Fishing activity in the Pacific Islands can be classified both by area in which the fishing is undertaken and by scale.

Coastal fishery resources
In general, the coastal fishery resources are heavily fished and often show signs ofoverexploitation. This is especially the case in areas close to population centres andfor fishery products in demand by the rapidly growing Asian economies. The coastalfisheries are also negatively affected by habitat degradation, which occurs fromdestructive fishing practices, urbanization, siltation from mining and logging, andcompeting uses of the coastal zone.On a more detailed level, the degree of exploitation of coastal finfish is generally relatedto the distance from urban markets. The perishable nature of finfish has a limiting effecton fishing pressure in rural areas. By contrast, the products of commercial invertebratefishing are mostly non-perishable. The SPC (2008) stated that most sites surveyed inthe Pacific Islands were “seriously depleted of commercial invertebrate resources”.Another aspect of the status of invertebrate fisheries in the region is variability. Dalzelland Schug (2002) found that commercial harvests of invertebrates are characterized byboom and bust cycles, and in some cases the bust part of the cycle has persisted with noindication of recovery.The management of coastal fishery resources in many Pacific Island countries is amixture of several systems:

• Traditional management. This is most prevalent in rural areas and characteristicallyinvolves village leaders restricting the fishing by those outside the community andby various controls on fishing by community members.
• Central government management. All Pacific Island countries have a fisherieslaw giving wide powers to the government fisheries agency in controlling fishingactivity. For various reasons, the system is mostly ineffective. There is some degreeof success, however, in central governments applying point of export restrictionson those coastal resources that are exported.
• The use of MPAs and similar arrangements. With varying degrees of outsideassistance, communities establish an area that is closed to fishing or is subjected toreduced fishing pressure.

Current coastal fishery management measures (both centrally administered andcommunity-driven) tend to be non-quantitative and are intended to protect stocks in ageneralized way (Preston, 2008). These include MPAs, size limits (both minimum andmaximum), gear restrictions (minimum mesh sizes for nets, bans on torch fishing atnight), prohibitions on the use of destructive fishing methods (blast fishing, poisons),prohibitions on the taking of berried females, and seasonal or area closures.Quantitative stock assessments have been undertaken for only a few of the coastalfish stocks in the region, with deep-water bottom fish in Tonga being an example. Somefisheries are managed on the basis of trends in catch per unit effort or, more precisely,perceptions of such trends.Many current management measures are in support of biological objectives. Thisis most often stock sustainability and prevention of resource collapses (rather thancatch optimization). There is also management for purely economic objectives, such asencouraging in-country trochus processing. Cultural objectives, such as the closure of areef to fishing after the death of a traditional leader to show respect, are also common.

Offshore fishery resources
Offshore fishery resources Although several species of scombrids are found in the Pacific Islands (Areas 71 and 77), four species of tuna are of major commercial importance: skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), bigeye tuna (T. obesus) and albacore tuna (T. alalunga). Table C3.3 gives information on these fish in the WCPO.
Another important target of offshore fishing is swordfish (Xiphias gladius). This is caught by relatively shallow longline gear mainly in the subtropical parts of the WCPO. A few billfish species and some sharks are targeted by specific fisheries, but the usual situation is that they are bycatch in tuna longlining and, to a lesser extent, tuna purse seining. The common billfish are black marlin (Makaira indica), blue marlin (M. mazara), sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus), shortbill spearfish (Tetrapturus angustirostris) and striped marlin (T. audax). The most common shark caught is the blue shark (Prionace glauca).

TABLE C3.3 The tuna species of major commercial importance in the Pacific Islands Region Drawings courtesy of the SPC

Tuna management
The management of the tuna resources in the Pacific Islands (Areas 71 and 77) is complexand involves political, resource and historical considerations. Current managementoccurs on the national, regional and international levels.A general feature of national level tuna management in the region is the use of tunamanagement plans (TMPs). In 1998, the Canada–South Pacific Ocean DevelopmentProgramme cooperated with the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) to produce a detailedTMP for Solomon Islands. The FFA and Canada have subsequently prepared plans, oncountry request, for Fiji, Kiribati, Palau and Vanuatu. The Asian Development Bankand Australia have also assisted in the formulation of TMPs for the Federated States ofMicronesia and Samoa, respectively. The FFA has continued with this process using itsown staff and has prepared TMPs for Niue, the Marshall Islands, Tokelau and Tonga.Recently, New Zealand has provided fisheries assistance that includes support for TMPsin the Cook Islands and Solomon Islands.Currently, all Pacific Island countries have prepared national TMPs, and mosthave been formally adopted. Characteristically, the TMPs give a description of thecurrent national tuna fisheries, the status of the tuna resources, overall governmentgoals in the fisheries sector, specific objectives for the management of the fishery, andthe interventions used to obtain the objectives. Tuna resource sustainability is oftengiven as the priority objective in the TMPs. Other objectives are related to increasingemployment, increasing access fees, and creating and/or enhancing domestic tunafisheries.At the regional level, there are a number of tuna fishery management arrangementsin the Pacific Islands. All are promoted and coordinated by the FFA. The first measures,introduced in the 1980s and early 1990s, were:

• In licensing foreign fishing vessels, countries agreed to insist on the HarmonisedMinimum Terms and Conditions for Foreign Fishing Vessel Access (e.g. use ofa common regional licence form, requirement to carry observers if requested).These have been progressively added to over the years and now encompass severaltypes of measures, such as the use of vessel monitoring systems.
• Reciprocal fisheries law enforcement as per the Niue Treaty on Cooperation inFisheries Surveillance and Law Enforcement in the South Pacific Region.
• Incentives to locally based industrial tuna vessels as per the Federated States ofMicronesia Arrangement for Regional Fisheries Access.

The region’s first conservation-oriented management move in the tuna fisherieswas the Palau Arrangement for the Management of the Western Pacific Purse SeineFishery, which entered into force in November 1995. The arrangement places a ceilingon the number of purse-seine licences that can be issued by the seven Pacific Islandcountries party to the agreement. The limit was originally set at 164 vessels and has beenprogressively increased. For several years there, has been discussion about modifyingthe Palau Arrangement so that purse-seine-vessel fishing days (rather than vesselnumbers) are used as the basis for management. In May 2004, a subset of FFA membercountries decided to adopt such a scheme and it has subsequently been progressivelyimplemented.In a general sense, the original thrust of regional tuna fishery management in the 1980sand 1990s was to increase foreign fishing access fees. This has been broadened in recentyears to include domestic tuna industry development and resource sustainability. Thelatter objective overlaps with international fishery management efforts in the WCPO.At the international level, a management convention came into force in June 2004establishing the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). TheWCPFC adopts “resolutions” that are non-binding statements and “conservation andmanagement measures” (CMMs) that are binding. As of mid-2009, a total of 26 CMMshad come into force.In the December 2008 WCPFC meeting, a crucial CMM was adopted – which mayincrease the effectiveness of the WCPFC in its tuna management efforts. The objectivesof that measure (CMM 2008–06) are:

• the implementation of a package of measures that, in a three-year periodcommencing in 2009, results in a minimum of 30 percent reduction in bigeye tunafishing mortality from the annual average in the period 2001–04 or 2004;
• ensuring that there is no increase in fishing mortality for yellowfin tuna beyondthe annual average in the period 2001–04 average or 2004;
• the adoption of a package of measures that shall be reviewed annually and adjustedas necessary by the WCPFC, taking account of the scientific advice available at thetime as well as the implementation of the measures.

The bibliographic references are available through the hyperlink displayed in "Source of Information".

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Jacek Majkowski of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is acknowledged as initiating this study and providing valuable guidance in its preparation. Garry Preston and Mike McCoy, two Pacific Island fishery specialists, reviewed an earlier version of the manuscript and provided corrections and helpful suggestions. The Secretariat of the Pacific Community is to be thanked for materials, information and responses to enquiries.