Dr. Joeli Veitayaki, Director of marine studies department at USP, said catches these days are not just for the table, but for the market, putting pressure on the fish population.
Population growth is another cause of stock reduction, said Veitayaki, who also represents the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council. “The fish are not allowed to sleep,” he pointed out.
Veitayaki was part of a Commonwealth study team to tour Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu observing the way communities manage their marine resources. The tour was under the Commonwealth Fisheries Program.
The feedback from villages they visited in Samoa, said Olofa Tuaopepe, principal fisheries officer of the Fisheries Division, was that reef fishes have declined in number and size.
It could be caused by overfishing, efficient methods of fishing, Tuaopepe said, and especially destructive fishing methods in the 70s and 80s. “And now we are facing the consequences of those types of fishing.”
Tuaopepe referred to efforts to stop the selling of undersized fish but noted the reach of Fisheries’ officers was limited.
“We are only [covering] the main market outlets; for example the fish markets here in Apia and in Salelologa and along the roads,” she said.
This is why involving the villages in the established conservation program was vital.
Each village has their own management program, “So they are doing the monitoring of the resources because they are the resource users so they are responsible in that sense,” said Tuaopepe.
Fisheries try to build up the capacity of villages in monitoring, she said. “So under this program, villages are empowered to look after their resources.”
“We were very impressed by this,” said Richard Bourne, associate fellow, Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit. Obviously in most of the Pacific, the governments are strictly limited in what they can do.”
The community-based conservation efforts practiced in Samoa is the way forward, said Bourne.
