Lettre d'information sur les pêches n°160

Editorial

Anchored fish aggregating devices, which facilitate small-scale fishers’ access to offshore fish such as tuna, are considered to be one of the most promising fishing tools in the Pacific Islands region. These FADs help compensate for declining reef fish resources and help meet the growing need for protein associated with a rapidly growing human population. But, as William Sokimi explains in his article, if anchored FADs are to become an essential component of the livelihoods of fishers and coastal communities, national fisheries authorities need to implement sustainable FAD programmes that are backed by stable and recurrent funding, dedicated specialist staff, and spare parts to replace lost FADs.

The few hundred anchored FADs in the Pacific are assumed to have a low impact on coastal resources and the environment, but the 30,000 to 65,000 drifting FADs (dFADs) deployed each year in the western and central Pacific Ocean by the industrial tuna fisheries raise concerns of a different magnitude (see article by Lauriane Escalle and colleagues). Knowing that a large proportion of these FADs are lost at sea, it is easy to imagine their impact on ecosystems, either at sea where they can ensnare protected species such as turtles or sharks, or on land where they can damage reefs and associated ecosystems when they become beached. Several management options are being considered, including further limiting the number of dFADs used by each vessel, using biodegradable materials, and recovering FADs at sea before they become lost or stranded.

FADs are, of course, not the only topic covered in this issue, which will take you to the high seas, American Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga, to talk about aquaculture, tuna tagging, reef conservation... and even spies! I hope you will enjoy.

Aymeric Desurmont
Fisheries Information Specialist

Produced by the Pacific Community, Division of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems, Information Section, BP D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia

Produced with financial assistance from the Australian Government, the European Union, France and the New Zealand Aid Programme

Auteur(s)

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1433
Fisheries, Aquaculture & Marine Ecosystems
1433
Fisheries, Aquaculture & Marine Ecosystems