Status and Management of the Sea Cucumber Fishery of La Grande Terre, New Caledonia
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Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of La Grande Terre, New Caledonia From October 2006 to May 2008, The WorldFish Center coordinated a ZoNéCo project to provide support to the Southern and Northern Provinces for decisions about how best to manage the sea cucumber fishery around La Grande Terre. We collected data during underwater population surveys, questionnaire-based interviews with fishers and processors, and landing catch surveys. A core aim was to furnish the Provinces with ‘ballpark’ estimates of the abundance and density of commercially important sea cucumbers on 50 lagoon and barrier reefs. Analysis and synthesis of the ecological and sociological data provide the basis for informed recommendations for fisheries management. Counts of trochus and giant clams on the reefs allow us to also describe the general status of those resources. We propose 13 recommendations for management actions and fishery regulations and advocate an adaptive management approach. This multi- disciplinary study should serve as a useful template for assessing other fisheries, and we provide a series of generic ‘lessons learnt’ to aid future programmes. STUDIES AND REVIEWS | 1901 Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of La Grande Terre, New Caledonia ISBN 978-983-2346-72-2 Steven W. Purcell, Hugues Gossuin, Natacha S. Agudo April 2009 The WorldFish Center For further information on publications please contact: Business Development and Communications Division The WorldFish Center PO Box 500 GPO, 10670 Penang, Malaysia Tel : (+60-4) 626 1606 Fax : (+60-4) 626 5530 Email : [email protected] This publication is also available from: www.worldfishcenter.org Printed on 100% recycled paper. Printed on 100% recycled Reducing poverty and hunger by improving fisheries and aquaculture www.worldfishcenter.org SeaCucumber.indd 1 3/25/2009 1:52:40 PM Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of la Grande Terre, New Caledonia Steven W. Purcell, Hugues Gossuin, Natacha N. Agudo Final report for ZoNéCo program project: Ėvaluation et gestion des stocks d’holothuries dans les Provinces Nord et Sud de Nouvelle Calédonie The WorldFish Center c/- SPC - Secretariat of the Pacific Community B.P. D5 98848 Nouméa Cedex New Caledonia Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of la Grande Terre, New Caledonia Prepared by: Steven W. Purcell, Hugues Gossuin and Natacha N. Agudo, The WorldFish Center, Pacific Office, c/o Secretariat of the Pacific Community, B.P. D5, Noumea Cedex 98848, New Caledonia. 2009 Published by: The WorldFish Center, P.O. Box 500 GPO, 10670 Penang, Malaysia Funded by: Le programme ZoNéCo d’inventaire et de gestion durable des ressources marines de Nouvelle Calédonie. Original text: English Translation: French, by Gerard De Haro and the Translation and Interpretation section of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. ISBN: 978-983-2346-72-2 WorldFish Center Contribution No. 1901 Cover photos: Purcell, Steven. All rights reserved. © 2009 The WorldFish Center and Programme ZoNéCo. All rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without the permission of the copyright holders provided that acknowledgement of the source is given. This publication may not be copied, or distributed electronically, for resale or other commercial purposes without prior permission, in writing, from the WorldFish Center and Programme ZoNéCo. This document should be cited as: Purcell, S.W., Gossuin, H. and Agudo, N.N. 2009. Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of la Grande Terre, New Caledonia. Programme ZoNéCo. WorldFish Center Studies and Reviews No. 1901. The WorldFish Center, Penang, Malaysia. 138 p. Contents 1. Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................1 2. Preamble ........................................................................................................................................3 3. Project Activities and Methods .......................................................................................................4 3.1 Personnel and training ............................................................................................................4 3.2 Underwater population surveys ...............................................................................................5 3.3 Landing surveys ....................................................................................................................16 3.4 Fisher and processor surveys ...............................................................................................18 3.5 Study on growth and movement of sea cucumbers ..............................................................20 3.6 Fishery management workshop ............................................................................................22 4. Results ..........................................................................................................................................25 4.1 Underwater population surveys .............................................................................................25 4.2 Landing surveys ....................................................................................................................54 4.3 Fisher and processor surveys ...............................................................................................74 5. Recommendations for fisheries management and workshop outcomes .....................................87 6. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................99 7. References ................................................................................................................................ 101 8. Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 105 A. Data sheets for field surveys ............................................................................................... 105 B. Fisher questionnaire ............................................................................................................ 109 C. Processor questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 115 D. Landing catch survey datasheet .......................................................................................... 119 E. Aerial/satellite photographs of study sites with transect positions ....................................... 121 i ii 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background Sea cucumbers are fished worldwide but over-exploited in most countries (Lovatelli et al. 2004). International workshops have recently developed manuals on management of these resources. Sea cucumber populations can be slow to recover from overfishing and must be managed conservatively. In New Caledonia, the sea cucumber fishery has operated since the 1840’s (Conand 1990). Now, it is based primarily on about 12 species, exported as dried ‘bêche-de-mer” to Asian markets. In 2007, the reported export value of sea cucumbers from New Caledonia (404,613,500 XPF1, or 5.3 million USD) was twice that of tuna (202,305,100 XPF) or other fish (14,828,600 XPF) — ranking it the second-most valuable marine export commodity after farmed shrimp (1,527,422,000 XPF). Based on a need by the provinces to better understand and manage the sea cucumber resource of la Grande Terre, a ZoNéCo project was developed by the WorldFish Center. This report covers work coordinated by the WorldFish Center from October 2006 to May 2008 for the project “Assessment and management of sea cucumber stocks in the Northern and Southern Province of New Caledonia”. It describes results of field population surveys (sea cucumbers, giant clams and trochus), landing surveys, socio-economic surveys with fishers and processors, and the conclusions from a workshop with stakeholders on fishery management. The main emphasis is on sea cucumbers. Methodology A total of 50 lagoon and barrier reef sites were chosen by the provincial fisheries departments. Populations of sea cucumbers, trochus and giant clams were surveyed using stratified, replicate, belt transects that were geo-referenced using GPS technology. The surveys provide estimates of densities of species from five habitat types on the reefs. More than 6,000 sea cucumbers were counted. Additionally, we measured and weighed 1,724 sea cucumbers, of medium or high value, collected along the 1,475 transects. GIS software (MapInfo) was used to calculate the surface area of sites and of each of the five predefined habitats within each site. The total abundance of each species per site could then be calculated by combining estimates of abundance among habitats. We present estimates of densities in the habitat in which each species was found most, for each site. We calculated and present average weights and size-frequency distributions of high- and medium-value sea cucumbers, grouped within each of six study regions. Abundances of giant clams and trochus are presented for each site. We trained nine technicians or scientists from the provincial fishery departments and one ZoNéCo scientist in field survey methods and identification of sea cucumber species. Questionnaire-based interviews were used to collect responses from 26 fishers from the same study regions. The 35 questions sought responses