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Comanaging small-scale sea cucumber fisheries in New Caledonia and Vanuatu using stock biomass estimates to set spatial catch quotas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2013

M. LÉOPOLD ,
N. CORNUET ,
S. ANDRÉFOUËT ,
Z. MOENTEAPO ,
C. DUVAUCHELLE ,
J. RAUBANI ,
J. HAM  and
P. DUMAS
M. LÉOPOLD*
Affiliation:
IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), U227 COREUS2, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New Caledonia Fisheries Department of Vanuatu, Private Bag 9045, Port-Vila, Vanuatu
N. CORNUET
Affiliation:
Fisheries Department of the Northern Province, BP 41, 98860 Koné, New Caledonia
S. ANDRÉFOUËT
Affiliation:
IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), U227 COREUS2, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New Caledonia
Z. MOENTEAPO
Affiliation:
Fisheries Department of the Northern Province, BP 41, 98860 Koné, New Caledonia
C. DUVAUCHELLE
Affiliation:
IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), U227 COREUS2, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New Caledonia
J. RAUBANI
Affiliation:
Fisheries Department of Vanuatu, Private Bag 9045, Port-Vila, Vanuatu
J. HAM
Affiliation:
Fisheries Department of Vanuatu, Private Bag 9045, Port-Vila, Vanuatu
P. DUMAS
Affiliation:
IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), U227 COREUS2, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New Caledonia Fisheries Department of Vanuatu, Private Bag 9045, Port-Vila, Vanuatu
*
*Correspondence: Dr M. Léopold e-mail: marc.leopold@ird.fr
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Summary

Many sea cucumber fisheries have dramatically declined worldwide due to rapid overexploitation and ineffective management. This study designed an innovative management strategy for small-scale, data-limited sea cucumber fisheries in Pacific Island countries. Firstly, a local quota-based comanagement system was implemented in New Caledonia to manage a small-scale sandfish Holothuria scabra fishery. A habitat map derived from high-resolution satellite imagery was used to stratify survey sampling and assess the harvestable stock biomass. The latter has been monitored as the reference biomass (RB) since 2008 and repeatedly used by the local fishers’ organization and Fisheries Department officers to set adaptive total allowable catches and regulations of fishing effort. Results showed the excellent performance of this fishery between 2008 and 2012, both biologically (167% increase in total stock biomass) and economically (146% increase in annual returns from catches). Secondly, the assessment of the RB was generalized to multispecies sea cucumber fisheries in Vanuatu in 2011 before the proposed lifting of a five-year national moratorium. Building upon these practical case studies in New Caledonia and Vanuatu, this paper outlines an operational framework to inform sea cucumber fisheries policy in these two countries and discusses the upscaling of the proposed management strategy.

Keywords

comanagement procedurefishers’ organizationhabitat mappingNew Caledoniaprecautionary approachsea cucumbersmall-scale fisheriesstock biomass assessmentVanuatu
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Politics, Science and Policy of Reference Points for Resource Management
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 367 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2013 

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