Fisheries Newsletter No 133 (September-December 2010)

Editorial

As often with fisheries-related matters, the contents of this newsletter may provoke mixed reactions. Apprehension, with Anouk Ride’s or Giff Johnson’s articles, indicating that despite clear warning signals sent by scientists, decisions still need to be made on critical issues such as the overfishing of bigeye and yellowfin tuna; fear, with the very moving letter sent by a Pacific Island crew member working aboard a foreign fishing vessel; or hope, with some good news from the aquaculture sector — villagers who are harvesting their first milkfish crop in Fiji; a successful aquaculture meeting in Tahiti; and slightly clearer skies for the prawn farming industry in New Caledonia.

As usual, this issue also includes feature articles specifically written for this newsletter. Bob Gillett reports on a short survey he made of fisheries centres in the Pacific region. He gives a list of lessons learned from past experiences that should be used when planning new fisheries centre installations. Émilie Fernandez and Valérie Allain write about their study of reef prey in tuna diets. Surprisingly, reef prey represents almost 17% of tuna diets on average, and can be as much as 60% in certain areas. Finally, Éric Clua weighs the benefits and setbacks of shark feeding in the ecotourism industry. On Moorea, French Polynesia, it was calculated that one lemon shark contributed USD 2.3 million in revenue to the island over its 20-year lifespan. This is certainly a strong incentive for the development of this type of activity, but, as Clua shows, there are risks associated for local shark populations. A fine balance must be found.

Don’t hesitate to let us know what you think of this Newsletter ‘s contents and new format. We need your input to fine-tune them.