NFA explains catch quota

NATIONAL Fisheries Authority managing director John Kasu says the limited total allowable catches (TAC) for beche-de-mer in certain provinces is determined by the stock assessment surveys.
Kasu was responding to issues raised regarding the TAC that NFA carried out stock assessment surveys annually to determine the stock density or the number of individual sea cucumbers found in a hectare before setting the quota for each province.
He said reef structures played an important role in the breeding of sea cucumbers.
“Provinces with more reef areas are likely to have a higher density of sea cucumbers which eventually leads to them having higher TAC than those with lower reef areas,” Kasu said.
He said by limiting TAC, the sustainability of the fishery would be maintained giving enough breeding space for sea cucumbers to grow to mature size and be ready for harvesting.
Kasu said there was over-fishing and harvesting of sea cucumbers including harvesting of undersized becher-der-mers in the 2017 and 2018 fishing season which resulted in very low stock levels recorded during the 2019 survey.
As a result, the buying season for becher-der-mer in 2019 was closed to allow the stock to mature.
“Beche-der-mer is a good business when fishermen harvest the right size while leaving behind juveniles to mature,” Kasu said.
“We must not only think of harvesting everything today.
“We must consider the future of our children who will inherit the trade and there must be something left for them to sustain their livelihood in the future.”
Kasu said NFA was doing its best to manage the becher-der-mer business and he appealed to local fishermen including buyers and exporters to comply with the regulations.
So far seven provinces have reached their TAC and were closed with a few more provinces remaining before the buying and selling season for 2020 closes.