An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014
For many small island nations, fisheries provide residents with both food security and economic stability. However, in order to create effective and sustainable fisheries policies and management that will ensure a growing population can prosper, policy makers need to know what is being fished and ho...
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doaj-f65ffbc3dd7144099fc8a560fae8cc8b2020-11-25T00:25:22ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452017-10-01410.3389/fmars.2017.00306289344An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014Marc Léopold0Gilbert David1Jason Raubani2Jeremie Kaltavara3Lincoln Hood4Dirk Zeller5UMR ENTROPIE Ecologie Marine Tropicale des Océans Pacifique et Indien, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Sète, FranceUMR ESPACE-DEV Espace Pour le Développement, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Montpellier, FranceVanuatu Fisheries Department, Port-Vila, VanuatuVanuatu Fisheries Department, Port-Vila, VanuatuSea Around Us, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaSea Around Us, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, AustraliaFor many small island nations, fisheries provide residents with both food security and economic stability. However, in order to create effective and sustainable fisheries policies and management that will ensure a growing population can prosper, policy makers need to know what is being fished and how much is fished. Vanuatu, the smallest country in Melanesia, has a declared and claimed Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 820,000 km2 and fisheries resources play a large part in the food security and economic stability of this country. This reconstruction of the total marine fisheries catch of Vanuatu for 1950–2014 faced major data gaps. It showed that the reconstructed total catches of nearly 1.4 million tonnes (metric tons) 40% higher than the 977,997 tonnes reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on behalf of Vanuatu for the same period. However, if large-scale industrial catches are excluded, the reconstructed small-scale fisheries catches (~270,000 tonnes) were over 200% higher than the 114,862 tonnes of reported catch that were assumed to represent the small-scale sector in FAO data. Subsistence catches made up almost 93% of small-scale catches, followed by artisanal and recreational catches with ~7 and <1%, respectively. By continuously improving the fisheries data of Vanuatu for both the past and the present, policy makers, stakeholders, and fishers can make better decisions that will maintain the benefits of marine fishery resources.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00306/fullunreported catchessmall-scale fisheriesartisanal fisheriessubsistence fisheriesVanuatu |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Marc Léopold Gilbert David Jason Raubani Jeremie Kaltavara Lincoln Hood Dirk Zeller |
spellingShingle |
Marc Léopold Gilbert David Jason Raubani Jeremie Kaltavara Lincoln Hood Dirk Zeller An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014 Frontiers in Marine Science unreported catches small-scale fisheries artisanal fisheries subsistence fisheries Vanuatu |
author_facet |
Marc Léopold Gilbert David Jason Raubani Jeremie Kaltavara Lincoln Hood Dirk Zeller |
author_sort |
Marc Léopold |
title |
An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014 |
title_short |
An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014 |
title_full |
An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014 |
title_fullStr |
An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014 |
title_full_unstemmed |
An Improved Reconstruction of Total Marine Fisheries Catches for the New Hebrides and the Republic of Vanuatu, 1950–2014 |
title_sort |
improved reconstruction of total marine fisheries catches for the new hebrides and the republic of vanuatu, 1950–2014 |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
issn |
2296-7745 |
publishDate |
2017-10-01 |
description |
For many small island nations, fisheries provide residents with both food security and economic stability. However, in order to create effective and sustainable fisheries policies and management that will ensure a growing population can prosper, policy makers need to know what is being fished and how much is fished. Vanuatu, the smallest country in Melanesia, has a declared and claimed Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 820,000 km2 and fisheries resources play a large part in the food security and economic stability of this country. This reconstruction of the total marine fisheries catch of Vanuatu for 1950–2014 faced major data gaps. It showed that the reconstructed total catches of nearly 1.4 million tonnes (metric tons) 40% higher than the 977,997 tonnes reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on behalf of Vanuatu for the same period. However, if large-scale industrial catches are excluded, the reconstructed small-scale fisheries catches (~270,000 tonnes) were over 200% higher than the 114,862 tonnes of reported catch that were assumed to represent the small-scale sector in FAO data. Subsistence catches made up almost 93% of small-scale catches, followed by artisanal and recreational catches with ~7 and <1%, respectively. By continuously improving the fisheries data of Vanuatu for both the past and the present, policy makers, stakeholders, and fishers can make better decisions that will maintain the benefits of marine fishery resources. |
topic |
unreported catches small-scale fisheries artisanal fisheries subsistence fisheries Vanuatu |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00306/full |
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