Fishery ban may continue, says Kasu

THE ban on harvesting of beche-de-mer (sea cucumber) may continue until mid-next year, National Fisheries Authority (NFA) managing director John Kasu says.
Kasu, during a recent interview, said this would depend on whether there were enough stocks to warrant the harvesting season to be re-opened.
“The discussions at the last meeting was to put a ban for this year and allow stocks to recover because it was at a low level so we stopped harvesting,” he said.
“Some of the issues that we have are in terms of the number of licenses that have been issued.
“There are other concerns that are being addressed also.
“The committee, or the stakeholder review ,that we had with the industry decided that we put a stop to this year’s opening and we look at next opening next year.
“Between this time going forward, there is a lot of things that NFA needs to address whilst working closely with the industry and we will assess the stock just before the opening to know whether it’s at a stage where we can open the harvesting season or if not we might decide to extend the ban.
“At this time, there is no set date as to when we should open the harvesting season but we’ve got the opening in July.
“That is the normal fishing season.
“However, as we move closer to July 1, we will assess the stock.”