Vanuatu National Sea Cucumber Fishery Management Plan 2015
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VANUATU NATIONAL SEA CUCUMBER FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN 2015 A NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF VANUATU’S SEA CUCUMBER FISHERIES VANUATU FISHERIES DEPARTMENT JULY 2015 1 Vanuatu National Sea Cucumber Fishery Management Plan 2015 APPROVAL OF THE VANUATU NATIONAL SEA CUCUMBER FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN 2015 The Vanuatu National Sea Cucumber Fishery Management Plan 2015 is made in accordance with Part 4, of the Fisheries Act No. 10 of 2014. By virtue of powers conferred upon the Minister for Fisheries, under Section 11(5) of the Fisheries Act No.10 of 20014, I hereby approve the Vanuatu National Sea Cucumber Fishery Management Plan 2015. COMMENCEMENT DATE This Plan commences on the date on which it is approved by the Minister, according to section 11(5) of the Fisheries Act No. 10 of 2014. 2 Contents 1 PRELIMINARY INFORMATION ......................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Title ......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Application ............................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Purpose and Objectives .......................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Interpretation ......................................................................................................................... 5 2 VANUATU SEA CUCUMBER FISHERY OVERVIEW ............................................................................ 7 2.1 Background ............................................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Fishing, production and monitoring ....................................................................................... 8 2.4 Current management measures ............................................................................................. 9 2.5 Status of resources ................................................................................................................. 9 2.6 Target Species ...................................................................................................................... 10 3 MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES ....................................................................... 10 3.1 Strategies to achieve the Objectives .................................................................................... 10 3.2 Consultative process ............................................................................................................ 11 4 AUTHORITIES, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES .............................................................................. 11 4.1 Fisheries Management Advisory Council ............................................................................. 11 4.2 Department of Fisheries ....................................................................................................... 12 4.3 Provincial Government ......................................................................................................... 13 4.4 Role of Area Secretaries/AuthoriZed Officers ...................................................................... 13 4.5 Community and Resource Owners ....................................................................................... 14 4.6 Other partners ...................................................................................................................... 14 5 MANAGEMENT MEASURES .......................................................................................................... 14 5.1 Licensing and Permits ........................................................................................................... 14 5.1.1 License Types and permits ........................................................................................... 15 5.2 Criteria for Assessing License Applications ........................................................................... 16 5.3 Permits ................................................................................................................................. 17 5.4 License Fees, export permit fees, levies and auctioning ...................................................... 17 5.5 Sea cucumber open season and open area .......................................................................... 18 5.6 Quota system (or TACs system) ............................................................................................ 18 5.6.1 Quota (TACs) setting ..................................................................................................... 18 5.6.2 Quota allocation ........................................................................................................... 19 3 5.7 Other Sea Cucumber Products ............................................................................................. 19 5.8 Sea Cucumber Aquaculture and sea ranching ...................................................................... 20 5.9 Sea cucumber reseeding guidelines ..................................................................................... 20 5.10 Sea cucumber sea ranching guidelines ................................................................................. 20 5.11 Prohibitions .......................................................................................................................... 21 6 MONITORING, COMPLIANCE AND REPORTING ............................................................................ 21 7 GENERAL ....................................................................................................................................... 22 7.1 Training Requirements ......................................................................................................... 22 7.1.1 Research ....................................................................................................................... 22 7.2 Review and Amendments .................................................................................................... 22 4 1 PRELIMINARY INFORMATION 1.1 Title The title of this plan is the Vanuatu National Sea Cucumber Fishery Management Plan 2015, there after referred to as “Sea Cucumber Management Plan”. This Plan sets out the policy of the Government of the Republic of Vanuatu in relation to the management, development and conservation of the sea cucumber resources in Vanuatu. 1.2 Application The Sea Cucumber Management Plan supplements and does not override the provisions of the Act or regulations promulgated under the Act and all activities under the Sea Cucumber Fishery Plan shall be subject to the applicable provisions of all Acts and Regulations of the Republic of Vanuatu: a. The Sea Cucumber Management Plan applies to all animals belonging to the Class Holothuroidae, commonly known as sea cucumber, and their fisheries and associated activities in regard to the collection, processing, buying, storage, selling, exporting of sea cucumber products, or aquaculture, restocking or ranching of sea cucumber; b. The Schedules to the Sea Cucumber Management Plan form part of the Plan and shall be read together with the Plan; c. The Plan is to be interpreted in accordance with Part 1 of the Fisheries Act No. 10 of 2014 and section 1.4 of this Plan; 1.3 Purpose and Objectives The purpose of the Sea Cucumber Management Plan is to provide the structure for the management, development and conservation of sea cucumber fisheries in Vanuatu. The objectives are to: a. Ensure the fishery is ecologically sustainable; b. Ensure that harvesting and processing of sea cucumber has minimal impact on the marine environment; c. Strengthen ongoing monitoring programs to ensure effective monitoring and the collection of scientific information and to; and d. Optimize economic returns from the fishery to industry, communities and resource owners. 1.4 Interpretation Unless otherwise expressed, words and expressions used in the Plan shall have the same meaning as defined in the Fisheries Act No 10 of 2014. Where there is inconsistency between the Plan and the Fisheries Act, the Fisheries Act shall prevail. Act means the Fisheries Act No.10 of 2014 as amended from time to time. Bêche-de-mer means the raw, boiled and dried or other processed forms of sea cucumber. Biomass means an estimate of species abundance (in weight of sea cucumbers) in a given area. 5 Density means an estimate of species presence (in number of sea cucumbers per unit of surface area) in a given area. Department means the Department of Fisheries, Fisheries Management Advisory Council means a council established pursuant to section 9 of the Fisheries Act. No. 10 of 2014 Fishery Management Plan means a plan for the management, development and conservation of any designated fisheries pursuant to Section 10 and 11 of the Fisheries Act No. 10 of 2014; Final product means final processed product of sea cucumber that is ready for consumption. Indefinite Closure means the fishery shall be closed permanently with short open seasons. Licensed operators means sea cucumber harvest licensees and sea cucumber export licensees Licensing period means a period from 1st January to 31st December of any year; Marine Protected Area means a marine area protected and enforced by the community for the purposes of conservation of marine species. Marine Reserve means a marine reserve pursuant to section 102 of the