Development of Coastal Fisheries and Conservation of Fishing Grounds in Tropical Developing Countries

Most island countries in the South Pacific region give the high priority to fisheries in their national development strategies, while aiming at conservation of marine resources and environment for the next generation. The fisheries industry in Papua New Guinea, for example, is categorized into four components; subsistence fishing, small-scale business fisheries, industrial fisheries and fishing conducted by foreign vessels. Since the collapse of the domestic tuna industry in the 1980's, tuna resources have been utilized by means of collection of fishing fees from foreign vessels. The remaining industrial fishery is prawn trawling in the Gulf of Papua, where the discard of by-catch matches or exceeds the total amount of landing in coastal fisheries around the country. The gillnet fishery for barramundi (Lates calcarifer) which is a typical small-scale business fishery is managed under a national policy. Its fish and net mesh size regulations are, however, uncompliant and they are not respected by coastal fishermen. Dynamite fishing illegally and widely conducted is destructive to coastal fauna and coral reef. Papua New Guinea faces such problems against the policy, while development of its fisheries industry has in general not been a success. The strategy to develop modern fisheries by the introduction of industrial fisheries has not been feasible as negatively practiced by the failure of the domestic tuna industry. Technology transfer directly from developed countries may provoke unforeseen problems as has been the case in prawn trawling. Even traditional fishing techniques suitable to local conditions may not be ecologically conservative when they are used for the purpose of cash earning. The experiences of Papua New Guinea indicate that fishing technology adapted specifically to tropical fisheries must be urgently developed. The code of conduct for responsible fishing encouraged by FAO is thought to guide the world fisheries in the next era. This will give a basis for technical cooperation to be offered to developing countries to promote their fisheries which ensure the conservation of the marine environment and biodiversity, for which promotion of selective fishing techniques are defined in order to decrease waste of resource species and discard of by-catch. Technical cooperation to develop fishing technology suitable for the management of tropical fisheries, in line with responsible fishing, is required for Japan to build its fishing industry to be respected among world fisheries