Beche-de-mer protection eyed

THE beche-de-mer industry is a profit-making industry which the New Ireland government wishes to protect from mismanagement and exploitation.
Deputy governor Ambrose Silul said this when presenting a paper on beche-de-mer in New Ireland during this year’s first sitting of the provincial assembly.
He said that in 2018, the estimated purchased weight of beche-de-mer in was 195.3 tonnes from 22 different species.
About 8.5 tonnes or 4.4 per cent were undersized as declared by exporters. This consequently affected the sustainability of the sea cucumber population. Silul said the value of the 195.3 tonnes exported last year was K9.3 million, cash directly injected into the pockets of the sea cucumber harvesters.
“There was a good flow of cash revenue into the local economy in this value chain through the involvement of
harvesters, buyers and exporters,” Silul said.
He said 195.3 tonnes was not a true figure of the harvested sea cucumbers, taking into consideration reports of illegal trading and transferring the products outside without records.