INFORMATION ON FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN COOK ISLAND

April 2002



LOCATION AND MAIN LANDING PLACES

Rarotonga Island is the main fishery landing site in the Cook Islands, with the two fishing harbours of Avarua and Ngatangia collectively accounting for 80% of total commercial landings. Aitutaki is the third most important commercial landing place. On the remaining islands local fishermen land small quantities of mainly subsistence catch.

 Estimated landings by principal site (tonnes)

 

Coastal Commercial

Subsistence

Offshore

locally-based

Total

Avarua Harbour

50

100

75

225

Ngatangia Harbour

15

100

0

115

Aitutaki Island

10

100

0

110

Other

5

495

0

500

TOTAL

80

795

75

950

 

The catches by foreign-based offshore fishing vessels are not landed in the Cook Islands.  Most of the purse seine catch (all by US vessels) and longline catch (mostly by Korean and Taiwanese vessels) is offloaded at the canneries in Pago Pago, American Samoa.

SECTOR OVERVIEW: BROAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES 

Broad objectives

The Ministry of Marine Resources has produced a document titled  “Basic Information on the Marine Resources of the Cook Islands”.  That publication states that the aim of marine resources management in the Cook Islands is to:

  • Increase self-sufficiency in food and protein production from the ocean;

  • Maximize development in areas offering the greatest potential for import substitution and foreign exchange earnings;

  • Implement proper conservation measures to ensure sustainable development of the industry.

Additional information relevant to broad management objectives is available from:

  • The Marine Resources Act 1989: management action may be taken for “effective conservation and optimum utilisation” of marine resources.

  • The 2000 Ministry of Marine Resources Annual report:  the objective of the Ministry of Marine Resources is “to ensure the sustainable development of the living and non-living marine resources for the benefit of the people of the Cook Islands”. 

Overview of Government management strategy

Aspects of management strategy are given in the Marine Resources Act 1989:

  • Under the Act the Minister may designate any fishery which is considered important to the national interest or which requires management and conservation measures for effective conservation and optimum utilisation. A fisheries plan is to be prepared and kept under review in respect of each designated fishery.

  • The second element in the strategy is the devolution of management functions and responsibilities relating to designated fisheries to Local Government Councils (established under the Outer Islands Local Government Act 1987).  In effect, this means that in the outer islands,  the island councils are responsible for managing the inshore fisheries, with the Ministry of Marine Resources providing technical assistance.

In another sense, a general fisheries management strategy in the Cook Islands is to formulate national policy statements on the important marine resources of the country.  These policy statements are formulated with input from relevant stakeholders and are intended to provide nationally-endorsed policy direction to the Ministry of Marine Resources for development and management purposes.  Policy statements have been developed for the offshore pelagic fishery, trochus fishery, black pearl culture, and aquarium fish.

According to the Ministry of Marine Resources, control and management measures for the various fisheries in the Cook Islands mainly fall into three categories:

  • Licensing vessels or companies for specific fishing activities;
  • The use of total allowable catches and quotas;
  • Setting specific harvest seasons.

DESCRIPTION OF MAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR MAJOR FISHERIES

The offshore fisheries

In late 2001 a plan for the management of offshore fisheries in the Cook Islands was being developed with the assistance of the Forum Fisheries Agency.  The plan is still under-formulation and, as of December 2001, the documentation associated with the plan was classified as confidential.  The management system for this fishery which was put into place in the late 1990s is still in effect and is therefore what is described in the following section.

According to the official document “Cook Islands Offshore Fisheries Policy”, the management system for the offshore fisheries focuses on the larger tunas: Yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares, Bigeye tuna Thunnus obesus, and Albacore Thunnus alalunga, and a range of other species (swordfish, marlin, etc). Skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis is covered but to a lesser extent.

These species are also covered under several regional management agreements and soon to be covered under one international management arrangement. The regional management agreements are:

  • the Harmonized Minimum Terms and Conditions for Foreign Fishing Vessel Access;

  • the Wellington Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific;

  • the Niue Treaty on Cooperation in Fisheries Surveillance and Law Enforcement in the South Pacific Region

The Cook Islands is a signatory to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, but the convention is not yet in force, nor have the details of management mechanisms been articulated.

The stated objectives of management of the offshore fisheries are:

  • To maximise the economic returns to the country each year from the offshore fishery, consistent with the objective of local participation and retained value;
  • To ensure the offshore fishery is harvested within sustainable limits and is managed in a scientific and effective manner ;
  • To extract maximum value for the country through participation in regional initiatives for the management of offshore fish stocks.

According to the Ministry of Marine Resources, the major strategies and measures applied to manage the system are:

  • A national vessel licensing system which gives preference to local and locally based vessels and licenses foreign vessels only under access agreements;

  • The exclusion of any foreign fishing activity from within the 12-mile territorial sea around each island;

  • Participation in regional arrangements which are designed to strengthen through collective action the capacity of individual Pacific countries to manage and benefit from their tuna resources.

According to official documentation, there has been a low level of economic gain for the Cook Islands from its tuna resources: a small local troll fleet, one locally-owned longliner, and some access fees from foreign vessels. Fees of about US$160,000 for the financial year ending June 2000 were obtained from bilateral arrangements and about US$250,000 is obtained annually from the US multilateral treaty.

Enforcement of the management measures (mainly the requirement for a vessel to be licensed and the prohibition of foreign fishing near islands) is the responsibility of the Ministry of Marine Resources and the police.  In practical terms, the enforcement consists of seventy hours of aircraft time (New Zealand and French aircraft) and four surface patrols by the police patrol boat Te Kukupa.  A vessel monitoring system (VMS) is being phased in.   It is thought that the detection of unlicensed vessels will be facilitated by feedback from licensed vessels.  

Stakeholder input into the management system was obtained during a process of consultations in the formulation of the offshore fisheries policy.  A draft document was circulated for comment both domestically and to the regional fishery organizations.  Any input of foreign vessel operators into the management system was obtained during the access negotiation process.

Much of the information management decisions is obtained from logsheets that vessel operators are required to submit. These logsheets are collected and analyzed by the Ministry of Marine Resources. Some verification occurs through observers, inspecting catches, VMS, and boat/aircraft patrols.  The logsheet data is also forwarded to the Oceanic Fisheries Programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community where it is combined with similar information from neighboring countries to provide a regional perspective to the Cook Islands on tuna resources. 

The inshore fisheries

The inshore fisheries of  the Cook Islands exploit a wide variety of animals and plants.  A total of over 400 species of bony fish are found on the reefs and lagoons, the majority of which would be taken by the various fishing techniques.  According to the Forum Fisheries Agency1, the important finfish families are Holocentridae, Mullidae, Mugilidae, Scaridae, Chaetodontidae, Acanthuridae, and Labridae.  Also important are the gastropods (especially trochus and turbo), bivalves (especially giant clams and pearl oysters), echinoderms (especially beche de mer and sea urchins), one species of lobster, and seaweeds.

None of these resources are subject to bilateral or regional fishery management arrangements.  

As indicated above, the inshore fisheries are managed by the island councils.  As such, each island can have different management objectives. In general, most of the islands have objectives relating to safeguarding the sources of marine foods for the local residents.  Other objectives include maximizing the sustainable production of commercial species and preserving the quality of the marine environment to ensure benefits from tourism.

Because inshore management systems of the 15 islands in the Cook Islands are different, it is well beyond the scope of the present exercise to describe each one.  Alternatively, describing the inshore fisheries management at one island where it is well documented, is informative of general management features found at many of the islands.

On Aitutaki Island the objectives management are to assure the continuing availability of local seafoods, maximise and distribute evenly economic benefits of the trochus resource, and preserve the relatively pristine lagoon environment to attract tourism.

The strategies used to achieve the objectives are the implementation by the Island Council of a variety of measures (e.g. marine reserves, gear restrictions, export restrictions, prohibitions on certain fishing practices, catch quotas, and size restrictions) using technical guidance from the Ministry of Marine Resources.  

The specific measures taken by the Island Council are: 

  • Marine reserves – Three no-take reserves have been established;

  • Gear restrictions – No nets over 100 m by 4 m, or mesh size less than 60 mm;

  • Export restrictions – No one can export from Aitutaki at one time more than 20 giant clams, 20 Asaphis, or 20 turbo shells;

  • Prohibitions on certain fishing practices – Nets may not be set within 100 m of other nets, nets may not extend more than one-third the distance between the islets of Aitutaki, SCUBA may not be used to collect fish/shellfish, and fishing techniques which damage coral are banned;

  • Community transferable quota – A TAC is established for trochus and the Island Council divides this by the number of households on the island to arrive at a harvest quota for each family.  This amount of trochus can be harvested by the family during the short harvest season (usually one every two years), or transferred/sold to another Aitutaki family;

  • Size limits – All trochus must have shell base diameters within 80 to 100 mm.

Two other types of management measures are also taken, but the major impetus for these has come from the Ministry of Marine Resources, rather than from the Island Council:

  • Reef re-seeding – A giant clam hatchery was established as a management measure and for initiating the development of an aquaculture industry;
  • Fish aggregation devices  - FADs are promoted with the idea that offshore fishing  reduces the fishing pressure on the more limited inshore resources.

The effectiveness of the management measures on Aitutaki varies from excellent to unknown.  The Aitutaki trochus fishery has been cited many times as the best managed trochus fishery in the Pacific Islands region, and sometimes as the best managed inshore fishery of any type in the region.   The effectiveness of giant clam re-seeding as a management measure seems to be downplayed by a statement in a brochure of the Ministry of Marine Resources: “Probably the most effective way to increase the number of clams in the lagoons is to manage existing stocks and their habitat and allow them to re-populate the lagoon naturally”.  Other management measures such as the ban on SCUBA, are likely to be effective, but their impact has not been quantified.  In general, measures which can be easily enforced are thought to be the most effective.  Export restrictions can be easily enforced at the airport/wharf, whereas restrictions on the use of nets require monitoring over all reef and lagoon areas.     

Enforcement of the management measures is the responsibility of the Island Council.  Any punishment and/or fines is carried out under the authority of the Outer Islands Local Government Act 1987.  

As the Aitutaki resident population is less than 2,500 people, the local stakeholders are able to provide input through direct interaction with individual Island Council members. Attendance at Island Council meetings to discuss fisheries management issues of concern is also possible.

Aitutaki residents are able to provide to the Island Council anecdotal information on catches and catch rates and this can be quite useful for management purposes. Much of the technical information for management decisions is supplied to the Island Council by staff of the Ministry of Marine Resources.  Depending on the issue, the Ministry obtains the information from survey work on Aitutaki, from their experience elsewhere, and from specialists in the regional and international fishery organizations (SPC, FFA, FAO).  

The aquarium fish fishery of Rarotonga 

A fishery for aquarium species began in Rarotonga in the late 1980s.  About 35 species of aquarium fish are taken in depths ranging from 8 to 35 metres.  According to the Ministry of Marine Resources, the most important species are the flame angel (35% of all aquarium fish taken), red hawkfish (30%), ventralis (15%), Scott’s wrasse (7%), and lemon-peel angel fish (7%). In the 1990s from 10,000 to 20,000 aquarium fish were taken per year. 

These resources are not subject to bilateral or regional fishery management arrangements. 

It can be inferred from the management measures that the objectives of the management of the fishery include ensuring the sustainability of the resources base, prevention of coral damage and other environmental destruction, and reducing any deleterious effects on dive tourism.

Management measures in place are prohibitions on:

  • Use of sodium cyanide, quinaldine, and rotenone
  • Collection inside the lagoon
  • Collection in the five marine reserves
  • Fishing in areas set aside for dive tour operations

The measures appear effective at achieving the established objectives, but it should be noted that fishing pressure is presently low – there is only one exporter collecting from Rarotonga. 

The Ministry of Marine Resources is responsible for enforcing the management measures. Input of major stakeholders into the management system is both informal (all participants in the fishery are well known to the staff of the Ministry and one participant is a former Secretary responsible for the Ministry) and formal (a national policy statement with wide stakeholder consultation has been formulated).  Information for management decisions comes from export documentation, monitoring by the Ministry, and reports from divers.  

Culture of pearl oyster at Manihiki

According to the Ministry of Marine Resources, pearl oyster farming activity in Manihiki lagoon has increased dramatically in recent years. Approximately 2 million oysters are cultured on 90 farms which seed about 900,000 oysters annually. Farm sizes vary greatly, with a range from the smallest farm of 200 cultured oysters to the largest of 170,000.   

The single species covered by the management system is the black-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera.  No bilateral or regional fishery management arrangements are applicable.

The Manihiki Pearl Farming Plan 2001-2003 states that the objectives of the Plan are:

  • to promote the optimum utilisation of the Manihiki lagoon for pearl farming which employs environmentally sound practices for the long term benefit of Cook Islanders;

  • to maintain traditional socio-cultural values while enhancing economic growth;

  • to continue the development of co-operative values while enhancing economic growth;

  • to ensure the sustainability of pearl farming in the Manihiki lagoon and of the economic benefits from pearl farming;

  • to allow for wide community participation among those of Manihiki ancestry;

  • to provide a secure system of tenure for space in the lagoon for pearl farming ;

  • to generate the revenue necessary to finance pearl farming management programs and activities. 

The Plan indicates that the Manihiki Island Council and the national government have recently agreed on strategies and measures for managing pearl farming:

  • The Council will establish a system of grid blocks for pearl farming based on a 250-meter square grid;

  • Farmers will be granted rights for farming the grid blocks;

  • The rights will entitle farmers to secure defined tenure over the use of the grid squares;

  • Rightholders will be required to use their rights in ways that create economic benefit for the Cook Islands;

  • There will be an overall limit to the number of pearl oysters to be stocked in the lagoon;

  • There will be a limit to the numbers of pearl oysters that can be stocked in individual farms;

  • There will be additional limits on the harvest of wild pearl shell and the collection of spat;

  • Farmers will be required to have an annual licence for their farms;

  • Licenses will only be issued to rightholders or rights lessees;

  • Licence holders will be responsible for the operation of their farm for which they are issued licences;

  • Farmers will be required to comply with a set of practices for farming in the lagoon aimed at ensuring the sustainability of farming operations;

  • There will be measures for managing on-land activities with potential for adverse effects on the lagoon and for the conservation of marine resources of the lagoon;

  • The Government will establish pearl farm management information and monitoring systems;

  • There will be a system of fees to generate revenue to meet management costs. 

As the management system is just now being implemented, it is premature to assess the performance of the selected measures.  The enforcement of the measures is the responsibility of the Manihiki Island Council.  

As  the Manihiki resident population is less than 800 people, the local stakeholders (pearl farmers, fishers, lagoon users) are able to provide input through direct interaction with individual Island Council members. Attendance at Island Council meetings to discuss management issues of concern is also possible. More formal consultation with a wider range of stakeholders has been obtained during the formulation of a national policy statement on pearl culture.  

Information for management decisions comes from pearl farmers, commercial specialists brought in by pearl farmers, staff of the Ministry of Marine Resources, and outside consultants engaged to give advice on topics of concern. 

FISHERY LEGISLATION 

The Marine Resources Act (1989) is the cornerstone of the Cook Islands’ control over the exploitation and management of the fisheries resources. The major features of the Act are:

  • Designated Fisheries – The Minister may authorise a fishery as a “designated fishery” where it is determined that such fishery: (a) is important to the national interest; and (b) requires management and development measures for effective conservation and optimum utilisation.  For each designated fishery a fisheries plan for the management and development must be prepared and kept under review.

  • Local Fisheries Committees - The Secretary may appoint a Local Fisheries Committee in any island to advise on the management and development of fisheries in relation to that island. The functions of a Local Fisheries Committee shall be to (a) Advise the Secretary on issues related to the management and development of fisheries in relation to the island; (b) Make recommendations to the local Island Council with respect to the adoption or amendment of bylaws regulating the conduct of fishing operations and the issuing of fishing licences for any designated fishery of the island.

  • Power of Island Councils to recommend bylaws  - Each Island Council may recommend the promulgation of bylaws in respect of any designated fishery of the island in accordance with the procedures set out in Section 15 of the Outer Islands Local Government Act 1987. (2) Every bylaw recommended for promulgation must be consistent with the relevant provisions of the fisheries plan and the Marine Resources Act (1989) and any regulations made under the Act. (3) Every bylaw recommended for promulgation under this section must be officially approved by the Minister.

  • Local fishing licences - All local fishing vessels 10 metres or more, other than a local fishing vessel used solely for sport fishing, may not be used for fishing or related activities in the fishery waters without a valid licence.

  • Foreign fishing vessels - No foreign fishing vessels may be used for fishing or related activities in the fisheries waters except in accordance with a valid license.

  • Access agreements - The Minister may, on behalf of the Government of the Cook Islands, enter into international, bilateral or multilateral access agreements providing for fisheries access, related activities or such other matters as may be provided pursuant to the Act. 

Minor amendments were made to the Act in 1990 and 1991.  The most significant change was increasing the maximum fine from “not exceeding $100,000" to “not less than $100,000". 

Marine Resources (Licensing and Regulation of Fishing Vessels) Regulation 1995 gives license application procedures, fees, grounds for refusal, and general conditions for local fishing, sport fishing and foreign fishing.   Also covered are the requirements for transshipment, fish processing establishments, fish aggregation devices, and aquarium fish fishing. 

Other legislation relevant to fisheries includes:

  • Continental Shelf Act (NZ) 1964
  • Continental Shelf (Amendment) Act 1977
  • Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1977
  • Marine Farming Act 1971
  • Fisheries Protection Act 1976
  • Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Act 1978
  • Ministry of Marine Resources Act 1984
  • Outer Islands Local Government Act 1987
  • EEZ (Foreign Fishing Craft) Regulations 1979
  • Aitutaki Fisheries Protection By-Laws 1990
  • Manihiki Pearl and Pearl Shell By-Laws 1991
  • Rarotonga Fisheries Protection Regulations 199  

INVESTMENTS AND SUBSIDIES IN FISHERIES

There are no published estimates of the value of public and private investments in the Cook Islands fisheries sector. Similarly, there is no information available on any subsidies which may exist in the sector.  

The major private sector investments are the pearl farms, fishing boats, and fishing gear. Records of the Cook Islands Development Bank (CIDB) show that in financial year 1997/98 a total of 39 CIDB loans were made to pearl farmers (about US$552,000 total) and 36 loans were made to fishers (US$133,000).  The amounts loaned by other institutions for the same period is not available.  

The major public sector investments in the fisheries sector are in infrastructure and research facilities: a pearl hatchery at Penrhyn, a giant clam hatchery at Aitutaki, a marine laboratory at Manihiki, and a water quality laboratory at Rarotonga.  With respect to any commercial activities of the government in the fisheries sector, the official policy2 is “growth in the economy will be private sector driven….this implies that the government should not be involved in commercial activities”. 

SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR FISHERY PRODUCTS

Projections for the supply and demand for fish are unavailable for the Cook Islands. Nevertheless, some crude estimates can be made by combining present fish consumption information with forecasts for population increases.  

The population of the Cook Islands in 2000 was 18,700.  Depending on migration and changes in fertility, the 2025 population is likely to be between 19,400 and 30,200.  Taking the midpoint, this would be 1.33 times the 2000 population.

There have been several attempts to estimate per capita fish consumption in the Cook Islands.  During the last two decades most of these estimates indicated an annual per capita consumption3 of between 47 kg and 71 kg for the entire country.  

If it is assumed that annual per capita consumption is 59 kg, then the Cook Islands consumed about 1,100 mt of fish in 2000.  If the population expands 1.33 times between 2000 and 2025 as indicated above, and per capita fish consumption remains the same as in 2000, about 1,463 mt of fish will be required in 2025.  

NATIONAL AND SUB-NATIONAL FISHERIES INSTITUTIONS 

Responsibility for fisheries and marine resource matters is vested in the Ministry of Marine Resources, headed by the Secretary for Marine Resources. The Ministry was established in 1984 under the Ministry of Marine Resources Act, when it replaced the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The Ministry is headquartered at Rarotonga, but also maintains staff on the islands of Pukapuka, Manihiki, Aitutaki, Rakahanga, Penrhyn and Mitiaro.  There are currently 48 staff in the Ministry.

The Ministry is structured in four divisions as follows:

  

Other national level institutions with an interest in fisheries include:

  • Cook Islands Development Bank
  • Chamber of Commerce
  • Rarotonga Environmental Rangers
  • Taporoporoanga Ipukarea Society
  • WorldWide Fund for Nature 

Two institutions cater to the needs of pearl farmers:

  • The Cook Islands Pearl Guild was formed in 1994, with the aim of developing and setting  comprehensive pearl standards to safeguard the industry .

  • Pearl Federation of the Cook Islands was established in 1996 to ensure the welfare and interests of the pearl farmers are developed as well as to create a common voice on pearl industry concerns in island and national policy development and implementation.

Each of the populated islands in the country has an island council which has responsibilities in the management of inshore fisheries and aquaculture.

 


1


FFA (1993). Cook Islands Fisheries Resources Profiles. Report 93/25, Forum Fisheries Agency, Honiara.

2

Government budget policy statement.
3

Whole fish weight equivalent