Islanders aim to produce quality beche-de-mer

Business

By PETER ESILA
MANY islanders on Misima in Milne Bay are out in the nearby lagoon harvesting beche-de-mer almost daily.
Tauni Nelson, of Bwagaoia village, said his two sons go out every day except on Sunday.
They harvest about 30 a day.
Nelson said buyers were looking for quality over quantity.
The National Fisheries Authority recently said the season was opened last month, with the total allowable catch (TAC) of 10 tonnes for each coastal province.
A statement from the NFA said: “Once a province reaches its TAC, fishing in that province will cease and all the products in storage must be declared so reprocessing and curing can occur to meet export quality.
“But all products in storage must be exported before or by Dec 31, 2020,” it said.
“There will be no more harvesting, selling or buying of BDM once the TAC is reached.
“The NFA will advise the licensed operators and the public once a province reaches its TAC.
“Fishing, buying, selling must then cease immediately.”
It said beech-de-mer “contributes significantly in export revenue and income generation for more than 500,000 people”.
It is the second biggest export earner for PNG after tuna, with US$50 million (K170.89mil) in export revenue, and around US$27 million (K92.28mil) earned by people in coastal and island communities annually.
PNG exports an average of 630 tonnes of beech-de-mer annually to markets in Hong Kong, China (60 per cent), Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.

One thought on “Islanders aim to produce quality beche-de-mer

  • It is a sad reality that this Industry is been dominated by others.The locals only window dress by applying but the so called partners are the financiers behind the scene.They call the shots.

    Their chiko wantoks and tiktoks then piggy back on these licenses as illegal buyers to exploit. Not all monies are remitted so you can make a good guess that State is missing out on a taxable income and that not all foreign currency finds it’s way back .The same guys who are the overseas importers are also financing the incountry buying under this banner so price appearing on the export document is questionable.

    They seem to be one step ahead of the game.

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