Transcript Results from finfish work

Highlights of SciCOFish Coastal
Fisheries Finfish work
SciCOFish Steering Committee meeting
Noumea, March 2015
Coastal fisheries
• Provide 50%–90% of protein
intake for coastal communities
• Very important for local incomes
(provides around 50% of coastal
households with 1st or 2nd source
of income)
Fresh finfish key to food security
Cook Islands (55 kg)
6%
Solomon Islands (115 kg)
Fiji (84 kg)
9%
12%
Fish
(kg/person/year)
Inverts
(kg/person/year)
88%
94%
Kiribati (110 kg)
2%
91%
Marshall Islands (112 kg)
6%
98%
94%
SciCOFish key work areas (Finfish)
Increased capacity, better science, for more
informed management
Multiple themes:
•
In-water assessments (including habitat
surveys)
•
Creel and market surveys
– Catch, effort, CPUE, prices, value etc
•
Biological sampling and demographic
assessments
– Length and age-based indicators, genetic
population structure
•
Ciguatera
•
Development of awareness/Information
materials
•
Capacity building
In-water assessments - Highlights
 Training conducted in 6 countries in
UVC and habitat survey methods
– FSM 2010 (Aquarium fish; 8 staff)
– Kiribati 2011 (Environmental Impact
Assessment; 9 staff)
– RMI 2011 (5 staff)
– Samoa 2011 (Spawning aggregations; 8 staff)
– Tuvalu 2011 (4 staff)
– Fiji 2013 (12 staff)
 General move by countries away from
UVC
–
–
–
–
Costly and time consuming
Logistically difficult
Easily biased
More informative approaches for assessing
fisheries available
Creel and market surveys - Highlights
 Trials and training conducted in 9 countries
– Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, PNG, RMI, Tonga, Tuvalu
– 82 in-country staff trained
 Assessment reports produced for 5 countries
– Provide much-needed baseline data for future
comparison
 Finalised draft of Creel & Market survey
manual
 Developed, trialled and implemented new
database
 Promotes standardisation of data and comparisons
over space and time
 Coming soon in 2015 - Waterproof ID cards
(300 species)!!
Creel and market surveys – Highlights (2)
 Ongoing survey programs
established in 4 countries
–
–
–
–
PNG (18 people employed)
Tonga (1 person employed)
Kiribati
Nauru
 Palau, RMI, Tuvalu planning to
commence programs in 2015
 Trainings regularly featured in
national media
– Promotes project, reaffirms official nature &
gets people used to surveyors
Biological sampling - Highlights
 Training conducted in 10 countries
– Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, PNG, RMI, Samoa,
Tonga, Tuvalu
– 92 in-country staff trained
 2 ageing workshops held in Noumea (collaboration
with IRD)
– Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, PNG, RMI, Samoa,
Tonga, Tuvalu
 Ageing protocols developed for numerous coastal
finfish species
 Ages estimated for > 2500 fish
 Demographic assessments completed for 7
countries
– Length & age structures, growth rates, maturity schedules,
mortality rates
 Genetic population structure / connectivity
examined for 10 species (collaboration with IRD)
Biological sampling
Age-based Indicators
100
Fished population
90
Number of fish
80
Information on fishing mortality
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
2
4
6
8
Age (years)
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
High Fishing
mortality
Moderate
Fishing mortality
Low Fishing
mortality
• Large fishery for bonefish
Frequency (%)
• Joint survey between MFMRD &
SPC at Abemama
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Frequency (%)
Highlight - Combining creel surveys and
biological sampling a powerful approach!
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
• 19 landings surveyed
• Catch and gear documented for
all landings
• Maturity assessed
• Results used to guide Kiribati
Coastal Fisheries Management
Plan
2.5-3 inch mesh
30
Frequency (%)
• 1129 individual bonefish
measured
2-3 inch mesh
3 inch mesh
25
20
15
10
5
0
Fork length (cm)
Genetic connectivity
Genetic connectivity
?
Other highlights
 Kept SPC at the forefront of ciguatera work in the Pacific and
globally
 Workshop on standardising field survey methods for ciguatera collection and
detection, Hong Kong, 2012
 Assisted Tuvalu with detection of ciguatera in fish and algae surveys
 Co-facilitated training workshop on sampling methods and ID of ciguatoxincausing algae, Suva, July 2013 (collaboration between UQ, USP, FAO, IFREMER; 21
participants)
 Workshop on fish and shellfish poisoning held in Noumea, Nov 2014 (60+
participants)
Other highlights (2)
 Trained and mentored 6 Pacific Island Young Professionals
 Developed information/awareness materials
 Developed collaboration with research groups in the region and
globally (IRD, USP, UQ, USC, ZMT, SPC OFP)
Work plan for 2015 and beyond
• SciCOFish project concludes in September 2015
• Priorities for 2015
– Process remaining genetic samples and otoliths
– Finalise biological and genetic assessments
– Examine potential for otolith measurements to be used as
proxies for age (cheaper, easier)
– Develop biological sampling guides for key species
– Finalise, print and distribute creel and market survey manual and
ID cards
0.40
0.35
Otolith weight (g)
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
R² = 0.9672
0.10
0.05
0.00
0
10
20
Age (years)
30
40
Thank you