Socioeconomic impacts of a sea cucumber fishery in Papua New Guinea: Is there an opportunity for mariculture?

Cathy Hair; Simon Foale; Jeff Kinch; Sven Frijlink; Daniel Lindsay; Paul C Southgate

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.104826

Back

Socioeconomic impacts of a sea cucumber fishery in Papua New Guinea: Is there an opportunity for mariculture?

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Socioeconomic impacts of a sea cucumber fishery in Papua New Guinea: Is there an opportunity for mariculture?

Cathy Hair, Simon Foale, Jeff Kinch, Sven Frijlink, Daniel Lindsay and Paul C Southgate

Ocean and Coastal Management, Vol.179, 104826

2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.104826

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.104826View

Published Version

Abstract

Bêche-de-mer

livelihoods

small-scale fisheries

Pacific islands

socioeconomic

Small-scale fisheries provide many benefits to coastal communities in the Indo-Pacific region, including food security, improved nutrition and cash income. However, increasing engagement with the global economy is exerting additional pressure on marine resources and opportunities to engage in alternative livelihoods are often limited by remoteness and a lack of land-based farming opportunities. Bêche-de-mer, the dried body wall of sea cucumber, is a valuable marine export commodity in the region, and an important cash-earning activity in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Sea cucumber mariculture (or holothuriculture), based on the high-value species, sandfish (Holothuria scabra), is also a promising community livelihood. Overfishing of sea cucumber in PNG led the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) to impose a moratorium on the fishery in October 2009. The fishery was reopened in 2017 for less than two months. This article presents socioeconomic data generated before, during and after the 2017 sea cucumber fishing season in three villages in New Ireland Province, PNG, which are also partners in a community-based sandfish mariculture project. The fishery dominated the economies of all three communities while it was open. Increased income was accompanied by high consumption of store-bought foods and purchase of other assets intended to increase living standards. Drawing on current understandings of local culture and political economy, together with the results from the 2017 wild sea cucumber fishery, we discuss how a livelihood based on holothuriculture could coexist with the wild fishery to increase benefits to coastal communities in PNG.

Details

Title: Socioeconomic impacts of a sea cucumber fishery in Papua New Guinea: Is there an opportunity for mariculture?
Authors: Cathy Hair (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Simon Foale (Author) - James Cook University
Jeff Kinch (Author) - National Fisheries Authority
Sven Frijlink (Author) - Wildlife Conservation Society, Papua New Guinea
Daniel Lindsay (Author) - James Cook University
Paul C Southgate (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research
Publication details: Ocean and Coastal Management, Vol.179, 104826; 10
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd.
Date published: 2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.104826
ISSN: 0964-5691
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451336302621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

2 File views/ downloads

201 Record Views

18 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Oceanography; Water Resources

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites