Fishery to generate K50mil

By HELEN TARAWA   
THE beche-de-mer fishery is projected to generate about K50 million this year, according to the National Fisheries Authority.
Managing director John Kasu said coastal and island communities were directly involved in it to generate foreign revenue for the country.
“About half a million people from the coastal and island communities are now benefiting from the fishery,” he said.
“Coastal and island fishermen throughout the country are reaping the benefits of the seven-year closure of the beche-de-mer fishery.
“An estimated K13 million has been paid already directly to the coastal and island communities for the six-week period the fishery has been open in 2017.”
He said by the time all provincial total allowable catch had been reached, and the open season ended this year, about K36 million would have been earned by the people.
The harvesting of beche-de-mer was banned for seven years from 2010 due to extensive overfishing.
The stock of sea cucumber was severely depleted.
The National Fisheries Authority has been monitoring the recovery of the sea cucumber stock through a provincial sea cucumber annual assessment.