RAP PUBLICATION 2011/03

Fisheries of the Pacific Islands:
Regional and national information

Robert Gillett

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok 2011

ABSTRACT

The Pacific Island region consists of fourteen independent countries and eight territories located in the western and central Pacific Ocean. These comprise about 200 high islands and some 2 500 low islands and atolls. Coastal fishing is of fundamental importance in the Pacific Islands. Much of the region’s nutrition, welfare, culture, employment, and recreation are based on the living resources in the zone between the shoreline and the outer reefs. The continuation of current lifestyles, the opportunities for future development and food security are all highly dependent on coastal fisheries resources.

Although dwarfed in both volume and value by the offshore tuna fisheries, the Pacific Island fisheries that are based on coastal resources provide most of the non-imported fish supplies to the region. Coastal fisheries harvest a very diverse range of finfish, invertebrates and algae. Unlike the tuna fishery, virtually all the coastal catch is undertaken by Pacific Islanders themselves, with very little access by foreign fishing vessels.

This publication presents information on coastal and offshore fisheries in the region. The information is broken down into resource categories, the major types of fishing, the important species, the status of those resources, and the fisheries management that occurs. The book also provides supplementary sectoral and governance related information on the fisheries in the 14 independent Pacific Island countries.

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