Beche de mer

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• Publié par: julien23
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ISSN 1025-4943 Secretariat of the Pacific Community ECHE-DE-MERB Number 15 — September 2001 INFORMATION BULLETIN Editor and group coordinator: Chantal Conand, Université de La Réunion, Laboratoire de biologie marine, 97715 Saint-Denis Cedex, La Réunion, France. [Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]]. Production: Information Section, Marine Resources Division, SPC, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia. [Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]; Website: http://www.spc.int/coastfish]. Produced with financial assistance from France and Australia. Editorial Inside this issue Welcome to the 15th issue of the Bulletin. The ‘New Members’ section on page 42 and the great number of hits on the Bulletin’s The Torres Strait beche-de-merweb-pages (www.spc.int/coastfish/News/bdm/bdm.htm) are (sea cucumber) fisheryproof of the increasing interest raised by our publication. by D. D'Silva p. 2Thanks to all contributors who helped me in keeping the Bulletin alive and informative. Sexual reproduction of Stichopus chloronotus, a fissiparous sea We start the ‘New Information’ section with an article on the cucumber, on Reunion Island, Torres Strait beche-de-mer fishery (p. 2) followed by two articles Indian Ocean on the different aspects of the biology of sea cucumbers sexual re- by T. Hoareau & C. Conand p. 4 production (p. 4 and p. 13). The ‘Aquaculture News’ column in- Assessment of the ‘tubulecludes three original articles presenting new projects in Vietnam recruitment model’ in three(p.17), Marshall Islands (p. 27) and New Zealand (p. 28). tropical Aspidochirote holothuriansInformation on beche-de-mer prices is difficult to get. INFOFISH Trade News is one of the best sources of information for seafood by C. Ramofafia & M. Byrne p. 13 market trends and we are thankful to them for allowing us to re- Preliminary sandfish growth produce a table presenting beche-de-mer prices on the Asian mar- trials in tanks, ponds and pens kets (p. 31). We also thank the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) in Vietnamof Papua New Guinea for providing information on their beche- by R. Pitt et al. p. 17de-mer export prices (p. 30). Sharing information is the main aim of this bulletin and we encourage other fisheries departments from The new Marshall Islands within and outside the Pacific region to follow NFA’s example. Science Station inaugurates a sea cucumber aquaculture I draw again your attention to the ‘Echinoderms Newsletter’ that research programme is available on the Web (www.nmnh.si.edu/iz/echinoderm) by J.-F. Hamel & A. Mercier p. 27and to the echinoderms forum that was created after the International Conference in Dunedin. You can subscribe by Sea cucumbers: farming, contacting [e-mail] or by sending an e-mail to production and development [e-mail] and including on the first line of the message of value added products SUBSCRIBE ECHINODERM-L, your surname and first name, by A. Morgan p. 28 but no other text. and more. . . Chantal Conand MARINE RESOURCES DIVISION – INFORMATION SECTIONSPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin #15 – September 20012 new infobeche-de-mer The Torres Strait beche-de-mer (sea cucumber) fishery 1Dallas D’Silva Management and licensing tasks are administeredBrief history by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority The beche-de-mer fishery is an important commer- (AFMA) and the Queensland Fisheries Service cial fishery for Torres Strait Islanders. There is no (QFS) based at Thursday Island and Brisbane, re- definite record of when beche-de-mer fishing began spectively. The Queensland Boating and Fisheries in Torres Strait but by the early 18th century it had Patrol (QBFP) perform surveillance and enforce- become important to the economies of both Torres ment duties from officers based on Thursday Island. Strait and coastal Papua communities (Williams 1994). In the past, the fishery was based primarily This fishery, in common with all other Torres Strait on sandfish (Holothuria scabra); however, harvesting fisheries, has the policy that if an increase in fishing of this species has since been discontinued. Current effort is allowed, then it must be reserved exclu- fishing effort focuses on surf redfish (Actinopyga sively for Torres Strait Islanders. mauritiana), black teatfish (Holothuria nobilis), white teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva) and to a lesser extent, Key management measures a couple of lower value species. Regulations implemented in the fishery include: limiting the method of collecting beche-de-mer toManagement arrangements either hand, or hand-held, non-mechanical imple- Commercial and traditional fishing within the ments; a ban on the use of hookah gear; limiting Australian section of the Torres Strait Protected Islander dinghies to less than 7 metres in length; Zone (TSPZ) is managed under the Commonwealth and a competitive total allowable catch (TAC — Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 by the Protected Zone measured in wet weight gutted) for commercial Joint Authority (PZJA). The PZJA is comprised of species and minimum size limits. the Commonwealth and Queensland Ministers re- sponsible for fisheries. Current fishery trends Fisheries resources of the TSPZ are managed in ac- Fishing for beche-de-mer in Torres Strait is mainly cordance with the provisions of the Torres Strait by free diving from dinghies crewed by 2–3 fishers Treaty, ratified in 1985. The Treaty requires Australia or by hand collection along reefs at low tide. Once and Papua New Guinea to cooperate in the conser- collected, the animal is gutted, graded, cleaned, vation, management and optimum utilisation of re- boiled, smoked and dried. This is a labour-inten- sources of the region primarily for the benefit of tra- sive process usually carried out on processing ves- ditional inhabitants of the two countries. sels or at shore-based facilities. 1. Queensland Fisheries Service, GPO Box 46, Brisbane, Qld, 4001, AustraliaSPC Beche-de mer Information Bulletin #15 – September 2001 3 Beche-de-mer are especially susceptible to over- fishing because they are large, easily seen and col- lected, and do not require sophisticated fishing techniques (Skewes et al. 2000). As a result, the Torres Strait beche-de-mer fishery is subject to a suite of output and input controls aimed at pre- venting overfishing but also allowing Islanders to benefit from the use of beche-de-mer stocks. A total of 148 traditional vessels are presently li- censed for the fishery. One non-islander operator is licensed in the fishery with additional conditions that primarily involve the participation of is- landers in those activities. Sandfish (Holothuria scabra) Overexploitation of sandfish Sandfish is a high-value species occurring in rela- tively shallow waters and vulnerable to over-har- A third survey of the sandfish population on vesting. The population on Warrior Reef has been Warrior Reef was undertaken by CSIRO in January subject to excessive levels of fishing effort during 2000. The work revealed that sandfish stocks are the early 1990s and 1995 in particular. A similar still severely depleted with only a very slight re- boom on the PNG side of the TSPZ preceded this in covery since the extremely low abundance the late 1980s and early 1990s. recorded in 1998. The heavily depleted population was also confirmed by estimates of the standing Following concerns of serious resource depletion stock, which suggest it is unlikely there are more and overexploitation of sandfish stocks on Warrior than 100 tonnes of adult animals remaining on Reef, two independent fishery surveys were com- Warrior Reef. The present stock size is also very missioned to assess the level of reduction in sand- low compared to virgin biomass estimates of over fish abundance from November 1995 to January 1600 tonnes (Skewes et al. 2000). 1996 and in January 1998. The collection of sand- fish was primarily for export to Asia. Harvesting The findings from the most recent survey were has been prohibited since early 1998, following rec- noted by the PZJA at its meeting in April 2000 and ommendations from Commonwealth Scientific the existing closure for sandfish has been contin- Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) re- ued. The PZJA referred the findings to the Beche- searchers who surveyed the remaining stock on de-mer Fishery Working Group and requested the Warrior Reef, and determined it was approxi- group to develop long-term management arrange- mately 80 per cent less than in November 1995. In ments, including monitoring and enforcement for 1995, the sandfish stocks were considered overex- the fishery. ploited, therefore the subsequent reduction indi- cated a serious depletion (Skewes et al. 2000). Recovery of sandfish stocks Sandfish stocks were regarded as being in a Experience elsewhere in the Pacific indicates recov- downward spiral, with progressively smaller ery of overfished sea cucumber stocks is a lengthy breeding populations leading to smaller and process, taking several years. This is because smaller recruitments. The CSIRO survey also led holothurians, like many other invertebrates are to the introduction of severe management mea- broadcast spawners, and fertilisation success is sures. Further fishing pressure on sandfish may highly dependent on population density. have led to a total collapse of the stock and a con- Reduction of population densities by fishing may tinued closure was recognised as the only feasible render remaining individuals incapable of success- strategy for rehabilitation. ful reproduction. Because the fishery had been closed for two years, The possibility of reseeding sandfish stocks on it was decided that another survey should be car- Warrior Reef is also being explored as a viable op- ried out to determine if there had been any recov- tion to assist recovery. The fishery has several char- ery in the population. This was recognised as a acteristics that make it suitable to reseeding and high priority by m