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Fisheries Division Annual Report 2012-2013

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Fisheries Division Annual Report 2012-2013 FISHERIES DIVISION ANNUAL REPORT 2012-2013 September 2013 Fisheries Division Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries HIGHLIGHTS 1. Coastal Fisheries 1.1. Management x Coastal Fisheries Management and Development Plan 2013 - 2016: The specific management and development of coastal Fisheries for Samoa is now laid out with the endorsement of the Coastal Fisheries Management and Development Plan 2013-2016. The four year plan streamlines priorities from the Ministry’s Sector Plan and the priorities from the main stakeholders to strengthen the management and sustain development of coastal fisheries and its resources. x Village Fisheries Management Plans (Plans): Seven (7) Plans were produced in this fiscal year. New plans were for Sapulu i Salelologa, Vaimaga i Fusi and Salamumu and 4 re-activated Plans. This brought the number of villages within the Community Base Fisheries Management Program (CBFMP) to ninety six (96) with 53 villages in Upolu and 43 in Savaii. x Village Fisheries Bylaws: Eleven (11) new bylaws were officially approved in this year and disseminated to all stakeholders. Enforcement of these rules is the pioneer responsibilities of the village management committees. 1.2. Development x Coral Reef Rehabilitation: Artificial coral structures and cemented fish houses were replanted with coral substrate at Sapulu Salelologa, Fasitootai and Salamumu fish reserves as recovery actions to rehabilitate coral reef growth. x Inshore Fishery Landings: The overall landings for inshore fish and seafood products domestically sold for this year was 129.55 metric tons generating a value of 1,617,979.29 tala which is a 5% decreased from last fiscal year’s value of 1,772.320.46 tala. 1.3. Research x Coral Reef Status: Average substrate coverage of twenty one (21) assessed fish reserves showed dominance of live corals of 42% with abiotic substrate second ranked of 22%. Algal group with dead coral with algae (DCA) recorded 16% and 14% respectively. The most abundant finfish were mainly species of damselfish (Pomacentridae) and parrotfish (Scaridae) families. While invertebrates were mainly of sea cucumbers. Replanted coral monitoring at Sapulu, Fasitoo tai and Salamumu showed minimum coral growth at the replanted area. x Ciguatera Fish Poisoning Monitoring: The four sites, Faleu, Mulifanua, Matafaa and Siumu reported the positive presence of the ciguatoxic dinoflagellate within the marine environment. Faleu and Siumu results were high enough to pose risks of ciguatoxic species and villages were informed. x Nation-wide Sea Cucumber Assessment: Second phase of this assessment was conducted in Upolu at the three sites; Manono, Faleula, Aleipata and Faleula. A total of 10 sea cucumber species were recorded in which two species lollyfish (loli) and greenfish (maisu) were in high densities. x Socio Economic Survey: The national fisheries socioeconomic survey to update the fisheries information on fishing activities was conducted in June-July 2012. A total of 100 villages coastal villages were sampled for this survey with 30% of households within each villages were surveyed. An estimated of 9,066mt of finfish and 7,804mt of invertebrates were landed in 2012 from village fishing. An average consumption per capita was 46.2kg/yr for finfish and invertebrate with 54.7kg/yr was calculated. x Cyclone Evan Assessment: A damage and loss assessment survey was carried out in January 2013 under the World Bank’s assistance to determine post-disaster needs. This survey formed the basis of the MAF Cyclone Evan Recovery Project now planned to initiate in October 2013 for two years. 1.4. Advisory Service: x Library and Information Service: Students from various schools and institutions have been utilizing our library for their research and studies. Information sheets and brochures were also disseminated on demand based and during our outreach programs. Four issues of our Quarterly newsletter were timely produced and disseminated to all stakeholders. 2. Offshore Fisheries Division 2.1. Management x Licensing of Fishing Vessels – An annual total of 71 commercial fishing licenses were issued to local fishing vessels to fish in Samoa’s EEZ, from a moratorium of 137 fishing licenses. This is a decrease of licenses issued compare to the 81 licenses issued in the last fiscal year. 2.2. Development • Long line Fishery Landings: The long line fleet landed an annual estimation of 1812mt of tuna and other pelagic species, a decline of about 11.4% compared to the previous year. • Trolling and Bottom Fishing Landings: An estimated of 204.5mt of fish were caught and landed by trolling and bottom fishing operations, generating a value of S1, 488,779 tala. This is a decrease of 17.8% in volume compared to the previous fiscal year. • Tuna Exports: A total of 1582 mt of fish were exported to overseas markets as fresh-chilled and frozen, generating total revenue of $11, 238, 834.00 SAT to the economy of Samoa. • Ice Making Machine: A new ice-making machine was installed at Salelologa, to replace the operations of the old ice machine. 2.3. Advisory x Commercial Fisheries Management Advisory Committee: Two meetings of the committee were held on the 7th of August 2012 and 23rd of November 2012 respectively. A key highlight was the passing of three new licensing conditions. 3. Aquaculture 3.1. Developments x Sea Grape Farming: A new sea grape farm was set up at Lano village owned fish reserve through consultation with the village council. This increases the number of farms to 3 farms with Savaia and Leauvaa. x Tilapia Farming: A total numbers of 9 new farms were established and operated within this fiscal year. This brought the number of active tilapia farmers to forty three (43). The farmers are mainly of individual families with two of which are youth and village level farms. x Tilapia Production: An estimated production of 2,856kg was estimated from 3,570 baby fish distributed to the 13 farms stocked within the fiscal year. The production is estimated from the average weight of 400g per fish after six month growth and the two harvesting within the 12 months period. 3.2. Research x Red tilapia: This tilapia was introduced by the Fisheries Division for research purposes. A spawning was carried out and only sixteen frys were produced. They are currently being monitored at the Fisheries freshwater hatchery. x Freshwater Prawn: Capture based culture technique for the farming of Macrobrachium lar (ula vai) was trialed at Lotofaga Safata for this year. This method is to be promoted in the upcoming year. x Aquaponic: This system was promoted in this year during the Ministry’s Agriculture show to showcase an enclosed alternative technique to tilapia farming and gardening, where wastes from the tilapia are used by plants to recycle the water for reuse by the tilapia. 4. Compliance Section 4.1. Enforcement and Surveillance x Foreign Fishing Vessel Boarding Inspections: Forty nine (49) dockside boarding inspections for foreign fishing vessels that visited Samoa Ports were carried out. Nineteen (19) Sea Boarding Inspections for Fishing Vessels in Samoa’s national waters. x Exclusive Economical Zone (EEZ) Surveillance: There were 3 surveillance patrols for Samoa fishery waters, due to the unavailability of the Nafanua undergoing maintenance. x Transshipment Operation: Thirty five (35) port transshipment operation completed at Apia Port for this fiscal year. There has been 100% coverage of transshipment operation in Samoa and an estimate 2.75mt (2,746,355 kg) of fish were transhipped from these vessels via Samoa Port for overseas markets for this fiscal year. x Fisheries Regulation enforcement: Forty four (44) reported cases from monitoring were investigated by Fisheries Law Enforcement. From these investigated infringements, 18 cases were prepared for legal review and court prosecutions. Most of the outcomes of court cases have been called for first appearance in the next fiscal year and results will be reported in FY 2013 - 2014. 4.2. Monitoring and certification x Vessel Monitoring System: Thirteen (13) Monitoring Transmitting Units (MTUs) were installed in thirteen registered domestic long-liners. The assistance has enabled fisheries management on Samoa’s long-liners to effectively monitor on track data of the fishing effort distribution for our national fleets using the vessel monitoring system. x Fish Processing Establishment Periodic Auditing: audits were completed by the Fisheries Division for the two Fish Processing Plants. Nineteen (19 Consignment packing inspections and 2 licensed Fish Processing Establishments in verification of information and enforcement of HACCP standards. 4.3. Advisory x Awareness program: 1 advertisement was produced and aired on Sept 2012 through TV Samoa for fishing license renewed period and procedures for fishing industry. 5. CHALLENGES Staff turnover has been a major challenge for the Fisheries Division during this fiscal year. We lost a total of 4 staffs during this year with one of our staff passed away suddenly, another reassigned due to illness, one is took study leave for a year. We also lost our ACEO of eight years when his contract was terminated and have created a huge gap within the management level of our Division. Another challenge is the meeting of Samoa’s obligations in Fisheries related agreements such as the Tuna Commission, with the limited personnel and technical capacity. The Divisional structure is identified as a key solution which will be push strongly in the next fiscal year. Operational Budget limitation continues to limit the operations of the Division and with the concern on the increase dependency of external funding as it is a short term solution and limits the development and management of Samoa’s fisheries as external funding have criteria and limitations. 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Fisheries Division acknowledge the huge and valuable contribution of our former ACEO, Mr Mulipola Atonio Mulipola whom have contributed enormously to the development and management of Samoa’s fisheries sectors through more than 30years of his service through this division.
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