Fisheries


Fish and fishing are culturally and economically critical for most Pacific island and coastal societies.  Inshore fisheries are important for subsistence, providing local protein sources and food security, as well as preserving traditional ways of life.  Women participate in the nearshore activities of gleaning for invertebrates more frequently and typically gather fish for household use; men participate to a much greater extent in commercial and pelagic fisheries operations [9]. Offshore fisheries are one of the most important economic bases of many island states. Tuna, in particular, is a substantial component of both small-scale artisanal and large-scale commercial fisheries [5, 19]. Tuna fishing and transshipment and access fees for foreign fishing activities represent an extremely valuable source of foreign exchange, especially for American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the Marshall Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia [6, 7].

Climate and environmental variability have demonstrated impacts on the distribution, migration, and abundance of fish and other marine life [16, 8]. Population dynamics of tuna in the tropical Pacific Ocean are strongly influenced by ENSO [14]. The vitality of the most basic level of the marine food chain may change drastically during an El Niño event, thus influencing the habitat of tuna, forcing their migration, and affecting the survival of larvae and subsequent recruitment, or the amount of fish added to the exploitable stock each year [2].

Not all tuna respond in the same way to ENSO cycles [11]. Eastward movement and migration of skipjack and yellowfin [15, 13, 6] has been shown to follow El Niño events, correlating with the position of oceanic convergence zones where warm currents and pools meet colder, resource rich waters extending from the eastern Pacific [6, 13, 15]. On the contrary, South Pacific albacore movements evidence an opposite pattern, with low recruitment after El Niño events and high recruitment after La Niña events [13, 2].


Longline vessel unloading yellowfin and bigeye tuna in Apra Harbor, Guam. Source: David Itano.

In 2006, the total Pacific Ocean tuna catch was estimated at 2,771,070 metric tons, representing 64% of the world tuna catch [10]. The annual tuna catch in the Pacific Islands has a value of about 11 percent of the combined GDP of all the countries in the region–which is half of the value of all exports from the region. Approximately 10,000 Pacific Islanders are formally employed on tuna vessels and in tuna processing plants. Total direct and indirect tuna-related employment is estimated to be between 21,000 and 31,000–or between 5 percent and 8 percent of all wage employment in the region. The five tuna canneries employ 5 percent of all formally employed women in the region [16].

 

  
Subsistence fishing in Milne Bay, PNG.
Source: Supin Wongbusarakum.


Unusual catch sizes, schooling patterns and locations were also observed during El Niño [6]. Shifts in the spatial distribution of tuna cause losses of fisheries (through drastically reduced catches, reduction in revenue from foreign fishing licenses, and losses of labor in processing plants) for some island jurisdictions, such as the Federated States of Micronesia, but opportunities for others, such as the Marshall Islands, American Samoa, and Samoa [6]. The unexpected catch sizes and species composition, fat content, flesh texture and other characteristics make processing problematic and the unusual location of schools and abnormal current conditions pose harvesting difficulties [6].

Due to the importance of fisheries to the both subsistence and state economies, a range of different efforts have been made to address the impacts of climate variability and change on fisheries:

  • Integrating climate information in the fisheries management and development strategies that emphasize environmental-based planning [13, 17]. Climate information not only helps fishing groups to adapt, it can also be useful for addressing economic and political issues, such as the allocation of catch and effort quotas between the member states of the tuna commission for the western and central Pacific; [1]

  • Improving climate forecasts and communications, especially of ENSO events, to allow fisheries stakeholders to make timely, rational decisions [1]. This is particularly important because of the high capital and long-term investment characteristics of the industry;

  • Conducting interdisciplinary research to determine the nature and extent of the impact of climate variability on marine ecosystems and fish stocks and related socioeconomic impacts;

  • Organizing regional and international programs and workshops bringing together experts in related fields to work on climate change and variability in relation to fisheries, such as The IRI-IPRC Pacific Climate-Fisheries Workshop in Honolulu in November 2001 [1] and Climate Impacts on Oceanic Top Predators (CLIOTOP) Symposium in La Paz in 2007 [3, 4] ;

  • Combining the availability of multi-year series of observations with major scientific advances in sampling and modeling of ocean ecosystems enables investigating the processes generating variability in the abundance, distribution and dynamics of fish species [14, 20]. Issues explored include underlying mechanisms linking climate and environmental variability and fish populations, and their implications for resource management [14]. For example, SEPODYM, a spatial environmental population dynamics model has been developed and used [13,16,12]; and

  • Adaptation by changing types or tools of harvesting [6, 16] or expanding livelihood alternatives.

References


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