Fisheries Newsletter No 138 (May-August 2012)

Editorial

Providing alternative livelihoods to fishers may have a slightly different meaning in Oceania than in other parts of the world. As Sharp and Blanc, and Adams explain in their articles about small-scale fisheries, for Pacific Islanders, fishing is not “an activity of last resort” to provide a livelihood, and in most Pacific Islands, fishers are not among “the poorest of the poor”, but are often specialists carrying certain inherited rights that give them a respected status.

Therefore, in the hope of reducing fishing pressure on reef or coastal resources, one can hardly ask a fisher to become a handicraft-maker, a gardener or a hotel employee. Even aquaculture has probably been more attractive to farmers or business people than to fishers in Oceania. Speaking of aquaculture, don’t miss the articles in this issue on lobster farming in New Caledonia and the production of Platax in Tahiti.

Alternative livelihoods for fishers must have a link to fisheries, either in activities where fishing skills are recognised and valued — such as being a sportfishing guide for tourists — or in capture-based fishing activities targeting species that are not (yet) under pressure.

Diamond and other “giant” squids may become one of these alternative fisheries. An exploratory deep-sea fishing trip took place in waters off New Caledonia in August 2012. Dropping lures to 500-m depths in waters where it had never been done before and hauling in several diamond squids of close to 20 kg each must have been really exciting.

It is not expected that all small-scale fishers will quickly switch to this new resource. Markets for diamond squid will probably be exclusively local at first, as its value on the world market is currently too low to consider exporting it from the Pacific Islands, and the resource is known to be seasonal and relatively fragile. It will, therefore, need to be closely managed, probably by limiting the number of entrants. But, it may provide an additional possibility for diversification, along with targeting small pelagic species with a bagan or bigger pelagic species around fish aggregating devices (FADs).

Even for small-scale fisheries, most of the new opportunities seem to arise away from reefs and coastal areas...

“Go offshore, young fisherman!”

Aymeric Desurmont
Fisheries Information Officer