi-cated to the technical side ofFADs, including FAD de-sign and construction, andfishing techniques. PeterCusack, SPC’s Fisheries De-velopment Adviser, presentsthe two FAD systems rec-ommended in the handbook:Rigging deep-water FADmoorings (1996). Knowinghow critical design and con-struction are for the success


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SPC ACTIVITIES

of a FAD programme, wehope that the comparison ofthe different designs willoffer enough informationand provoke sufficient de-bate to create the ‘perfectFAD’ (‘the one that cost al-most nothing and lasts for-ever’). Frédéric Leprouxpresents the latest develop-ments in the ancestral‘dropstone’ fishing techniquethat is commonly usedaround FADs by artisanalfishermen of French Poly-nesia.

• The last section is reservedfor abstracts and reviews.For the first issue, a widespectrum of subjects relatedto FADs is presented to givean idea of the richness of thesubject.

As for every publication ofSPC’s Fisheries InformationSection, a French version of thisbulletin will be published soon.Thus, it provides a unique (andfree!) opportunity for contribu-tors to reach new readers andincrease their sphere of influ-ence . . .

Readers interested in receivinga copy are invited to contact:Aymeric Desurmont, FisheriesInformation Officer, B.P. D5,98848 Noumea, New Caledonia(Fax: 687 263818 or E-mail:[email protected]).

RESOURCE ASSESSMENT SECTION

Second ICFMaP national sub-project completed

The ICFMaP team spent fiveweeks in Fiji during Februaryand March conducting fieldwork for the second nationalsub-project, which was con-cerned with determining theeffectiveness of a five-year gill-net ban along the MacuataCoast of Vanua Levu.

This area is a very rich fishingground, comprising a large bar-rier reef lagoon that extendsalong the entire northern coastof Vanua Levu. Many riversand streams drain into the la-goon, which also has abundantcoral reefs and mangrove for-ests.

The barrier reef system isknown as the Great Sea Reef. Itruns from northern VanuaLevu in an almost unbrokenchain, south to the Yasawa Is-lands off the western coast ofViti Levu.

For many years the commercialfishermen from both VanuaLevu and Viti Levu fished withinthe lagoon with gillnets, land-ing catches into the main townLabasa, or taking fish back toSuva. In 1989, concern over the

level of commercial fishing andthe effect that this was havingon local subsistence fisheries ledto the local chiefs exercisingtheir traditional authority anddeclaring a ban on commercialgillnet fishing.

This ban on gillnet fishing wasimposed in 1990, and commer-cial fishermen then switchedfrom gillnet fishing to handlinefishing along the Great Sea Reef.In the five years following theban, there have been encourag-ing signs that the lagoon fishstocks have recovered.

Consequently, advice was soughtfrom Fiji’s Fisheries Division bythe local chiefs and the MacuataProvincial Goverment on whetherthe ban should be lifted or left inplace.

Fiji’s Fisheries Division requestedthe assistance of the South Pa-cific Commission in answeringthis question, with the resultthat the ICFMaP team conducteda series of field observations inthe Macuata area between Feb-ruary and March this year.

The ICFMaP team comprisedInshore Fisheries Scientist,P. Dalzell and Fisheries ResearchAssociates Sione Matoto andEsaroma Ledua.

The team was joined later by theSenior Inshore Fisheries Scien-tist, Tim Adams, who also spenttime in Fiji to finalise somework on the analysis of a satel-lite image of Aitutaki at SOPAC.This was related to the previousICFMaP field assignment in theCook Islands during November1995.

The main activities for theICFMaP team were:

1. to conduct a series of gillnetfishing trials in the varioustraditional fishing groundsof the Macuata area to obtainbaseline information on catchrates and catch composition;


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SPC ACTIVITIES

2. to conduct creel surveys andinterviews with villagers inthe Macuata area to obtaininformation on subsistencefishing methods and catchrates, and to obtain opinionson whether the villagerswould like the ban to stay inplace or be lifted;

3. to summarise any historicaldata on commercial gillnetfishing in the Macuata area;

4. to describe the present com-mercial handline fishery inthe Labasa–Macuata areaand summarise catch–effortand economic data fromcommercial fishing by col-lecting data from landingsites and fish dealers;

5. to draft a preliminary sum-mary of the results of the fieldwork and, based on these,recommend future manage-ment strategies for the Macuatafishing grounds.

Gillnet fishing was conductedfrom the Fiji Fisheries Divisionvessel Gonedau at four differentsites in the Macuata area(Macuata, Sasi, Mali and Labasa)between Monday and Thurs-day each week over a four-week period. Fishing was con-ducted around the clock, withthe nets being set at high tideand retrieved at low tide sixhours later.

This meant that it was usuallypossible to make between sixand seven different sets duringthe three days each week whengillnet fishing was carried outand to compare day versusnight catches. Three differentmesh sizes (2 in, 3 in & 4 in [1 in= 2.54 cm]) were used to obtaininformation on mesh selectivity.After each set the catches weresorted to species, and lengthand weight of each individualspecimen were recorded. Ancil-

lary information on water tem-perature and salinity was alsocollected, to provide a salinityprofile from the coast out to theGreat Sea Reef.

After returning to Labasa everyThursday, some of the ICFMaPteam would spend time in thevarious villages during Fridayand Saturday, collecting infor-mation on subsistence fishing.Other team members spenttime in Labasa collecting infor-mation from the commercialhandline fishery and enteringthe various data sets into com-puter files.

Most commercial fishing is con-ducted from 28 foot (8.4 m) die-sel powered launches, with acrew of 2–3 fishermen. Thesevessels depart from Labasa,usually on a Monday and re-turn within 7–8 days, depend-ing on fishing conditions. Catchrecords from these vessels wereobtained during the period theICFMaP team was in Labasa, aswell as some smaller data setsfor fishermen handlining fromdinghies and a group of spearfishermen from Mali Island.Records were collected at land-ing sites, retail stores and theLabasa market.

Interviews were also conductedwith commercial fishing opera-tors to obtain information ondetails of fishing methods andcosts of fishing and to solicitopinions on whether the gillnetban should remain in force.

Most people were in favour ofmaintaining the gillnet ban.They felt a return to gillnet fish-ing would probably lead to an-other ban in a few years’ timewhen nearshore stocks were onceagain depleted. The commercialfishermen have made the changeto line fishing and are unwillingto go to the expense of re-equip-ping their vessels for gillnetfishing if the future is likely tobe uncertain.

The commercial fishermen sella lot of their catch locally inLabasa and surrounding towns,but two operators in Labasaalso send fish by road and ferryto Suva, where it is sold to stores,roadside vendors, hotels andrestaurants. The scale of theseoperations was quite interestingand suggested possible modelsfor fisheries development else-where in the Pacific.

During the final week of theassignment, the ICFMaP teamfished within the Labasa estu-ary, an area where commercialgillnet fishing is not banned.This was done to make somecomparison with fishing on theMali, Sasa and Macuata fishinggrounds, where the ban is inplace. Subsistence gillnetting isstill permitted in these areas,subject to permission from thechiefs, but is only employed togenerate large volumes of fishfor village feasts and is conductedinfrequently.

Following the end of the fieldwork, the ICFMaP team assem-bled to review a summary re-port of the findings and recom-mendations arising from these


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SPC ACTIVITIES

activities. This was then pre-sented to the staff of the Fisher-ies Division office in Labasa fortheir comments, and was latercarried by Mr Ledua to Suva topresent to the Division’s Direc-tor of Fisheries and PrincipalFisheries Officer.

The main recommendation aris-ing from this assignment was

that the commercial gillnet banshould remain in place. The vil-lagers in the Macuata area re-ported noticeable improve-ments in subsistence fishing fol-lowing the ban and commercialfishermen are unlikely to switchback to commercial gillnet fish-ing, having successfully adaptedto handline fishing on the GreatSea Reef.

The ICFMaP team will draft adetailed technical report in thenear future which will containsummaries of all the data col-lected during this assignmentand the various recommenda-tions pertaining to subsistenceand commercial fishing in theMacuata area.

Publication of Workshop Proceedings

The South Pacific Commissionand Forum Fisheries Agencyconvened a Workshop on theManagement of South PacificInshore Fisheries between 26June and 7 July 1995.

Over one hundred papers, in-cluding country statements, back-ground papers and keynote ad-dresses, were presented duringthe two-week meeting.

The Workshop was the firstmajor forum to address the man-agement of inshore fisheries inthe tropical insular Pacific andcomplemented the Commis-sion’s previous workshop, heldin 1988, on the biology and as-sessment of the region’s coastalfisheries resources. The 18 coun-

try statements and 76 back-ground papers from the Man-agement Workshop have nowbeen published in two 70-pagevolumes, with all papers in theiroriginal language and a trans-lation where this was available.

To facilitate timely publication,these proceedings were pub-lished as ‘manuscript collec-tions’; that is, the papers weresimply collated and publishedin the form they were presentedto the meeting. The two vol-umes are published as Inte-grated Coastal Fisheries Manage-ment Project Technical Docu-ments Nos. 11 and 12 and canbe obtained from the Distribu-tion Assistant at the South Pa-cific Commission.

The two volumes are availablefor no cost, but postal chargesare as follows: special airmailrate (Europe only), 4000 cfp, sur-face mail (rest of world excludingEurope), 2000 CFP. Normal air-mail postage rates are availableon request, but are likely to ex-ceed 7500 CFP.

Payment for the proceedingsshould be by internationalmoney order or bank cheque inPacific francs (CFP) or US dol-lars. The exchange rate is ap-proximately 100 CFP= US$ 1.00. Afurther volume from the work-shop is in preparation; it willcontain the meeting narrativeand the invited keynote ad-dresses.

CAPTURE SECTION

Stephen Beverly joins SPC as Masterfisherman

Before taking up the position ofMasterfisherman with the SouthPacific Commission in March1996, Steve Beverly was involvedin the commercial tuna fishingindustry in Hawaii and Fiji, andin Guam as a skipper and fish-ing master of a tuna longlineboat for a year.

Steve is not new to the Commis-sion, as he has undertaken con-sultancies for the Coastal Fisher-ies Programme in the past, par-ticularly in the area of tuna cap-

ture fisheries development, FADtechnology, and training activi-ties in these areas.

Before turning to commercialtuna fishing, Steve taught biol-ogy, oceanography and physi-cal science at intermediate andsecondary-school level in vari-ous schools in Honolulu, Ha-waii.

Steve has a Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Zoology, a Master’sticket to command offshore

fishing vessels, and a secondaryschool teaching certificate. Hehas brought with him extensiveexperience in commercial fish-ing, tuna development, andcommercial fishing vessel op-eration and management.

Steve, who is from Hawaii, willbe working with the Commis-sion’s Coastal Fisheries Pro-gramme for a contract period ofthree years.


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SPC ACTIVITIES

Tuna longline assistance for FSM

The National Fishing Corpora-tion (NFC) of the Federated Statesof Micronesia recently reiter-ated its request for assignmentof an experienced tuna longlineskipper to assist in improvingthe catching performance oftwo vessels in the national fleet.These vessels are equipped withUS monofilament longline gearand have consistently failed tomatch the catching capacity ofthe rest of the NFC fleet.

The Capture Section initiallyresponded to the request througha visit by the Fisheries Develop-ment Adviser, in February 1996.

Following this visit, the Section’snewly recruited Masterfisherman,Steve Beverly, was assigned towork with NFC in March 1996for two months initially, to ac-commodate this request.

Steve’s work will focus on pro-viding hands-on training to thecrew on the use and operationof LP gear system, with particu-lar emphasis on fishing gearconstruction, vessel and equip-ment operation and layout, set-ting and hauling proceduresand seamanship, and also in-cluding any other aspects ofcommercial tuna longlining op-erations.

Tuna longline attachment training for two FSM nationals

To further support and pro-mote the initiation and develop-ment of a viable domestic tunalonglining fishing industry inFSM, the Capture Section, in re-sponse to a request from FSM’sMicronesian Longline FishingCompany (MLFC) was also ableto arrange and make fundingavailable under the OffshoreFisheries Development Projectfor a training attachment of twoFSM nationals in Hawaii.

The training attachment fo-cused initially on an introduc-tory course to tuna longliningoperation, after which the train-ees were employed on Hawai-ian commercial tuna longlinefleets for six months. The coursewas conducted as a commercialventure by Ocean Producers In-ternational.

The purpose of the training at-tachment was to enable FSMnationals to acquire the relevantpractical experience in a com-mercial tuna longlining opera-tion, in order to be able to mandomestic tuna longline fishingboats within the national fleet.

Milkfish farming takes on a new life

Farming milkfish to providelongline bait seems to be boom-ing in Guam. As reported in thearticle by Bill Fitzgerald whichappears on page 24 of this issue,possible earnings of US$8.5 mil-lion/year are projected for theindustry from the growth andsupply of 20 million pieces/year of live milkfish to thelongliners calling at Guam foroffloading and re-supply.

Two large farms are currentlyoperating, both of which importpigmented fry (about 1 monthold and 2 cm long) from Tai-wan, and grow out the fish to15 cm over 45–90 days onpelletised feed. When bait are tobe transported to vessels, theyare loaded into canvas bins

(about 1 m3 ) on a flatbed truckfitted with an aeration systemusing compressed air flowingfrom a bottle.

About 2,000 fish are loaded intoeach bin. At the dock the fish arepumped into the vessel’s for-ward hold using a canvas hoseof about 200 mm diameter; al-though they go from 18 ppt sa-linity to straight seawater with-out any acclimatisation, lossesare reported as less than one percent. In use as baitfish the fishare hooked under the dorsal fin,and are reported to survive forlong periods.

Meanwhile Guam’s AquacultureDevelopment and Training Center(GADTC) has reared milkfish

broodstock that are now eightyears old. These are expected tospawn this (northern) summer.The hatchery presently has thephysical capacity to produceone million fry/year and is work-ing towards expanding its ca-pacity to five million fry/year.GADTC’s aim is to produceand supply fry to local farmers.

The rapid growth of milkfishfarming on Guam follows re-ports that Taiwanese longlinersusing live milkfish achieveCPUE rates three to five times


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higher than those achieved withfrozen bait. While there are asyet few hard catch data avail-able to back this statement, it isclear that Taiwanese vessel op-erators are now reluctant to useagents in Guam who are notable to supply live bait.

If the reports of the effectivenessof live milkfish can be verified,this development has impor-tant implications both for cur-rent Pacific-based transshippers

SPC ACTIVITIES

elsewhere and for establishedand emerging domestic longlineoperations. The advantages ofestablishing live bait farmsmight include: improved catchrates; foreign exchange savingson imported bait; reliability ofsupply for domestic fleets; in-creased or sustained levels oflongliner port calls for trans-shippers; and the potential forlocal entrepreneurs going intomilkfish aquaculture to gener-ate substantial revenues.

The Capture Section is currentlygathering more information onlive bait use. Methods used in-clude collaborating with theSPC Oceanic Fisheries observerprogramme and monitoring therecent trials with live milkfishbait in the Hawaii longline fishery.

TRAINING SECTION

Safety-at-sea campaign update

The first phase of the safety-at-sea campaign material produc-tion is near completion. Due tothe extensive and very positiveresponse from the region, it ishoped that funds can be identi-fied for a second phase of thisvery important work. The SPCFisheries Training Section hasreceived a large number of let-ters expressing appreciation forthe campaign materials.

The response from competentpeople in the region is of greatvalue to our work. The TrainingSection in return will try to re-spond appropriately. For ourcontinued efforts in the area ofsafety at sea, ideas and propos-als relating to deeply-felt needsin this area are warmly wel-comed.

The English version of the lasttwo videos in the safety seriesshould by now have reached allusers on our mailing list. If youhave not received copies butwould like to use them in edu-cation, training or extension,please feel free to write to us.The two last films distributedare:

Better safe than sorry: a video thatrelates the story of two fisher-men who are close friends. These

fishers have completely opposedapproaches to safety at sea –one, Jone, always plays it safewhen at sea; the other, Rambo,is careless. The story is pure fic-tion, but many Pacific Islandsartisanal fishermen could rec-ognise themselves in one of thetwo main characters—and pos-sibly more in Rambo than inJone!

Survival at sea—A Kiribati tale:tells the true story of threei-Kiribati fishermen who driftedfor seven months on a smallfishing boat between Kiribatiand Western Samoa. One diedat sea but two survived. Thisstory provides the manager ofSPC’s Fisheries Programmewith the opportunity to discussthe issue of safety at sea forsmall-boat operators.

The French versions of thesetwo films are expected to beready during the second quar-ter of 1996.

The Fisheries Programme train-ing video collection now con-tains the following 10 titles:

1. An icy tale: chilling fish onboard,

2. A chilling story: handling fishin the processing plant,

3. Trolling fish with natural bait,

4. Bottomfishing with hydraulics,

5. On-board handling of sashimi-grade tuna,

6. Air-freighting of chilled fish,

7. A visit to the fish market,

8. Once upon a fish stall,

9. Better safe than sorry,

10. Survival at sea: a Kiribati tale.

Anyone interested in obtainingcopies of the materials producedor in assisting with in-countrypromotion of safety-at-sea is-sues should contact SPC’s Fish-eries Training Section.


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SPC ACTIVITIES

Regional workshop on business management for trainers of small-boat operators

A regional workshop on smallfishing business managementwas organised by the FisheriesTraining Section at the VanuatuFisheries Training Centre inSanto from 18 to 26 March. Theworkshop was attended by 14fisheries officers from 11 PacificIsland countries and territo-ries namely Fiji, Kiribati,Niue, Palau, Papua NewGuinea (3 trainees), SolomonIslands, Tonga (2 trainees),Tuvalu, Vanuatu, WesternSamoa, and the FederatedStates of Micronesia.

The purpose of the work-shop was to equip the par-ticipants with the necessaryskills and resource materi-als to develop and imple-ment their in-country train-ing programme on businessmanagement for small-boatoperators.

To achieve this, the work-shop was operated in aparticipatory manner, withlearning outcomes beingachieved through small-group discussions, role playsand daily learning reviews.The following topics were cov-ered during the first part of theworkshop: basic arithmetic, fi-nancial management of small-fishing business (accountingand banking principles, boatoperation costs, feasibility stud-ies, record-keeping, use of aspreadsheet for commercial fish-ing operations), as well as exten-sion and communication skills

(role of the extension officer,how to get ideas accepted, one-to-one communication).

The second part of the work-shop focused on the develop-ment of resource materials, withthe SPC fishing log-book and

teaching manual being re-viewed and appraised by theparticipants.

On the last day of the work-shop, the trainees drafted an in-country training programmewhich, for most of them, willconsist of a series of short coursestargeting small-scale fishers orfisheries extension officers. The

course materials (fishing log-book, teaching manual andspreadsheet) will shortly be fi-nalised and printed by SPC be-fore their distribution to theworkshop participants and to allfisheries departments and train-ing institutions in the region.

The Fisheries Training Sec-tion will also be in a posi-tion to financially supportthe in-country follow-upprogrammes through theprovision of small grants.It is expected that most ofthe in-country programmeswill have been imple-mented by the end of 1996.

The Fisheries Training Sec-tion is grateful to the staffof the Vanuatu FisheriesTraining Centre for theirfriendly co-operation andfor the provision of theirsuperb facilities, to the work-shop tutors, Chris Turner(School of Business and Ac-counting, Nelson Polytech-nic) and Captain AlastairRobertson (New ZealandSchool of Fisheries, NelsonPolytechnic) for their valu-

able input, to the well knownex-FETA and commercial fish-erman, and of course to the do-nors, the United Nations Devel-opment Programme (UNDP) forthe overall funding of the work-shop and the CommonwealthSecretariat and the German Fundfor Technical Cooperation(GTZ) for the funding of threeparticipants.


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SPC ACTIVITIES

OCEANIC FISHERIES PROGRAMME

Sixth meeting of the South Pacific Albacore Research group

The sixth meeting of the SouthPacific Albacore Research (SPAR)group was held in Rarotonga(Cook Islands) from 6 to 8March 1996. It was attended byscientists from American Sa-moa, Australia, Cook Islands,Fiji, French Polynesia, Japan,Niue, Solomon Islands, Taiwan,Tonga, United States of America,Western Samoa, and the ForumFisheries Agency.

The Oceanic Fisheries Pro-gramme (OFP) of the South Pa-cific Commission acted as secre-tariat. The meeting was chairedby Mr Albert Caton of the Aus-tralian Bureau of ResourceSciences.

The meeting firstreviewed thefisheries, theavailability offisheries data,and recent re-search. It thenaddressed the sta-tus of the south Pacificalbacore stock and futureresearch priorities. The follow-ing statement concerning thestatus of the South Pacificalbacore stock was adopted bythe meeting.

Fishery outlook

The record-high catch of SouthPacific albacore (52,000 mt) oc-curred in 1989. Of this catch,about 20,000 mt was taken bythe driftnet fleet. Since the mora-torium on driftnet fishing, thetotal catch has declined to about30,000 mt per year. For the lastthree years for which data areavailable (1992–1994), the totalannual catch was steady at32,000–34,000 mt. Over thesethree years, the annual longline

catch has been constant at about27,000 mt. The performance ofthe New Zealand and the Sub-Tropical Convergence Zone(STCZ) troll fisheries has beenvariable.

Over the next few years, long-line catches are likely to be sta-ble. The Taiwanese catch maydecrease somewhat if the alba-core price drops and more ofthese vessels switch to yellow-fin and bigeye targeting.

On the other hand, continueddevelopment of domestic, small-

scale longline fleets in PacificIsland countries may see somecompensatory increases in catchfrom this source. The troll fish-ery in the STCZ is likely to reactto the poor 1995/96 season withfewer American vessels partici-pating in 1996/97.

However, more Canadian trollersmay join the three Canadianvessels that participated in1995/96. The New Zealand trollfishery has recorded above-av-erage catches for the past twoseasons, which may encouragesome increase in effort next sea-son.

Overall, no major changes areforecast for the fishery over thenext few years, and the outlookis for reasonably stable catchesat about the current level, bar-ring a major change in the eco-nomic climate or catch rates.

Indicators of stock condition

The meeting considered a rangeof information potentially use-ful for evaluating stock condi-tion. The information is in sev-eral categories: nominal andstandardised catch per unit ofeffort (CPUE) time series, analy-sis of tagging data, and analy-

sis of catch, effort and sizecomposition data us-

ing the SPARCLE(South Pacific

AlbacoreResearchCatch-at-Length Es-

t i m a t o r )model.

• The Taiwanesefleet is the longline fleet

that has most consistently tar-geted albacore over the pe-riod of the fishery, althoughthere has been some recentshifting to yellowfin and big-eye targeting by some ves-sels. The CPUE of this fleettherefore remains the mostuseful indicator of stock con-dition. Taiwanese longlineCPUE declined during thelate 1960s and early 1970s.Since then, nominal andstandardised time series showno clear trend, but consider-able inter-annual variability.The lowest CPUEs were re-corded during 1989–1991;they recovered to higher lev-els in 1992–1994.


13

SPC ACTIVITIES

• The Japanese longline fleettargeted albacore in the 1960s,but have targeted yellowfinand bigeye since the early1970s. Nevertheless, the alba-core CPUE in recent years(mid-1980s on) should be auseful indicator, as targetingpractices during this periodhave not changed to anydegree. Albacore CPUE byJapanese longliners shows astrong increase from 1991 to1994, particularly in thetropical area of the fishery.

• The American troll fisherytargets albacore seasonallyin the STCZ. CPUE hasshown considerable varia-tion. CPUE declined from1986/87 to 1992/93, beforerecovering to a high level in1994/95. While no data areyet available, CPUE for the1995/96 season is believedto be low. The interpretationof troll fishery CPUE is con-founded by the limited dis-tribution of the fishery inrelation to the stock and thestrong influence of environ-mental conditions on theavailability of fish.

• Tagging experiments car-ried out in the STCZ, NewZealand coastal waters andthe Tasman Sea have resultedin low tag recoveries (lessthan one per cent of releases),with most recoveries madeby longliners. On face value,the data are suggestive oflow surface fishery exploita-tion in relation to the long-line fishery. Attrition model

analysis can provide esti-mates of mortality rates, as-suming that the tagged fishare representative of thepopulation. Such an analysisof the longline returns sug-gests a total mortality rate of0.4–0.6 yr-1. The estimatedexploitation rate depends onthe assumed level of tag re-porting (and survival fromother forms of tag loss); therate ranges from about 0.02(70 per cent reporting) to0.13 (10 per cent reporting).

• The length-based age-struc-tured analysis using theSPARCLE model providesconsiderable new informa-tion on the condition of thestock. As questions remainregarding some aspects ofdata quality and further workon the model is planned, themodel results should be con-sidered preliminary. The re-sults indicate that recent av-erage exploitation rates arein the range 4–8 per cent.They are thus consistentwith the range of likely ex-ploitation rates estimatedfrom tagging data. Totalmortality estimates are alsoreasonably consistent withthose obtained from taggingdata. The recruitment timeseries shows considerablevariation (possibly linkedwith environmental condi-tions), but little indication ofa long-term trend. Varia-tions in total biomass appearto have been largely drivenby recruitment, with littleobservable impact on the

fisheries. At current levels offishing, there is unlikely tobe an observable impact onthe surface fishery by thelongline fishery.

Condition of the stock

Total catches of South Pacificalbacore have been stable overthe past several years, althoughthe success of the troll fishery inthe STCZ has been variable.Longline CPUE has been stableor increasing in recent years,and there is no evidence fromthese data that the current lev-els of fishing are adversely af-fecting the stock. Nor is thereany indication that the driftnetcatches of the late 1980s andearly 1990s have had a signifi-cant impact on the stock or onthe longline fishery.

Analyses of tagging data and alength-based age-structuredmodel provide reasonably con-sistent estimates of growth andmortality rates, which confirmthat albacore are slow- growingand long-lived relative to thetropical tunas. The fisheriespotential of albacore is thereforemore restricted by comparisonwith these species.

The tagging and age-structuredmodels also provide a prelimi-nary indication that the currentexploitation rate is relativelylow, probably less than 10 percent per year. This providesfurther evidence that the cur-rent level of fishing can be sus-tained.

Age and growth of tunas

On the occasion of the SPARmeeting, tag recovery data fromalbacore were used in an analy-sis of growth, movement andmortality (Ref.: 6th SPAR Work-shop, W.P. 3; Bertignac, Lehodey& Hampton).

In the past, growth rates of southPacific albacore have been esti-mated from caudal vertebrae,otolith increments and lengthfrequency. While there is a cor-respondence between growthrates estimated using caudal

vertebrae and length frequency(in the hypothesis of annual co-horts), the analysis of dailygrowth increment counts onotoliths provides conflicting re-sults. The present analysis sup-ports the view that the growth


14

SPC ACTIVITIES

rate proposed from incrementcounts of otoliths is too high byan order of 2. Furthermore, theestimates of the growth param-eters, L and K, are consistent

with the estimates obtainedfrom length-frequency analysis.

A biological technician will jointhe SPRTRAMP programme in

Tuna oceanography

Today, we can take advantageof the increasing reliability andavailability of oceanographicdata to analyse the relationshipbetween the distribution of tunaand the oceanic environment.Such a study is in progress forthe skipjack fisheries in the Pa-cific Ocean.

In addition to the use of the pa-rameters (temperature, thermo-cline, oxygen) generally takeninto account in this type of study,a general transport model basedon the advection-diffusionequation was developed to in-vestigate the hypothesis that re-distribution by general oceaniccirculation results in concentra-tion zones of tuna forage.

The first runs of the modelshowed interesting zones of con-vergence in the two major sur-face fishing zones of the tropi-cal Pacific (west and east) ex-ploited by purse seiners. Thepreliminary results of the modelwere presented to a seminarorganised by the Pelagic Fisher-ies Research Program of theUniversity of Hawaii, 28–30 No-vember 1995.

So far, the model has usedmonthly climatological series ofdata (i.e., data of several yearsaveraged by month) and hasbeen limited to 20°N–20°S. Toincrease the coverage of thisarea and to analyse the inter-annual variability, particularly

April. With this new staff mem-ber, the OFP will be able to carryout laboratory work on thegrowth of tuna species (initiallyyellowfin and bigeye).

the influence of ENSO (El NiñoSouthern Oscillation) events, onthe dynamic of the fisheries,actual time series of data gen-erated by general oceanic circu-lation models are sought.

The algorithm of the model hasbeen improved so that it cantake account of these long seriesof monthly data, as well as thesea surface temperature, thedepth of the thermocline andthe depth of an oxygen limitvalue.


15

NEWS FROM IN & AROUND THE REGION

BARRAMUNDI FRY FARMING

INTRODUCTION

In 1984, the Pacific OceanologicalCentre (COP) (IFREMER, Ta-hiti) started a research pro-gramme on tropical sea-fishfarming. After testing a numberof local and imported species,an imported one, the barra-mundi: Lates calcarifer (Aquacopet al., 1990; 1991) was chosen.This species occurs in South-East Asia and northern Aus-tralia, where there is a fisheryand a farming industry.

After nine years of research, thebiological and physiologicalknowledge required to developfarming techniques suited bothto the species and to island andlagoon environments is nowavailable in a report on farmingmethods and in a technical andeconomic study of the industryas a whole (Pierson et al., 1994).

Depending on the needs whicharise within any particularproject, fry production can becarried out either intensively orsemi-intensively in a hatcheryor under extensive conditions.

In the former case, the larvae areraised under controlled condi-tions (temperature, light, salin-ity, food, preventive treatment,etc.). This method requires ma-jor capital investment and spe-cialised labour, inducing highrunning costs.

The extensive technique used inthe USA for the red drum(Sciaenops ocellatta), for example,or in Australia for Lates calcariferrelies upon natural productionof plankton in fertilized earth-walled ponds. Since this systemrequires neither a hatchery, nora unit to produce live prey, capi-tal investment and runningcosts are relatively low.

On the other hand, this type offarm cannot be reliably dupli-cated, because it is basically de-pendent on weather conditions,a factor over which control can-not be exercised.

When the demand for fry is low,this technique makes it possibleto develop a small-scale fishproduction activity, at low cost.This was the choice made inTahiti by the Société d’Aquacul-ture du Pacifique (Aquacop)which has an aquacultural ven-ture covering approximately 10ha, producing freshwater prawns(Macrobrachium rosenbergii) andsaltwater prawns (Penaeus styli-rostris).

Since it wishes to diversify, thiscompany has introduced Latescalcarifer farming on a smallscale (objective: 20 t per year) inorder to test both the requiredtechniques and the market. Af-ter some trials carried out atIFREMER/COP, the techniquewas transferred to Aquapac.

LARVAL BREEDING

The pond

Farming takes place in an earth-walled pond, 1 to 1.5 m deep,filled with seawater. The pondshould be between 1,000 and1,500 m2 in area. Its drainagesystem should be fitted with awater-filtering system in order

to be able to empty the pondwithout losing the fry. The bot-tom of the pond should slopesufficiently for rapid waterdrainage at the end of the emp-tying process. A concrete chan-nel or a simple ditch for fishconcentration purposes willmake it easier to harvest fry.

Plankton production

After emptying the pond, itshould be filled with seawaterpumped through a 500 µ filterto avoid the introduction ofpredators. The pond should befilled eight to nine days beforethe larvae are introduced. Itshould be fertilized from theoutset in order to encourage thephytoplankton bloom whichwill provide the zooplankton’ssource of nutrition. Organic (fishfood) or mineral (NPK agricul-tural) fertilizer may be used.Fertilization is to be continuedthroughout the farming cycle.

An inoculum from a pondwhere a bloom has already de-veloped may help start the ini-tial production of phyto- andzooplankton. The weather con-ditions are the most importantsingle factor; sunlight is neces-sary for the phytoplankton,comprising chiefly chlorellaeand diatoms, to develop. Thezooplankton is primarily formedof rotifers and copepods.

Lates calcarifer


16


Larval breeding

The pond is seeded withL. calcarifer larvae 48 hours afterhatching, at a density of 100 lar-vae per litre. The larvae mustgradually be acclimatised to thephysical and chemical param-eters of the ponds (temperature,salinity, pH) during the trans-fer.

Two-day-old larvae have anopen mouth and a functionaldigestive system and are mo-bile. They will therefore be ableto feed as soon as they are re-leased in the pond and will seekthe areas which are most fa-vourable to their development(shade, still water, optimumtemperature, etc.).

During grow-out, daily tem-perature, salinity and pH meas-urements make it possible tomaintain the most favourableconditions for the plankton tothrive. Should these parametersvary significantly, partial re-placement of the water can pre-vent a shrinkage in the phyto-plankton community. In theevent of heavy rain, it may benecessary to stir up the water inthe pond, in order to avoidstratification between fresh andsalt water.

Harvesting the fry

Harvesting takes place approxi-mately three weeks after seed-ing. The pond is emptied andthe fry are harvested in the con-centrator , using a scoopnet.

The rate of survival is very vari-able. During various trials car-ried out at COP, it ranged from3 to 15 per cent, basically de-pending on weather conditions.

Aquapac has achieved survivalrates of between 20 and 50 percent with subsequent batches.The average weight of a three-

week old fry is 250 mg, with,however, a relatively widerange of sizes, which encour-ages cannibalism. Earth-pondrearing should not therefore bea prolonged process. After har-vesting, the fry should be sortedinto size groups in order to re-duce the risk of cannibalismduring the nursery phase.

The average weight of fry is sig-nificantly higher than that ob-tained in hatcheries with inten-sive or semi-intensive rearingmethods. This makes it possibleto wean the young fish veryrapidly, with a low mortalityrate, and to considerably reducethe length of the nursery period,with the juveniles being placedin a grow-out cage 60 days af-ter hatching.

CONCLUSION

This method of producing fryhas a number of advantages:

• capital investment and la-bour requirements are small;

• it does not require inten-sive production of phyto-plankton and live prey;

• it makes it possible to pro-duce completely disease-free fish;

• the fry produced are, at anidentical age, larger andheavier than those pro-duced by intensive rear-ing and the production cy-cle is reduced by three tofour weeks;

• it requires very little energy.

All these advantages make itpossible to substantially reducethe cost of rearing fry and ob-tain a ready supply, makingcage grow-out trials and markettesting possible without incur-ring excessive financial risk.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AQUACOP, J. FUCHS, G. NEDELEC &E. GASSET. (1990). Selectionon finfish species as candi-date for aquaculture inFrench Polynesia. In: Ad-vances in tropical aquacul-ture, Tahiti, 20 February –4 March 1989. IFREMER,Actes de colloque No. 9,461–484.

AQUACOP, E. THOUARD, G. NEDELEC,A. BENNETT & P. SOLETCNIK

(1991). Status of tropical fin-fish mariculture at IFREMER.In:, Advances in Finfishand Shellfish Mariculture:Proceedings of the FirstPhilippines–French Tech-nical Workshop on Ad-vances in Finfish and Shell-fish Mariculture, 24–26 Oc-tober 1990, Los Baños,Laguna, Philippines. Eds.R.D. Guerrero & M.P.Garcia. PCAMBRD Bookseries No. 12. 172 p.

CHAMBERLAIN, G. W., R. J. MIGET

& M.G. HABY. (1987). Pondrearing of barramundi lar-vae. Austasia Aquaculture5(8): 19–21.

PIERSON R., E. THOUARD & G.NEDELEC. (1994). L’élevagedu loup tropical (Latescalcarifer, Bloch) en Polyné-sie française. Approchetechnico-économique. Rap-port Interne IFREMER, RI/DRV 94.16. 106 p.

(Source: J.L Martin, IFREMER)


17


PORT LINCOLN TUNA OPERATORBRINGS HOME A RECORD A$ MILLION CASH

Last year, Hagen Stehr boughta Japanese-built fish cage, pos-sibly the largest in the world, af-ter it had failed to attract a buyerfor three years. ‘The Russianswere supposed to buy it’, hesaid. ‘But it was a one-off cage,and very expensive, and theydidn’t have the money. Then itwas offered to a couple of othercountries without success.

‘I became aware that it was avail-able, made a deal with the Japa-nese, and got it for a reasonableprice, not knowing if it wasgoing to work. Everyone elsethought it was too big’, he said,‘but I took a gamble’.

The first phase of the operationwas to locate the fishing grounds.Some 30 km off Eucla, at thehead of the Great AustralianBight, spotter planes reportedup to a hundred schools of 30to 100 t in one day, suggestingthat southern bluefin numbersthis year could be the best indecades. On Boxing Day, Angel-ica S, a 40-tonne trawler with a12-man crew and Marcus Stehrat the wheel, left Port Lincolnfor Eucla, towing the enormousoctagonal cage, some 80 macross and 40 m deep.

Angelica S caught up to 1,000tuna a day (using pole and line),at around 18 kg on average, re-leasing them into the cage. Thenbegan a harrowing two weekstowing what Hagen describedas the ‘monstrous’ cage, con-taining about 150 t of fish, some

800 km from the head of theGreat Australian Bight to PortLincoln.

It was a dangerous and com-plex operation, with logisticproblems as well as those posedby sharks and some truly terri-ble weather, with Hagen, onshore, keeping in close contactwith his son on the boat.

‘The fish go into a pattern in thecage. When you stop, they haveto change their behaviour andswim another way. They swimin circles, you see. While thecage is going forward they swimin a certain way; when it stopsthey have to swim differently.

And if there is a weather change,or if you enter a strong current,they could freak out. It’s a verydelicate operation’. The cagedtuna were fed about 40 t of pil-chards on the long tow home.When they are fed, Hagen said,the water ‘just erupts; it’s likepiranha in the Amazon’.

The young tuna have now beentransferred to two pontoon cagesnear Boston Island, to be fedand fattened for four or five

months, when they will be readyto be sold on the lucrative Japa-nese market at A$45,000 toA$50,000 a tonne.

Hagen Stehr justifiably believesthat the success of this complexoperation is a significant stepforward for the tuna farmingindustry which, he says is still‘in a very steep learning curve’.

His successful gamble was soimportant because ‘it was thebiggest catch ever towed intoPort Lincoln; the cage was so bigand we had such bad weather’.

Tuna farming in Port Lincolnhas had a meteoric rise since thefirst farm was established fouryears ago. Seven tonnes wereproduced in the first year; thisyear exports are expected toreach around 3,000 t. Almost toa thousand people are now in-volved in the industry. Withfive major companies and a lotof small one-farm operatorswho produce 20–30 t, there arenow around 50 tuna farms inBoston Bay.

(Source: Professional Fisherman,March 1996)

HOUSING FOR 100,000 CLAMS COMPLETED IN MARSHALL ISLANDS

The new clam facility situated atthe Robert Reimers Long Islandsite has been completed and isready for housing up to 100,000clams a year at saleable size.

Reimers began its diversifica-tion into the ‘clam business’ tenyears ago with the food marketin mind. The Tridacna gigas gi-ant clam, however, takes seven

years to mature to a size whichyields the prized adductor mus-cle. After much time, the researchteams at Reimers discoveredthat the aquarium trade is a much


18


more lucrative business, withsome species of clam selling fromUS$ 25 to US$ 100 each in storesall over the world. Until now,clams have been a very rare com-modity, with supply limited toa very few sources.

The giant clams are bred andreared for four months (theyhave 40:1 chance of survival atthis stage), then harvested andtransported to the Long Islandfacility, where they grow toexport size. (Here they have a7:1 chance of survival.)

The clams' development is de-pendent on space, waterflowand sunlight, all of which aremonitored by biologists DaveAnderson and Bill Bridgeland.The clams live in sea-water tankswhich pump water directly fromthe ocean.

Because the clam grow by aprocess of photosynthesis, theshade-cloth covering the tanksonly cuts out 50 per cent of thesunlight. T. maxima andT. squamosa are the predomi-nant varieties being bred.

It has taken a long time to findan appropriate market andproduct, but according to PeterGigante, General Manager forRRE, ‘There are export oppor-tunities here in the Marshalls iftime and funding are available,but above all it requires persist-

ent research experimentationand creative will-power’.

Reimers will sell its clams viatrade magazines and other meth-ods. They will sell directly toconsumers in addition to dis-tributors and retail shops, therebyensuring high manufacturingvolume by influencing prices atthe retail level.

Eventually, different size rangesof clam will be available for sale,as those not sold in any one yearwill grow larger. Research intohow to breed the more popularblue and green clams couldprove fruitful. Reimers also planto export coral; this too dependson appropriate research.

(Source: The Marshall Islands Jour-nal, 9 February 1996)

AUSTRALIA–PALAU AGREEMENT ON SURVEILLANCE COOPERATION

On 21 November 1995 Presi-dent Nakamura met with theAustralian Defense Delegationto execute a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) betweenthe two governments. The MOUrecorded the understandingsreached between the Govern-ment of Australia and the Gov-ernment of Palau concerningPalau’s participation in the Pa-cific Patrol Boat Project as partof surveillance cooperationwith Australia.

Under the MOU, the Govern-ment of Australia will provideone vessel to Palau, to be handedover on 25 May 1996. Australiawill also provide advisers for aninitial period of two years andmore in the future as may beagreeable to both governments.They will advise the Republicon the introduction into serviceof its vessel and the establish-ment of facilities, a surveillancesystem, operational proceduresand a maintenance system.

Under the MOU, and prior todelivery of the vessel, the Gov-ernment of Palau will be respon-sible for the establishment ofsurveillance and managementsystems required for the effec-tive operation of the vessel.

In addition, the government ofAustralia will arrange, and infact is currently conducting, ap-propriate training in Australiafor the vessel’s crew and staffnominated for the Governmentof Palau.

Australia’s Pacific Patrol BoatProject has benefited other Pa-cific nations, including CookIslands, Federated States of Mi-cro-nesia, Fiji, Marshall Islands,Kiribati, Papua New Guinea,Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu,Vanuatu and Western Samoa.

(Source: Palau Gazette, 30/11/95)


19


WORLD CONGRESS ON COASTALAND MARINE TOURISM TO BE HELD IN HONOLULU

The 1996 World Congress onCoastal and Marine Tourismwill be held in Honolulu, Ha-waii from 19 to 22 June 1996.

Coastal and marine-resources-based activities continue to bea major growth sector in inter-national tourism. In 1990, thefirst Congress on Coastal andMarine Tourism (CMT 90) setout to examine the opportuni-ties and challenges posed bythis emerging sector of the in-dustry.

CMT 90 brought together morethan 250 participants from 31nations and territories to con-sider the nature of tourism incoastal zones. Business and gov-ernment representatives, com-munity leaders and scientistsagreed that successful, sustain-able tourism must carefully in-tegrate planning and develop-ment. Collaboration amongcommunities, resource manag-ers, industry, education, andnon-profit organisations is alsonecessary.

Plenary, discussion and work-shop sessions will be offered atthe 1996 Congress. Some ses-sions will be jointly presentedwith the partially concurrentPacific Congress on Marine Sci-ence and Technology (PACON96).

For more information, contactDr Jan Auyang, CMT96, c/oOregon Sea Grant, Oregon StateUniversity, 500 Admin. Serv-ices, Corvallis, OR 97331-2131,USA. [Phone 541 7375130, Fax:541 7372392; Internet: [email protected]]

FIFTH INDO-PACIFIC FISH CONFERENCE—FIRST CIRCULAR

The Fifth Indo-Pacific Fish Con-ference will be organised by theInstitut français de recherchescientifique pour le développementen coopération (ORSTOM). Theexact dates will be specified inthe second circular. However itis likely to take place during thelast week of October 1997 at theORSTOM Centre in Noumea,New Caledonia.

As with the first four Indo-Pa-cific Fish Conferences (Sydney,Tokyo, Wellington and Bang-

kok), the main topics of the FifthConference will cover all as-pects of the systematics, evolu-tion, biogeography, biology,ecology and genetics of bothfreshwater and marine Indo-Pacific fishes. In addition anumber of workshops will beorganised on specific themes(e.g. biodiversity, databases)and on other fields of sciencerelated to fish (e.g. parasitology,ethnology). The aim is to pro-mote fruitful discussions be-tween scientists dealing with all

aspects of Indo-Pacific fishes.For any enquiry concerning theFifth Indo-Pacific Fish Confer-ence, please contact:

Bernard Seret, Antenne ORSTOM,Muséum National d’HistoireNaturelle, Laboratoire d’Ichtyolo-gie générale et appliquée, 43 rueCuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05,France. [Phone: 33 1 40793738,Fax: 33 1 40793771, E-mail:[email protected]]

TROCHUS HATCHERY AND NUTRITION WORKSHOP

The Trochus Hatchery and Nu-trition Project in the NorthernTerritory University (NTU) willorganise a two-day workshopfrom 6 to 7 June 1996. This projectis funded by the Targeted Insti-tution Links Program (TILP) ofthe Department of Employment,Education and Training (DEET),Canberra, Australia.

This workshop will aim to dis-seminate to the public the re-search results of the TILP/DEET-funded research project‘Cooperative research into the

biology of the topshell Trochusniloticus, from northern Aus-tralia and eastern Indonesia’.

Some of the topics that will bepresented during the workshopare: a review on the progressand achievements of the trochushatchery and nutritional project;a review of the trochus fisher-ies in Western Australia,Vanuatu and eastern Indonesia;development of the NTU trochushatchery and the growth rate ofjuvenile trochus maintained ina closed recirculating system

supplied with bore water; in-duced spawning of trochus withartificial stimulus; preliminarystudies on the gonadal cycle oftrochus from the King Sound,Western Australia; hatcheryproduction and growth of juve-niles in eastern Indonesia.

For more information, pleasecontact: Convention CatalystsInt., G.P.O. Box 2541, Darwin, NT0801, Australia. [Phone: 61 89811875, Fax: 61 89 411639, E-mail:[email protected]]


20


Why cholera blooms in theSpring

One of the mysteries surround-ing the spread of killer intesti-nal diseases such as cholera mayhave been solved: the bacteriaresponsible hitch a ride on ma-rine plankton, and as the plank-ton multiply, so do the patho-gens. In the next few years, bothpopulations are likely to explodein heavily populated coastalareas as a result of global warm-ing and increasing sewage pol-lution of the sea.

The link between disease bacte-ria and plankton is mentionedas one possible impact of globalwarming on disease this weekin the Journal of the AmericanMedical Association.

Paul Epstein of Harvard Medi-cal School, one of the report’sauthors, explains that research-ers wondered 30 years ago ifthere was some link betweencholera and plankton that mightexplain why the disease flaredup in spring and autumn inBangladesh. Microscopic ma-rine algae also multiply, or‘bloom’, then.

The ideawas dis-

missed whenresearchers could

not find the Vibrio bac-teria that cause cholera

when they cultured algae.But recently, Rita Colwell of theMaryland Biotechnology Insti-tute treated marine planktonwith antibodies that bind spe-cifically to Vibrio, linked to fluo-rescent dyes. ‘They lit up’, saysEpstein. Not only Vibrio, butother disease bacteria, includ-ing Pseudomonas and Escherichiacoli, have now been found cling-ing to phytoplankton and zoo-plankton.

‘They didn’t find it before be-cause when the algae aren’tgrowing, the bacteria shrivel150-fold to a dormant state.’ Thedormant bacteria failed to ‘wakeup’ in the culture. But they dorevive, says Epstein, when par-ticular temperature conditionsand nutrients cause plankton tobloom.

‘We think this explains the chol-era outbreak in Peru’, he says.After being absent in the Ameri-cas for more than a century,cholera boke out in Peru inJanuary 1991. The same strainof Vibrio is responsible for thewave of cholera that has beenslowly crossing Asia since 1961.‘But in Peru it appeared nearLima, then 400 kilometres northtwo days later, then 800 kilome-tres south two days after that’,says Epstein.

‘The usual vectors of cholera,such as human travellers, couldnot explain why it occurred sofar apart in such a short time.’

He thinks an Asian ship in-fected the local plankton withVibrio at several ports when itdumped ballast water. ‘A littlebilgewater in the sea is notenough to explain the outbreak’,says Epstein.

'But we think the Vibrio wereamplified by the rich algalbloom that year that spreadalong the coast.’ In 1991, theperiodic climatic phenomenoncalled El Niño warmed Peru-vian coastal waters, causinglarger blooms than usual.

People probably became ill af-ter eating contaminated fish.The disease struck poor neigh-bourhoods first, partly becauseof poor sanitation, but also be-cause poor people eat fish caughtclose to the shore, in the thickof the bloom, while the rich eatmore expensive fish caught off-shore.

Cholera also increases in Bang-ladesh in El Niño years, whencoastal waters are warmer andplankton blooms are bigger,says Epstein.

Colwell says an outbreak ofcholera in Sebastopol in 1993coincided with an algal bloomin the Black Sea, and Vibrio bac-teria were found on the suits ofdivers who became ill.

Epstein thinks satellite monitor-ing of algal blooms would helpto predict outbreaks of water-borne diseases. No scannerssensitive to algal colours haveflown on remote-sensing satel-lites since 1986. But two areplanned this year: a Germandetector aboard an Indian sat-ellite, and an American scanneraboard a satellite called Seawifs.

(Source: New Scientist, 20 January1996)


21

by Sione V. Matoto,Integrated Fisheries

Management AssociateSPC, New Caledonia

PRELIMINARY SURVEY FORFISHERY MANAGEMENT

PLAN FOR AITUTAKILAGOON (COOK ISLANDS)

Aitutaki is situated about225 km north of Rarotonga, thecapital of the Cook Islands, witha land mass of 1991 ha and apopulation of approximately3,000.

Its geological structure is unu-sual in that it is an island whichis partly volcanic and a coralatoll. Its lagoon is generallyshallow (2–15m), and is consid-ered one of the most attractiveplaces in the Pacific.

The island is the second mostheavily-populated area of theCook Islands and supports anincreasing tourist industry. Themajor transport in and out ofAitutaki is provided by AirRarotonga, which operates twoTwin Otters (20 seats), servicingthree flights daily to Rarotongaand other islands, and a con-tainer ship arriving at Aitutakimonthly.

The increasing level of exploi-tation of fisheries resources inAitutaki Lagoon has causedgreat concern to the people ofthe island in recent years. Theexperience of fishermen sug-gested that fisheries resourcesin the lagoon are declining. Thedepletion of food fish and giantclam (pa'ua) stocks in recentyears was thought to be causedby the fact that they are easy tocatch in such a shallow lagoon.

Consequently, the Aitutaki IslandCouncil approached the Minis-try of Marine Resources (MMR)for assistance regarding the fish-eries resources.

Map of Aitutaki

The Ministry of Marine Re-sources requested SPC's Inte-grated Coastal Fisheries Man-agement Project (ICFMaP) toconduct a field survey to findout the status of fisheries re-sources, establish monitoringprogrammes and develop amanagement plan for AitutakiLagoon.

The Aitutaki Lagoon fisherymanagement plan project wasintended to be used as a pilotexample for other islands of the

Cooks. The legislative frame-work to support such plans wasalready in place, but this wouldbe the first time that a fisheriesplan under the Marine Re-sources Act had been draftedand executed.

The preliminary survey wascarried out jointly by the Min-istry of Marine Resources, theMarine Research Station inAitutaki, and SPC's IntegratedCoastal Fisheries ManagementProject.

The aim was to produce an in-tegrated reef and lagoon fisher-ies management plan forAitutaki lagoon fisheries, to besubmitted to Cabinet by theAitutaki Island Council andMinistry of Marine Resources,for legislation as a bylaw underthe 1989 Marine Act.

Household surveys, deploy-ment of fish traps, an underwa-ter visual census (UVC) and con-trolled fishing exercises were

Aitutaki

159°48'W

18°51'S


22

PRELIMINARY SURVEY FOR FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR AITUTAKI LAGOON (COOK ISLANDS)

carried out at Aitutaki to dis-cover the following information:

☞ What fish are eaten/usedfor subsistence/sale/export(what kind, what quantityand when?

☞ What (roughly) is the avail-able biomass of these im-portant fish?

☞ What is the history of fishand fishing, and whatchanges in human popula-tion and fish usage are likelyto occur in the future?

☞ How are fisheries currentlymanaged? What mecha-nisms, powers and re-sources are available?

☞ What is the aim of manage-ment? What hardships ortradeoffs is the Council pre-pared to make in promot-ing sustainable subsistencefishing, tourism and/orcommercial fishing; and

☞ What is the prospect ofimproving sustainabilitythrough indirect strategies(e.g. post-harvest develop-ment, mariculture, marineparks)?

Besides the main objectives,senior staff of the Ministry ofMarine Resources expressedtheir concern regarding the de-cision made by the Aitutaki Is-land Council to open the trochusharvest season on 7 November1995 for four days.

The Island Council had allowed26 tons of trochus to be har-vested rather than the 9 tonswhich were recommended bythe MMR after the last trochussurvey.

The ICFMaP team consisted ofDr Tim Adams (Fisheries Re-sources Adviser), Paul Dalzell(Inshore Fisheries Scientist),Sione Matoto (Integrated Fish-eries Management Associate)and Patricia Tuara (Women'sFisheries Development Officer),who was working in the CookIslands on a separate assign-ment. The project was con-ducted in collaboration with thestaff of the MMR Marine Re-search Station in Aitutaki: IanBertram, Onio Terekia, John Ngu,Metusela Koroa and JoshuaMitchell.

To identify fisheries utilisationwithin Aitutaki Lagoon, house-hold surveys were carried outin pairs, i.e. a local person waspartnered with one of the SPCteam. The target number ofhouseholds to be interviewedwas 100.

Interviews were conductedwith approximately 15 house-holds each from seven villages(Amuri, Vaipae, Tautu, Nikau-para, Reureu, Arutanga andUrea), over a two-day period.By the end of the survey, 101households had been inter-viewed.

Fish traps were deployed tocatch fish for tagging so that fishmigration within the lagooncould be monitored. Each trap

was baited with two tinned fish(mackerel in oil) and deployedclose to a patch of reefs or a coralhead. Four traps were placed neara clam nursery at Maina andthree near Moturakau and Tautu.

After nine days, the traps werepulled up; for ten traps, onlyfive fish were caught. All trapswere rebaited, now using fro-zen fish, and lowered back tothe same location.

Although very few fish werecaught by traps, many werecaught using a rod and line atvarious sites in the lagoon.Overall, 53 fish were tagged andreleased, with a majority of thecatch being Epinephelus merra.

Three sites were selected to carryout the underwater visual cen-sus (UVC) exercise. Transectswere set out near the clam nurs-ery at Maina and Moturakau,each 50 m x 5 m, covering anarea of 250 m2. The survey teamworked in pairs throughout theUVC exercise–three pairscounted seven major families offish (snapper, grouper, emperor,parrot, surgeon, butterfly, andgoatfish), while the remainingsurveyors took a count of inver-tebrates and coral. Finfish werecounted six times at each transectand sessile invertebrates once.

The controlled fishing exercisewas carried out by spear-fishingon a reasonable-sized patch ofreefs located close to the clamnursery near Maina. A bound-ary was marked within whichthree people had been spear-fishing in four consecutive ses-sions within a two-day period.


23

PRELIMINARY SURVEY FOR FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR AITUTAKI LAGOON (COOK ISLANDS)

After each fishing session of 1.5-2 hours, the total fish catch wasweighed, sorted according tospecies, and individually meas-ured (fork length) and weighed.The results of this exercise de-termined the fishable standingstock for the lagoon by measur-ing the decline in catch per unitof effort.

The collaborative effort be-tween the ICFMaP and MMR

staff contributed significantly tothe success of the field surveyin Aitutaki. All activities werecompleted according to planand the information requiredfor the Aitutaki lagoon manage-ment plan was obtained.

A draft report has been com-pleted. Ongoing monitoringactivity is currently being con-ducted by MMR staff. TheICFMaP team is working to-

ward the completion of the fi-nal report, which will include astatistical analysis of the datacollected from all activities.

The management plan forAitutaki Lagoon is to be com-pleted by the end of 1996 dur-ing a return visit of the SPC-ICFMaP team.

Fisheries Research Officer John Ngu (centre) demonstrates his prowessat catching groupers for tagging


24

POTENTIAL FORAQUACULTURE

OF BAIT IN GUAM

by Bill FitzgeraldThis article is extracted from a re-port prepared by Bill Fitzgerald,former Chief Planner with the De-partment of Commerce, Guam)

INTRODUCTION

Tuna longline vessels prefer touse live milkfish as bait becauseit is significantly more effectivethan other baits. Milkfish havebeen shown to give a catch ratethree to five times more effec-tive than dead bait (Bartram,personal communication, 1994).

In addition, the milkfish is thepreferred live bait, since it tol-erates handling and long-termholding in bait wells. Milkfishbait tolerate the depths at whichthe longlines are set and usuallyremain alive even when thelongline is retrieved.

This significantly better effec-tiveness of milkfish translatesinto a substantial economic ben-efit to the vessel. The improvedcatch rate means that either thecatch per trip is increased ortrips can be shortened to reachthe same catch target. For exam-ple, a line deployed with 1,000hooks using conventional baitsuch as squid could result in acatch of 30 tuna with an aver-age value of US$200/fish.

The use of live milkfish as baitcould increase the catch to 90–150 tuna for the same deploy-ment. This represents an addi-tional value of US$12,000-24,000 per set which wouldmore than cover the entire cost(approximately US$4,000) forlive milkfish bait for the entiretrip (representing multiple sets).

Traditionally, Taiwan vesselsdeparting Taiwan for fishinggrounds in the Western Pacificwould load enough live milk-fish bait for approximately twofishing trips. Thereafter, the lesseffective dead bait would beused. To avoid the down timein fishing required for travel toTaiwan to purchase bait (oneweek’s travel time and twoweeks in port to load) the long-liners now prefer to purchasethe bait on Guam.

A Guam-based corporationentered into an exclusive con-tract agreement with a Taiwan-ese longline fleet to providebait, starting in March 1995. A3–5 year contract was offered bythe Taiwanese company. Thecorporation has obtained a leaseon a 14 acre site to establish amilkfish farm.

A prefabricated concrete ponddesign was adapted. The sched-uled first delivery date of bait to

the fleet was March 1995. It waspossible that a bait carrier ves-sel from the Philippines mightbe used to meet this first deliv-ery obligation, to allow time forthe farm construction and initialoperation.

One of the current largest aqua-culture farms on Guam hasentered into an agreement withone of the tuna transshipmentagents to produce milkfish forbait. The farm started the tran-sition in production at the be-ginning of 1995. This will rep-resent 35 acres of ponds for thetuna bait market.

All the transshipping agents aretrying to make arrangements toprovide live milkfish bait to thetuna longline vessels they serv-ice, in order to remain competi-tive with other agents that havesecured a source.

These companies are looking atbringing in juveniles, whichwould be held for a short periodbefore distribution to the ves-sels. They are also consideringdeveloping aquaculture farmson Guam to produce the bait.

The largest longline fleet in theregion, Ting Hong, has alsoexpressed interest in establish-ing a bait aquaculture farm onGuam to supply its vessels.

The milkfish, Chanos chanos


25

POTENTIAL FOR AQUACULTURE OF BAIT IN GUAM

MARKET

A Taiwan fishing companywants to purchase juvenile milk-fish (approx. 6 in long) as livebait. It requires 8,000–10,000pieces/vessel/trip. Each vesselmakes 2–3 trips/month. Thenumber of vessels the companyintends to have based in Guamranges from 30 to 200, depend-ing on the season. Table 1shows the vessel schedule. Thecost of live milkfish bait in Tai-wan is 14.8 cents/piece duringthe low season and 37 cents/piece during the peak season.

However, the price is reportedto reach 50 cents/piece or higher

in Taiwan (Kuo & Hwang, per-sonal communication, October1994). There are about6 pieces/lb [1 lb = 0.454 kg];therefore, the price by weight isUS$0.89–2.22 per lb. A pre-mium price could be expectedto be paid for bait in Guam,since obtaining bait there wouldsave 3-4 weeks' fishing timeplus ships’ operation expenses.The fishing time saved also rep-resents additional revenue fromthe potential catch. The annualdemand, based on the averagenumber of monthly port calls, is1.9 million pieces/month or22,800,000 pieces/yr. At a price ofUS$2.22/lb this would be worthUS$8,436,000/year.

PRODUCTION

A substantial commitment ofpond area and resources will berequired to produce the quan-tity needed for the tuna longlinefishery. Table 2 presents differ-ent scenarios.

Basic culture parameters obtainedfrom Taiwan

• Culture area needed: approxi-mately 1–1.5 ha/1,000,000pieces/year;

• Stocking density: 150,000–300,000/ha (15–30/m2);

• Growth rate at given stock-ing densities: from 2 cm fryto 15 cm takes 45–90 days;

Table 2: Production scenarios

Table 1: Tuna fleet monthly bait demand

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total Monthlyaverage

Vessels based 30 30 30 50 100 150 150 150 200 100 100 50 1,140 95in Guam

Port calls 60 60 60 100 200 300 300 300 400 200 200 100 2,280 190

Approx. bait 600 600 600 1,000 2,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 4,000 2,000 2,000 1,000 22,800 1,900demand(1,000 pieces)

Quantity needed Stocking Survival Harvests Area needed(pieces/year) density (%) per year (hectares)

(pieces/km2)

20,000,000 20 80 4 31.2520,000,000 40 80 4 15.6320,000,000 60 80 4 10.4220,000,000 80 80 4 8.8120,000,000 100 80 4 6.2520,000,000 120 80 4 5.2120,000,000 150 80 4 4.1720,000,000 200 80 4 3.13

25,000,000 20 80 4 39.0625,000,000 40 80 4 19.5325,000,000 60 80 4 13.0225,000,000 80 80 4 9.7725,000,000 100 80 4 7.8125,000,000 120 80 4 6.51


26


• Can you slow the growthdown for off-season stock-ing? Yes;

• Survival: 80–95%;

• Price: (reported to be US$.035/fry but in large numbersUS$.005/fry in the Philip-pines); US$400/10,000 piecesin Taiwan;

• Are fry available in quantityneeded? Yes

• Months available: May–Oc-tober.

TUNA TRANSSHIPMENT INDUSTRY

The foreign longline fishery onGuam grew at a rapid pacefrom 5–8 vessels in late 1986. Atthe end of 1993, 270 individualvessels made more than 1,000port calls to the island. Thenumber of port calls increasedin 1994 to 236 vessels, with 687port calls for just the first sevenmonths of 1994. Port call databack to 1990 are available fromthe Department of Commerce.In 1993, for the first time, moreport calls were made by Tai-wanese vessels (569) than byJapanese vessels (399) (Table 3).

The longline vessels, whichrange in size from 19 to 59 tons,

reportedly fish mainly in thewaters of the Federated Statesof Micronesia (FSM), with agrowing percentage in interna-tional waters. The catch is off-loaded on Guam for air-trans-shipment to Japan for thesashimi markets, with the ex-ception of the portion of the catchthat does not meet the qualityrequirements. This portion ofthe catch is termed rejected fish.

Tuna rejected for the sashimimarket is presently handled inthree main ways: purchased bya reefer vessel, which stores thetuna for pickup by a mothervessel for the Korean tuna mar-ket; frozen for container trans-shipment to canneries; or pro-cessed by a private Guam-basedentrepreneur into jerky, loinsand other value-added products.The Department of Commerce’sfigures show that since 1991,roughly 13 per cent of the tunaoff-loaded is rejected for trans-shipment to the sashimi market.

The longline transshipment fish-ery on Guam consists mainly ofJapanese and Taiwanese vessels.The vessels call at the GuamCommercial Port, where thecatch is contracted to agents whohandle the dockside off-loading,inspection, weighing, boxingand shipping of the fish. Seven

agents currently handle this ac-tivity. The role of the vessel agentis to organise and/or facilitateprocedures involving: port en-try/departure; customs and im-migration; fuel, water and ship’schandlery; payments for portcall services; and distribution ofrest and recreation money.

Numerous other primary andsecondary support services haveevolved as a direct result of thegrowth and changes in thelongline tuna transshipment in-dustry. The culture of bait fishis one that has significant poten-tial to expand the aquacultureindustry and add to the economyas a whole.

The longline catch consistsmainly of yellowfin and bigeyetuna. An estimated three to fiveper cent of the total catch con-sists of billfish (mostly marlin).Billfish have now been includedin the shipments to Japan. Priorto this market change, theywere either sold locally or dis-carded. The price for trans-shipped fish varies according tothe quality. The air freight costto Japan is about US$1.25/kg.The primary destination of thetransshipped tuna is Narita,since refrigerated trucking isavailable to all parts of Japan.Other market distribution areasin Japan are Osaka and Nagoya.In addition to Japan, there aresome small marketing opportu-nities for fresh tuna in Hawaiiand the US mainland.

In 1993, 7,104 t of fish were off-loaded from longline vesselsand transshipped from Guam,as shown in Table 4. Of thisamount, 52 per cent was bigeyetuna, and 44 per cent wasyellowfin. This reflects a 32 percent increase over the 1992transshipment total of 5,390 t.These totals, however are stillwell below the 1989 peak-yearestimate of 15,000 t.

Table 3: Potential bait demand/value based on port calls

Year Port calls Vessels based Potential bait Potential valuein Guam demand* (US$)**

1986 195 N/A 1,950,000 975,0001987 207 N/A 2,070,000 1,035,000

1988 728 N/A 7,280,000 3,640,0001989 1,055 N/A 10,550,000 5,275,0001990 1,450 328 14,500,000 7,250,000

1991 1,078 233 10,078,000 5,036,0001992 846 224 8,460,000 4,230,000

1993 1,089 270 10,089,000 5,044,5001994 1,509 348 15,090,000 7,545,000

* based on 10,000 pieces/trip** based on US$ 0.50/piece


27


The fluctuations in the Guam-based longline tuna industryafter 1990 reflect growing pres-sure from the Federated Statesof Micronesia (FSM) which tiesthe issue of fishing permits forin its waters to off-loading thecatch at its ports. The supportand air cargo infrastructure hasimproved in the 1990s in FSM.This has resulted in a decreasein the number of vessels trans-shipping from Guam, as shownby the decline in port calls from1,450 in 1990 to 846 in 1992 (thelowest point).

Prior to 1991, most foreign long-line vessels licensed to fish inthe EEZ of the FSM off-loadedtheir catches in ports other thanthose in the FSM and thus ne-gated the possibilities for col-lecting relevant data. Recently,the Micronesian Maritime Au-thority (MMA) has shifted thelicensing priorities to encouragethe basing of foreign longlinersin FSM ports. As a result, thenumber of longline vessels nowoff-loading their catches in FSMports has increased dramati-cally. In 1992, a total of 670 portcalls was made in the FSM,while in 1993, the number ofport calls made more than dou-bled, with 1,432 landings re-

corded for the year. This coin-cides with the decline in thenumber of port calls made toGuam during this time period.

However, Guam has a numberof competitive advantages overthe other ports of the region.These include lower fuel cost,along with better and greaterservices available (e.g., rest andrecreation facilities, medicalservices, provisioning, equip-ment repair, ship repair, etc.).

The addition of baitfish avail-ability would add a very signifi-cant competitive advantage thatshould draw additional vesselsto base in Guam. Furthermore,bilateral negotiations are under-way between Guam and FSM tochange the restrictive FSM fish-eries policy regarding port off-loading. If these fail, it is likelythat the US Department of In-terior will intervene to relievethis constraint.

BENEFITS

Baitfish production expands thepotential economic opportuni-ties for the development of theaquaculture industry. It furtherdiversifies the market opportu-nities. It also provides benefits to

the Guam-based tuna transship-ment industry. The availabilityof a cost-effective source ofbaitfish on Guam provides a sig-nificant competitive advantageto the Guam tuna transshipmentindustry. Similarly, the success-ful culture of baitfish on Guamshould stimulate expanded de-mand, with additional fleetssourcing bait in Guam.

Taiwanese vessels usually spend8–9 months in the fishinggrounds before returning hometo Taiwan. Vessels returning tothe fishing grounds wouldprobably bring live milkfishbait with them that would beadequate for 1–2 months of fish-ing. This would reduce theoverall bait demand for thatportion of the vessel’s total fish-ing months.

CONCLUSION

The information available sug-gests that the most likely pro-duction scenario would requireapproximately 20–25 ha of pondsto produce 20 million pieces ofbait per year. These could benew ponds, existing ponds con-verted to bait production or acombination of the two. How-ever, it is recommended that thebait production capacity bephased so not to produce anover-supply. In addition, thenew ponds should be of a de-sign that could easily be usedfor the culture of other commer-cial aquaculture products if thebait demand declined.

Table 4: Annual longline transshipment volume, 1986 –1994 (metric tonnes)

Year Total % change fromtransshipment previous year

1986 5,364 –

1987 3,116 –42

1988 6,772 +117

1989 15,000 +122

1990 12,729 –15

1991 9,587 –25

1992 5,391 –43

1993 7,104 +32

1994 8,962 +26

Totals for 1989 and 1992 are estimates.


28

THE DEVELOPMENT OFSMALL-SCALE FISHERIES FORBOTTOMFISH IN AMERICAN

SAMOA (1961–1987)

by David G. Itano,Hawaii Institute of Marine

BiologyKaneohe, Hawaii

This article has been written byDavid Itano, former Fisheries Re-search Scientist with the OceanicFisheries Programme of the SouthPacific Commission. Due to itslength, only part of the article willbe presented in this issue. The sec-ond part, together with the bibliog-raphy, will be published in Fisher-ies Newsletter #77.

INTRODUCTION

General

American Samoa consists offive high, volcanic islands andtwo atolls. The population cen-tres are located on Tutuila andAunu’u. They lie approximately95 km to the west of Ofu,Olosega and Ta’u, which com-prise the Manu’a Island group.Swain’s and Rose Atoll are 280and 360 km to the north andeast of Tutuila respectively (seemap on page 30). The countrymaintains a semi-independentstatus while enjoying the ben-efits of full territorial status ofthe United States.

The domestic commercial fish-eries of American Samoa haveevolved over the past 25 yearsthrough the efforts of severalfisheries development and train-ing programmes. These haveincluded boat-building projects,low-interest boat-loan incen-tives, FAD programmes andtraining in small craft naviga-tion, marine electronics andoutboard engine repair. Specific

training and surveys with fish-ing techniques have includeddeep-water bottomfishing (Mead,1978; Moana, 1988), skipjacklive-bait pole-and-line fishing(Rodman, 1973; Bryan 1978),bouke ami lift-netting (TunaProgramme, 1984), lobster trap-ping (Chambers & Nunes,1975), live-bait assisted trolling(Bryan & Lambert, 1979), ikashibi fishing, palu ahi hand-lin-ing (Crook, 1985), PVC pipebottomfish longlining (Makaiwi,1984), deep-water shrimp trap-ping, dead-bait trolling, verticallonglining and flying-fish net-ting (Moana, 1988). This list isfar from complete.

Some of these techniques werereadily accepted by local fisher-men but most were quickly for-gotten. Training in bottom-fish-ing and the introduction ofmanually-operated bottomfishhandreels have gained the wid-est acceptance with the localfleet. The handreels were alsoquickly utilised in the pelagictroll fishery for skipjack andyellowfin tuna.

The promotion of domesticbottomfishing in American Sa-moa has been so successful thatsome of the local bottomfishgrounds have become signifi-

cantly depleted. Some of thesefishery development pro-grammes were active for periodsof time adequate to note declinesin catch vs effort and location anddecreases in mean size of har-vested fish.

As previously stated, AmericanSamoa has experienced severalfishery development pro-grammes in the last quarter cen-tury. Many of these are identicalto development programmesalready in progress or proposedfor other Pacific Island countriesand territories.

This paper will attempt to re-count the early development ofthe domestic bottomfishery inAmerican Samoa as it relates tothe development of sustained,economically viable artisanalfisheries. It is hoped that othercountries of the region will findthis exercise useful in planningthe rational development andmanagement of their domesticfisheries*.

Background

A visit in 1961 by John C. Marr,director of the Hawaii Area,Bureau of Commercial Fisher-ies (Marr, 1961), resulted in thefollowing recommendations toincrease local fishery produc-tion:

• fresh-water ponds for tilapiaculture;

• salt-water ponds for mulletculture or rearing;

• nearshore fishing by trolling,handlines, set lines, lobstertraps, tangle nets and fishtraps;

* The Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources is currently conducting bottomfish assessment projects and studieson the biology of bottomfish species exploited in the Territory, to better manage these resources.


29

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES FOR BOTTOMFISH IN AMERICAN SAMOA (1961-1987)

• tuna longlining and generaltuna fishing development;

• pole-and-line tuna fishing;

• sport-fishing and charter-fishing industry develop-ment; and

• aquarium fish trade.

This article examines the devel-opment of the American Samoacommercial/artisanal fishery asit relates to the exploitation ofbottomfish taken by hook andline.

FIRST-GENERATION FISHERY DEVEL-OPMENT

Initial status

At the time of Marr’s visit toAmerican Samoa, there were nolocal commercial fishing vesselsor sport-fishing craft in the en-tire Territory. The concept offishing to produce a marketableproduct for monetary gain isincompatible with traditionalSamoan cultural values.

In a somewhat paradoxicalsense, the erosion of other tra-ditional values and the accept-ance of a cash economy basedon government jobs and tunacannery employment resultedin a steadily decreasing level oftraditional, subsistence fishing.

Cultural deterioration also ledto the loss of a rich heritage ofoceanic seafaring among theSamoan people. Marr estimatedthat there were only about 10traditional outrigger canoes(paopao) regularly fishingaround the main island ofTutuila.

Most fishing and seafood gath-ering activities in Samoa con-centrate on shallow reef-flatareas between the outer fring-ing reef and the shoreline (Hill,

1977; Wass 1980a). Dependenceon imported protein and thelocal sale of inexpensive frozenfish from the canneries furtherdiscouraged the start of a do-mestic fishing industry.

In 1961 alone, approximately100 short tons of frozen fish(mostly wahoo) caught inciden-tally by the foreign longline fleetbased on the Pago Pago canner-ies was sold locally at cost orslight profit for US$ 0.12/lb(Marr, 1961) [1 lb = 0.454 kg].This inexpensive source of fishremains a serious constraint ondomestic fisheries developmentto this day.

The Marr report recommendedthe establishment of a govern-ment agency at the departmen-tal level to guide and assist fish-eries development, with prioritygiven to the introduction of asuitable small craft for near-shorefisheries. The vessel Marr recom-mended would be outboard-driven, easily built and main-tained, 4.9–7.0 m long and capa-ble of utilising troll, hand-line,trap, gillnet, surround net, nightlighting and longlining gear.

At the same time, he cautionedthat training and appropriatetechnology were essential andthat Samoan fishermen must bewilling to resume and pursue arigorous seafaring life for thefisheries development to suc-ceed.

Bottomfish surveys–Tautai A’e

The Office of Marine Resources(OMR) was created by execu-tive order of the Governor ofAmerican Samoa during the1960s to deal with all fisheries-related matters, which includedaddressing the recommenda-tions of the Marr report.

The major objectives of the of-fice at this time were fisheries

development, marine resourceidentification and resource as-sessment.

OMR bottomfish surveys from1967 to 1970 on the 10 m fibre-glass vessel, Tautai A’e , indi-cated potential for a small-scalebottomfishery based in PagoPago (Ralston, 1978).

A total of 125 bottomfish surveytrips was made, and the catchresults from 104 bottomfishingtrips between September 1967and March 1969 produced14,411 kg of bottomfish for anaverage of 138.6 kg/trip at amean rate of 3.5 kg/line-hour.Survey effort concentrated onshallow shelf areas aroundTutuila Island to a depth of 55m, resulting in a catch domi-nated by shallow-water emper-ors and snappers.

It was reported that 23.3 percent of the catch was Lethrinusminiatus, 19.2 per cent Lutjanusgibbus, and that there was alarge percentage of L. bohar,which were not included inRalston’s analysis as they areoften ciguatoxic in Samoa andare not marketed.

The remainder of the catch wascomposed of Lutjanus kasmira,Cephalopholis spp., Ephinephelusspp. and the dogtooth tuna,Gymnosarda unicolor.

The best fishing areas for thesespecies were on the relativelybroad shelf areas aroundTutuila near Aunu’u Island,Cape Taputapu and CapeMatatula (Figure 1). Catch ratesin these areas ranged from 4.1to 4.9 kg/line-hour. There weresome indications that catchrates fell during the period ofthe surveys, although it is notcertain if the cause was fishingpressure or seasonal variationin catchability.


30


However, it is likely that thedrop in catch rate was a realconsequence of the vessel fish-ing down virgin stocks ofbottomfish.

Dory Project

In February 1972, the OMRSmall Boat Project, funded bythe American Samoa Office ofEconomic Opportunity (OEO),launched the first small-scale,commercial fishing vessel forAmerican Samoa (Wass, 1973).The OMR developed a boat-building facility that eventuallyproduced 23 vessels over athree-year period (Wass, 1975).

The vessels were patterned af-ter the Oregon Dory, popular inthe US Pacific north-west, de-signed for beach launching andused in the salmon troll andshallow-water groundfish fish-eries. The Small Boat Project iscommonly referred to as theDory Project due to the choiceof vessel design. The plywoodhulls were 7.3 m long with a2.4 m beam and small cuddycabin forward. The early dorieswere supplied with petrol-driven engines and inboard/outboard (I/O) propeller drive

units. Six other dories wereequipped with I/O jet drives inan attempt to avoid problems ofpropeller damage on shallowcoral reefs during beach land-ings (Pedro, pers. comm.).

The jet drives were soon aban-doned; later dories wereequipped with 70 hp diesel en-gines with I/O propeller units(Hume & Eginton, 1976). A fewdories were equipped with trueinboard shaft and cutlassdrives, but the I/O units werepreferred (Yamasaki, perscomm.). The flat bottoms of someof the dories were removed andreplaced with modified V hullsin response to complaints con-cerning the rough handling(Pedro, pers. comm.).

Completed dories were madeavailable to local residents inter-ested in commercial fishing onthe understanding that the costof materials and constructioncosts would be paid back to thegovernment. The repaymentand a low rate of interest wouldbe generated from fish sales andre-enter an OEO revolvingfund. Very little of the moneywas ever repaid.

Fishing captains were asked toreport catches to the OMR onstandardised trip report formsthat contained information onarea fished, fishing method,number of fishermen, numberof hooks, weight of catch (total)and number and weight of pre-dominant species (Wass, 1973).According to OMR records, 70per cent of the dories engagedin some bottomfishing activi-ties.

Almost all of the bottomfishingwas conducted at night, andmost of the fishing trips lastedfor only a single night. Doriesaveraged three to four fisher-men per trip. Most of thebottomfishing was conductedin relatively shallow waters,between 55 and 146 m. Fishingeffort concentrated on the shal-low shelf areas around TutuilaIsland that had already beensurveyed by the Tautai A’e. Nomechanical means of line re-trieval was employed, meaningthat all bottomfishing and troll-ing was conducted with simplehandlines kept in baskets orloose in the bottom of the do-ries.

Tutuila

Aunu'uIsland

Pago Pago Harbor

Cape Matatula

CapeTaputapu

14°15'S

14°20'S

170°40'WFigure 1: Shallow water bottomfish grounds surveyed by the Tautai A'e


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The shallow fishing groundsand handlines produced a pre-dictable catch of shallow- tomid-depth snappers, emperorsand groupers. In 1974–1975,Dory Project vessel landings byweight included Lutjanuskasmira (30.9%), Lethrinus spp.(22.8%), Lutjanus gibbus (16.2%)and Pristipomoides spp. (9.5%).The remaining 9.5 per cent ofthe catch was a mixture of othersnappers, groupers and jacks(Wass, 1975).

A wide range of mechanicalproblems beset several doryowners and many of the dorieswere out of service for extendedperiods of time while engines ordrive units were changed or re-placed. After the first few years,the lack of routine maintenancetook a heavy toll on many of thedories. Some eventually becameunserviceable and some wereout of service due to reposses-sion for failure to pay the ves-sel loans.

However, a few very dedicatedand conscientious fishermenmaintained their craft in a roughbut serviceable condition intothe 1980s (Mead, 1978). Figure 2charts the progress of DoryProject boat-building efforts. Itshows the number of vesselsfishing every year in Tutuila andManu’a and the number thatwere inactive, lost at sea or soldto Western Samoa.

The number of inactive vesselsfor 1978–1980 was not known atthe time of preparation of this ar-ticle. Vessels that were inactivegenerally had mechanical prob-lems or were changing enginetypes.

VISTA fisheries developmentproject

In the early 1970s, a group ofaround 20 Americans with fish-eries training or expertise cameto American Samoa as volun-teer fisheries advisers to theOMR with the Volunteers inService to America (VISTA)programme (Yamasaki, pers.comm.).

A diversity of backgrounds andskills was represented in thegroup, who ranged from univer-sity students to commercial fish-ermen from the US mainlandand Hawaii. Several of the vol-unteers were attached to variousaspects of the Dory Project or theOMR boat-building facility.

SPC Outer Reef Artisanal Fish-eries Project (ORAFP)—West-ern Samoa, 1975

A five-member team from theSouth Pacific CommissionORAFP visited Western Samoafor seven months in 1975 tosurvey and assess bottomfishresources, assess the feasibilityof commercial fisheries devel-opment and train local fisher-

men to use new gear and fish-ing techniques. The project con-centrated on surveying bottom-fish grounds and providingtraining in outer reef slopebottomfishing using electric andmanually operated reels (Hume& Eginton, 1976).

A variety of vessels was usedduring the visit, including twoPago Pago-built Oregon dories.The significant aspect of thisvisit was the use of hand andelectric reels for bottomfishingin Samoa; this was possibly thefirst time Samoan fishermenhad been trained and given theopportunity to use anythingother than handlines for bot-tom-fishing operations.

SPC Deep Sea Fisheries De-velopment Project—AmericanSamoa 1978

Three years later, the SPC DeepSea Fisheries Development(DSFD) Project sent its master-fisherman Paul Mead to Ameri-can Samoa. He remained inAmerican Samoa from 28 Marchto 2 July 1978, with the objec-tives of introducing new fishinggear and methods to improve

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uila

1972

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Lost at sea

Sold to W. Samoa

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Fishing Tutuila

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orie

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Figure 2: OMR Dory Project vessels, 1972–1980


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bottomfishing efficiency, andencouraging the exploitation ofunexploited outer reef slopesdeeper than 120 m. The doryproject had begun six yearsprior to Mead’s visit and fourdories were still in operationaround Tutuila Island duringthis period.

When Mead first came to theTerritory, local bottomfishingconcentrated on the shallow-water snapper/emperor/groupercomplex. Bottomfishing wasconducted at night using hand-lines, with no mechanical meansof retrieving the line.

Mead used two privately-owned dories for his bottom-fishing surveys and equippedthem with FAO-designed,Western Samoan-type wooden

handreels, each filled with500 m of 113 kg monofilamentline.

Ground tackle consisted of 350–730 m of polypropylene line,and a short section of 10 mmchain attached to a simple12 mm steel grapnel hook an-chor (Mead, 1978). A portabledepth sounder was also used toassist in the location of suitableanchoring and fishing areas.

Instead of fishing on the shal-low shelf areas around Tutuila,Mead concentrated on deeperareas by anchoring on the edgeof the outer reef slope, and play-ing out anchor line to reach thedesired depth.

The use of this technique withwooden hand-reels was soon

adopted by the American Sa-moan dory fleet. It opened upentirely new fishing groundsand brought the deep-water,high-value snappers under ex-ploitation. The FAO-designedhandreels were also quicklyadopted for trolling operations,significantly increasing doryCPUE.

This project was the first todocument the harvest in Ameri-can Samoa of commercial quan-tities of high-value bottomfish,such as Etelis coruscans,E. carbunculus, Aphareus rutilansand Pristipomoides spp.

Lethrinids made up a large partof the catch by number, but theeteline snappers representedover 50 per cent of the catch byweight . . . To be continued.

© Copyright South Pacific Commission 1996

The South Pacific Commission authorises the reproduction of this material, whole or in part, in any form,

provided appropriate acknowledgement is given.

Original text: English

South Pacific Commission, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New CaledoniaTelephone: (687) 262000 - Telex: 3139NM SOPACOM - Fax: (687) 263818

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