Fisheries Development Policy and Education in Papua New Guinea

The fisheries development policy in Papua New Guinea is executed in the Sector Review and ADB Report, where new strategies such as promotion of market-oriented coastal fisheries and effective production with modern fishing gear and vessels are identified. Despite of the development policy, the fisheries education has declined since the 1980's. There is less correlation between the development policy and education. The two major fisheries educational institutions remain sparse production of higher-level technical manpower, whereas fishing technology is badly lacking. The redirection at UPNG appeared towards aquatic and biological sciences. However, management of fishing gear and methods such as, fishing technology for selective harvest and avoidance of incidental by-catch, unaccounted mortality and ghost fishing is emphasized in the recent draft of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing. This principle is applicable to PNG where problems of discards of by-catch by prawn trawlers, an inconsistent mesh size regulation against fish size regulation in barramundi gillnet fishery and destructive dynamite fishing remain unsolved. The inconsistence between the industrial policy and its educational strategies may provoke deficient man-power production against future fisheries development. Fisheries education toward the sound combination of studies on resource assessment and selective fishing technology is required. Regional approach among the South Pacific countries is also important because of large cost of fisheries education