THE LIVE REEF FISHERIESOFPALAU HISTORY AND PROSPECTS FOR MANAGEMENT DECEMBER 2001 Published by: The Nature Conservancy, Asia Pacific Coastal Marine Program Produced by: Tom Graham, PO Box 235, Honolulu, HI 96809; [email protected] under TNC contract APRO/GRAH011300. Final report submitted October 2000. Citation: Graham, T. 2001. The Live Reef Fisheries of Palau: History and Prospects for Management, December, 2001. Asia Pacific Coastal Marine Program Report # 0103, The Nature Conservancy, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A: 85 pp. ©2001 by The Nature Conservancy, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior permission from the copyright holder(s). Reproduction for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright holders(s). This publication was made possible through support provided by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Additional support was provided by the Office of Environment and Natural Resources, Bureau of Global Programs, Field Support, and Research, U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms of Award No. LAG-A-00-99-00045-00. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Cover design: Hirasaki Nakagawa Design Text Editing: Susan Arritt Available from: The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific Region Coastal Marine Program 923 Nu‘uanu Avenue Honolulu, HI 96817 Or via the worldwide web at: www.conserveonline.org THE LIVE REEF FISHERIES OF PALAU HISTORY AND PROSPECTS FOR MANAGEMENT Thomas Graham DECEMBER 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. SUMMARY . 7 1.1 HISTORY OF THE FISHERY . 9 1.2 CURRENT MANAGEMENT . 10 1.3 VIABILITY. 13 1.4 PROSPECTS FOR MANAGEMENT. 13 1.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ACTION. 15 INTRODUCTION. 19 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERY . 21 2.1 THE REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE . 24 2.2 ORNAMENTALS . 25 2.3 FOOD FISH . 33 2.4 RELATED FISHERIES . 39 2.5 HISTORY SUMMARY. 39 3. CURRENT MANAGEMENT. 41 3.1 ORNAMENTALS . 43 3.1.1 National Laws. 43 3.1.2 State and Traditional Laws. 45 3.1.3 International Laws . 46 3.2 FOOD FISH . 47 3.2.1 National Laws. 47 3.2.2 State and Traditional Laws. 49 3.2.3 International Laws . 50 4. VIABILITY . 51 4.1 ORNAMENTALS . 54 4.1.1 Profitability . 54 4.1.2 Resource Productivity . 54 4.1.3 Competition with Other Uses . 56 4.1.4 Distribution of Benefits. 57 4.1.5 Summary . 59 4.2 FOOD FISH . 59 4.2.1 Profitability . 59 4.2.2 Resource Productivity . 62 4.2.3 Competition with Other Uses . 67 4.2.4 Distribution of Benefits. 68 4.2.5 Summary . 70 5. PROSPECTS FOR MANAGEMENT . 73 5.1 OVERVIEW. 75 5.2 CONTROLS ON CATCH AND EFFORT . 77 5.3 RESTRICTIONS ON METHODS . 79 5.4 PROTECTION OF SPECIES. 80 5.5 MANAGEMENT OF SPAWNING AGGREGATIONS . 81 5.6 AREA RESTRICTIONS. 82 5.7 EFFICIENCY. 83 5.8 INTEREST AND PARTICIPATION OF PALAUANS . 84 5.9 NATIONAL-STATE COORDINATION . 85 5.10 EXTRACTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC RENT. 85 5.11 CULTURED PRODUCTS . 86 5.12 MONITORING. 87 5.13 ENFORCEMENT . 87 5.14 STABILITY OF MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. 88 6. FUTURE ACTION . 89 6.1 OUTREACH . 91 6.2 NATIONAL POLICY AND MANAGEMENT. 91 6.3 STATE POLICY AND MANAGEMENT . 93 6.4 INDUSTRY . 93 6.5 RESEARCH AND MONITORING . 94 REFERENCES & APPENDICIES . 95 REFERENCES . 97 Appendix 1 Air Cargo Rates from Koror . 101 Appendix 2 List of Contacts & Acknowledgements . 101 Appendix 3 The Nature Conservancy Strategy for the Live Reef Fish Trade. 102 Appendix 4 Contract Terms of Reference . 102 TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1 History of the live reef fisheries of Palau . 23 Table 2 Exports of Palau Aquatics. 26 Table 3 Top-selling finfish species,.