GILLNET FISHING IN BACKGROUND OF MACUATA The land and coastal bounda- MACUATA, FIJI ries of the Macuata Province lie between latitude 16°5’S to 16°35’S and longitude 178°50’W INTRODUCTION to 179°45’W, on the second larg- est island of Fiji, called Vanua The purpose of this trip to Fiji Levu. The island of Vanua Levu was to review the effectiveness is composed of three large prov- of the banning of commercial inces: Macuata, Bua and gillnet fishing in Macuata Prov- Cakaudrove. Macuata is made ince on Vanua Levu. We were up of the northern portion of also asked to make recommen- 9th ofby February Esaroma for Ledua, the start of Vanua Levu and five other Integrated Fisheries dations on whether the ban the survey work. Three Fiji Fish- small islands to the north. Management Associate, should be maintained, and to eriesSouth Research Pacific Officers Commission were as- Labasa Town is the capital of advise on any other manage- signedNoumea, as full-time New Caledonia counterparts Macuata Province. ment measures relating to com- to this project. They were mercial and subsistence fishery Apisai Sesewa (team leader), Since Macuata is a dry area (av- in Macuata Province. Saiyasi Yabakivou and Jovesa erage rainfall of 4,050 mm/ Korovulavula. year), it has a climate favourable The gillnet fishing ban was im- for growing sugar cane, and posed by the Macuata chiefs in Considerable support was re- Macuata is one of the leading 1990. Unfortunately, there was ceived from the Fisheries Divi- sugar producers in Fiji. The no survey conducted at this sion, especially the provision of province of Macuata is also time, so no estimates of stock support staff, fishing gear and known for its timber and fish- abundance were available for vessels. Apart from the three ery resources. Sugar is the main future assessment and com- research staff, Extension Officer source of income, followed by parative analysis. Matai Kolinisau spent two full timber and fish respectively. weeks with the ICFMaP team. In 1995, the chiefs of Macuata Fish resources in Macuata requested Fiji Fisheries (through The Research Officer based at coastal waters appear to be the Macuata Provincial Office) Labasa, Mr Indar Dev Raj, was more in abundance compared for an assessment of the effec- also assigned to the team to as- to other areas in Fiji, especially tiveness of the ban. Fiji Fish- sist in collecting information on Viti Levu. This may be attrib- eries then requested technical commercial landings. The Fish- uted to the establishment of support from the South Pa- eries vessel Gonedau, with nine good traditional management cific Commission through the crews, was assigned to this project systems, the presence of large ICFMaP project. The Commis- for a full four-week period. areas of mangroves, an exten- sion agreed to this request, sive shallow lagoon and the and the ICFMaP team left for The commercial fishery opera- Great Sea Reef that provides Fiji in February 1996 to con- tion in the Macuata Province has shelter to the whole of Macuata’s duct this work. a lot of things to offer to other coastal zone (important as a countries in the region. It is or- source of nutrients, refuge and The ICFMaP personnel that ganised in a simple professional spawning grounds for many took part in this survey include way, which has the potential to fish species). Tim Adams, Paul Dalzell, Sione be successfully duplicated by Matoto and Esaroma Ledua. other neighbouring countries. Paul, Sione and Esaroma left Noumea for Fiji on the 6th of This includes the marketing February, and were joined by system, the storage system, Tim two weeks later. the contract system of catch- ing fish and the system of After meeting senior Fisheries paying wages. All these as- Officials in Suva on the 7th and pects of the fishery should be 8th of February, the team trav- of interest to neighbouring elled to Labasa, Macuata on the countries in the region.

25 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96 Management of fishery re- Though the chiefs were receiv- surgeonfish (18 per cent), sources in Macuata is jointly ing and benefiting from sub- trevallies (10 per cent), emper- controlled by the Fisheries Di- stantial amounts of money as ors (6 per cent) and parrot fish vision office in Labasa, as well goodwillGILLNET FISHING payments IN MACUATA, from com- FIJI (5 per cent). as the chiefs in the various dis- mercial fishermen, strong op- tricts. The Labasa Fisheries Of- position from the people forced Subsistence fishers fish harder fice is the headquarters for the the chiefs to declare the ban on when there are village functions Northern Division of the whole gillnet fishing. such as church gatherings, dis- of Vanua Levu. trict meetings, weddings, the MACUATA SUBSISTENCE birth of a first-born baby, deaths A total of twelve officers are FISHERY in the village, or other festivals. currently serving the province Subsistence fishers in Macuata of Macuata. The Fisheries Offic- Villages along the Macuata prefer to do handline fishing at ers provide resource manage- coast rely on fish as their main night, especially when the tide ment and development advice source of protein. Handline is turning on the ebb tide. to provincial councils, district fishing is the most common councils and village councils. method of catching fish. Free Handline fishing is mostly con- diving, using rubber-propelled ducted in deep areas of the la- They also provide fishermen spears, seems to be the second goon or reef channels during with services such as sales of most popular method of catch- dark nights, targeting rock cods, gear and ice, vessel licensing, ing fish in Macuata. snappers and other bottom hull and engine repairs, prepa- fishes. When the moon is full, ration of bank loan applica- Reef gleaning is also common, subsistence fishers prefer to use tions and law enforcement. combined with the use of hand handlines in the shallow sandy The chiefs, through traditional nets. This type of fishing areas of the barrier reef, target- management systems, may method is practised mainly by ing Lutjanids and Lethrinids. declare and enforce bans or women. Some fishers use hand taboos, in most cases through spears or knives to fish on reef Subsistence fishing trips in prior consultations with the flats at low tide. Macuata usually last for 8 to 12 Fisheries Division. hours at sea. On special occa- Spear fishers and reef glean- sions, fishing trips may last more GILLNET BAN ers prefer to go out at low tide. than 12 hours. In such cases, fish They try to reach selected or are smoked or cooked in earthen The chiefs of the Macuata area favourite spots before the flow ovens on uninhabited islets imposed the ban on gillnet fish- of the incoming tide. They nearest to the fishing grounds. ing in 1990. Although this is wait for fish which come in technically illegal due to gov- schools with the tide to feed in This is done to preserve fish in ernment ownership of all re- shallow water. order to allow fishers to stay sources and the seabed, the longer at sea. Ice is rarely used chiefs used their traditional Fishermen prefer early morn- in Macuata for subsistence powers to impose the ban. The ing tides or late afternoon tides. needs. This is due mainly to the government recognises the tra- Our observations while visiting unavailability of proper ice ditional systems in Fiji, and villages in Macuata showed boxes and the problem of acces- therefore endorsed the ban on that invertebrates, mainly mol- sibility to ice plants. gillnet fishing. luscs, constitute about 17 per cent of the subsistence landings. Although gillnet fishing has Among the reasons why the been banned in Macuata since government endorsed the Groupers and coral trout ac- 1990, the chiefs continue to gillnet ban were the numerous counted for about 30 per cent of grant exemptions to subsist- complaints about the negative the total catch, with other sig- ence fishermen whenever there effects of commercial gillnetting nificant contributions from is a big village function, par- on subsistence-fishery catch re- ticularly when large volumes quirements. Subsistence fisher- of fish are required. men were experiencing difficul- ties meeting their subsistence It is estimated that gillnets are requirements. deployed in each village on an

26 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96 average of about 10 times per prepare for spawning. At this handline fishing and are gener- year only. Subsistence gillnet time it is not unusual for fish to ally not in favour of lifting the fishing in the Macuata area be served for all three meals in ban on commercial gillnet fish- does not, therefore, appear to be mostGILLNET village FISHING homes. IN MACUATA, FIJI ing. This is due mainly to eco- excessive. nomic reasons, as the commer- COMMERCIAL FISHERY cial fishermen have converted Gillnets used by these subsist- their operations to handline ence fishermen are usually Since gillnetting is banned in fishing. around less than 300 m in length, Macuata, commercial fishermen and therefore much shorter in have shifted to handline fishing It would be costly to convert length than those used by com- for demersal reef stocks on the back to net fishing, and they mercial fishermen, who deploy Great Sea Reef. There were a believe that if commercial gill- nets of more than a kilometre in total of 289 commercial fisher- netting was permitted again, length. It was also noted that men licensed in 1995 and a simi- it is most likely that it would nets used for subsistence pur- lar number is expected for 1996. again be banned in a few poses were much shallower in years’ time. depth compared to the ones Most of the commercial fisher- used by commercial fishermen. men use the FAO-designed 28- The average catch rate of com- foot (8.5 m) wooden launches mercial handline fishermen us- The frequency of subsistence for fishing. These boats were ing FAO launches was about fishing is variable and depend- built by the Fisheries Division 342 kg/trip during the month ant on the weather conditions, when their boat yard was op- of February. Overall, all vessels social occasions in the villages erational. Fishing periods usu- landed an average of 260 kg/ and seasonality of targeted spe- ally last 4–7 days for this type trip with landings ranging from cies. For example, people fish of boat. 12 to 500 kg/trip. It was ob- harder for their subsistence needs served during the survey that when mackerel (R. brachysoma) The commercial fishermen in the commercial handline fish- aggregate in coastal zones to Macuata are quite satisfied with ery is usually dominated by

Figure 1: The above picture shows three subsistence fisherwomen catching fish using handlines in Nukunuku lagoon, Macuata. Handline fishing is the most common subsistence fishing method in the Macuata Province.

27 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96 barracuda, trevallies, spanish The wages given to the captains The fish are then graded, mackerel, groupers and coral and crews by boat owners dif- weighed, cleaned and iced at trout, snappers and emperors. fer between boats, and are dic- the storage facility of the mid- Current trends in the fishery tatedGILLNET by FISHING the fishing IN MACUATA, skills of theFIJI dlemen. The boat owner is then suggest that there is no resource captains. Boat captains select paid after the fish are weighed. limitation at the current level of their own crews, and every fifth Of the 21 middlemen in fishing. trip is the captain’s trip: that is, Macuata, four were selling most the profits from the trip belong of their fish to Suva, whereas The commercial fishery opera- to the captain and crew. Ra- the rest retailed their fish in tion and set-up in Macuata is tions, fuel and kava are paid for Labasa Town. simple but effective. The fish by the boat owners, except for catching systems are based on the fifth trip which the captain Middlemen selling fish to Suva contracts that require boat cap- himself provides, but market- are very well organised. They tains of the FAO-designed ves- ing of fish is conducted by the have trucks loaded with ice sels to catch a minimum of boat owners. The majority of boxes, as well as freezers and 300 kg/trip. boat owners sell their catch to ice bunkers for storage. Ice is fish buyers or middlemen. normally purchased from the Therefore, the boats only return Fisheries Division Ice Plant, to port after exceeding this tar- In 1995, a total of 21 middlemen but one of the middlemen also get. Fishermen catch sardines at were licensed by the Fisheries has his own ice plant. Fish night using lights placed on the Division for Macuata. The same transported fresh to Suva are side of the boat to attract them, number is expected again for preserved in ice. and fish are then hauled into the 1996. Of interest was the organi- boat using small mesh nets. sation of the fish marketing sys- The trucks travel from Nabouwalu This idea of catching bait origi- tem. When the boats come into landing to Suva by ferry once a nated from the tuna pole-and- port, boat owners inform the week with 2 to 5 tonnes of fish. line baiting techniques. middlemen who send in a truck The volume of fish sold to Suva to collect fish. markets constitutes approxi-

Figure 2: Picture of Mr Ali’s storage facility at Labasa. Bags of fish are being offloaded from the small truck on the right. The big truck loaded with the ice box is for transporting fish to Suva. The ice bunker on the left, with bags of ice on top, is for storage purpose.

28 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96 GILLNET FISHING IN MACUATA, FIJI

Figure 3: Three FAO-designed vessels offloading fish at Mr Khalil’s storage facility. On the left is his storage house and ice plant. Further back is his bouser, which supplies fuel to the boats.

Figure 4: Mr Khalil (centre) holding a bundle of fish at his storage facility and helping in sorting fish landed by fishermen. On the right are the ice bunkers and at the back is his house

29 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96 mately 91 per cent of the total the fish stocks prior to the im- The Fisheries vessel Gonedau landed catch in Macuata. position of the ban. was used as the base for the gillnet fishing during this sur- Markets in Suva are fixed, and FieldGILLNET activities FISHING duringIN MACUATA, this sur- FIJI vey. Gillnets of mesh sizes 2, 3, therefore Macuata fish dealers vey involved trial gillnet fishing and 4 inches were used (dimen- merely offload, get paid and between 16 February and 6 sions of each mesh size were travel back to Labasa. Fish buy- March 1996 to obtain accurate 360 m x 50 mesh x 75% hang- ers in Suva include restaurants, estimates of catch rates and se- ing ratio) to investigate catch butcher shops, supermarkets, lectivity of gillnets used in the rates, selectivity and species com- and other middlemen. former commercial fishery. position. Three fishing teams Collection of catch-and-effort were formed and each team The middlemen in Suva may data from commercial and sub- was briefed on netting proce- then sell their fish at road-side sistence fisheries in Macuata dures. The nets were deployed stalls, or sell it to hotels and res- Province was also conducted. at high tides during both nights taurants or the Nabukalou and days and soaked for six creek, whereas butchers and su- We held discussions with fish- hours, and when nets were permarkets have set up facilities ermen and villagers on the ef- hauled in, the fish were sepa- to retail their fish. fectiveness of the commercial rated in buckets according to gillnet ban to try and gauge opin- mesh sizes. As soon as fish ar- MACUATA GILLNET SURVEY ions about lifting or keeping the rived on-board the Gonedau, FIELD ACTIVITIES ban in place. they were sorted into species, identified, lengths measured It was not an easy task for the The ICFMaP team also tried to and then weighed. ICFMaP team to review the ef- find whatever historical data fectiveness of the banning of was available on gillnet fishing We were blessed with good commercial gillnet fishing in in Macuata Province prior to weather in the first two weeks Macuata Province from 1990– the ban, for comparison with of the survey, but the third and 1996. This was mainly due to trial fishing conducted during fourth weeks were very wet the absence of information on the survey. and windy.

Figure 5: Fisheries staff helping the ICFMaP team in sorting, weighing and measuring fish onboard the Gonedau.

30 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96 Though the wet conditions information on catch rates from This would, therefore, mean made life miserable on board commercial fishing. However, that the use of 2-inch mesh size Gonedau, the field activities con- these records from the early should be restricted. It was also tinued as planned. 1980sGILLNET show FISHING that IN average MACUATA, daily FIJI observed in this survey that 3- catch rate per vessel ranged inch mesh size was the most The Gonedau has only 9 bunks, between 53 and 97 kg, with an appropriate minimum mesh to but unfortunately there were 14 average of 73.1 kg/day. The be used by subsistence fisher- of us on-board the vessel. Sleep- average catch from this survey men with a hanging ratio of no ing was not so bad in the first during February 1996 was less than 75 per cent. two weeks because people 75.6 kg/day. without bunks were able to RECOMMENDATIONS sleep outside on deck, but in the In terms of weight of fish third and fourth weeks, life was caught, the principal compo- In summary, it was recom- difficult at night because of the nents of gillnet catches were mended to Fiji Fisheries that the wind and rain. sharks and rays which collec- ban on gillnet fishing be ex- tively formed about 34 per cent tended, because of the marked The team was no longer able of the catch. This may be indica- improvements in subsistence to sleep outside but was forced tive of low fishing pressure, as catches and because commer- to crowd into the small wheel predatory species such as sharks cial fishermen in Macuata have house. I managed to secure a are usually among the first adopted handline fishing on the good spot between the sound- group of fishes to be depleted Great Sea Reef. Since subsist- ing machine and the boat com- when fishing pressure is high. ence gillnet fishing in Macuata pass. Fisheries Officer Apisai Snappers and travellies each does not seem to be excessive, Sesewa grabbed the chart table constituted about 9 per cent of there was no reason to seek any to sleep on, but unfortunately the catch, while mullets and limitation on subsistence fish- the table was only half the mackerels each contributed about ing, apart from discouraging length of his height. Sione 8 per cent of the total weight. the use of 2-inch mesh. Matoto and two others shared the floor of the wheel house The current ban on gillnet fish- Concerning handline fishing, which is only about 9 x 3 feet ing has had very little effect on the Fisheries Division was ad- in size. the people of Macuata. The peo- vised to continue collecting ple most affected by the ban information on fishing effort, OUTCOME OF THE SURVEY were commercial fishermen notably catch composition, from outside the Macuata area, trip length, days spent fishing, Information from villagers in particularly those from Viti hours fished per day and crew the Macuata area obtained Levu. Commercial and subsist- size. from interviews conducted ence fishermen in Macuata are during this survey supports not in favour of relaxing the ban FISHERIES DIVISION RESPONSE the conclusion that coastal fish on commercial gillnetting. TO SURVEY OUTCOME AND stocks have improved mark- RECOMMENDATIONS edly since the imposition of On selectivity tests, it was ob- the ban on commercial gillnet served during the fishing trial The Fiji Fisheries Division was fishing in 1990. Villagers do that 2-inch-mesh-sized nets very pleased with the success of not need to travel far or fish for were catching a large number of this survey. The recommenda- very long to obtain good juvenile fish. tions were well received by the catches. They also noted an in- Fisheries officials, especially key crease in abundance of mullets people like Mr Apolosi and mackerels, which had pre- Turaganivalu (Senior Fisheries viously been seriously depleted Officer – Northern), Mr Krishna by commercial fishermen. Swamy (Acting Principal Fish- eries Officer – Resource Assess- Though we managed to re- ment & Development) and Mr trieve some catch data collected Maciu Lagibalavu (Acting Di- between 1982 and 1983 by the rector of Fisheries). Fisheries Division, it was diffi- cult to compare the catch data The report will be used to ad- from this survey with previous vise the Provincial Council

31 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96 and Tikina Councils in the the field activities during the leadership of Mr Apisai Macuata area. four weeks in Macuata. We Sesewa. The support from the were pleased with the profes- Labasa Fisheries office in GILLNET FISHING IN MACUATA, FIJI CONCLUSION sionalism of Fiji Fisheries staff terms of provision of rations, who were involved in the sur- boat preparations, net repair, The support given to us by the vey, including boat crews and vehicle provision for field Fiji Fisheries Division greatly Resource Assessment & De- trips and many other activities contributed to the success of velopment staff, especially the were similarly excellent.

Figure 6: Happy faces of Sione Matoto and Esaroma Ledua during the first field trip on the Gonedau deck, with little expectation of what is coming in the next two weeks.

© Copyright South Pacific Commission 1996

The South Pacific Commission authorises the reproduction of this material, whole or in part, in any form, provided appropriate acknowledgement is given. Original text: English

South Pacific Commission, Fisheries Information Section, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia Telephone: (687) 262000 – Fax: (687) 263818 – E-mail: [email protected]

32 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #78 — July/September '96