Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsfor a world without hunger
The designations employed and the presentation of material in the map(s) are for illustration only and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country, territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers or boundaries. Part I Overview and main indicatorsPart II Narrative (2010)
Additional information⇧Part I Overview and main indicatorsPart I of the Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profile is compiled using the most up-to-date information available from the FAO Country briefs and Statistics programmes at the time of publication. The Country Brief and the FAO Fisheries Statistics provided in Part I may, however, have been prepared at different times, which would explain any inconsistencies. General geographic and economic indicators Table 1 – General geographic and economic data – Kiribati
(1) 2007 average exchange rate: USD 1 = AUD 1.19; GDP source: Unpublished data kindly provided by the Kiribati National Statistics Office (R.Takarie, personal comm., October 2008); Note: subsistence activities (including subsistence fishing) were not included in the official 2007 GPD calculations. (2) In the official GDP calculations, the contribution of agriculture does not include fishing. (3) This is the official fishing contribution to GDP – which includes seaweed culture, but does not include subsistence fishing activities. A recalculation shows the total fishing contribution (including subsistence fishing and seaweed) to be USD 37.7 million: Gillett (2009). The Contribution of Fisheries to the Economies of Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Pacific Studies Series, Asian Development Bank, Manila Key statistics
Source: FAO Country Profile FAO Fisheries statistics Table 2a – Fisheries data (i) - Kiribati
Table 2b – Fisheries data (ii) - Kiribati
Kiribati is an archipelagic nation comprising 33 islands with a total land area of only 810 sq. km. but with a surrounding EEZ of about 3.5 million sq. km that includes some of the most productive tuna fishing grounds in the Pacific. All the islands are of coralline origin and are surrounded by fringing or barrier coral reefs. The country is divided into three widely separated island groups - the Gilbert Group in the west, the Phoenix Group in the centre, and the Line Islands in the east - each surrounded by their own discrete portion of the EEZ. Several islands in the Line and Phoenix groups are uninhabited. The distance between the eastern and western extremes of the EEZ is over 4 500 km. There are no rivers, lakes or other freshwater impoundments in Kiribati. (4) Data from FAO food balance sheet of fish and fishery products. (5) This is the number of employed cash workers in “agriculture/fishing” as determined by the 2005 national census. In some respects this number is misleading. The subject of fisheries-related employment is covered in greater detail in a section below. (6) From Gillett (2009); includes the six fishery production categories: (1) coastal commercial fishing, (2) coastal subsistence fishing, (3) locally-based offshore fishing, (4) foreign-based offshore fishing, (5) freshwater fishing, and (6) aquaculture. Updated 2010⇧Part II NarrativePart II of the Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profile provides supplementary information that is based on national and other sources and that is valid at the time of compilation (see update year above). References to these sources are provided as far as possible. Production sectorSubsistence and small-scale commercial fishing is conducted throughout the islands using traditional canoes driven by sail or paddle, from plywood canoes powered by outboard motor and from larger outboard-powered craft. Small-scale commercial fishing is concentrated around Tarawa where a sizable population, some ice and cold store facilities, and a cash-oriented economy create better market conditions. A large amount of tuna is captured by the industrial offshore fisheries – but the vast majority of the catch is taken by vessels. based outside the country. The small land area and poor soil result in limited agriculture production. There is a great reliance on marine resources for livelihoods, government revenue, and especially nutrition. By several estimates, Kiribati has the highest per capita consumption of fish of any country in the world. The fisheries in the waters of Kiribati can be placed into several categories. These categories and the associated production in 2007 are estimated as: Table 3 – Fisheries production by category – Kiribati
The main trends and important issues in the fisheries sector The main trends in the sector include:
(7) This is the catch in the Kiribati zone by vessels based outside the country. Normally, in FAO reporting on production in world capture fisheries, this catch will be reported as the catch of the nation(s) in which the vessel(s) is (are) registered. (8) Pearls are commonly measured in pieces, rather than kg. Marine sub-sectorThe marine fisheries have two very distinct components, offshore and coastal:
Table 4 - Volume of catch of foreign-based offshore fleets in the Kiribati EEZ
Table 5 - Value of catch of foreign-based offshore fleets in the Kiribati EEZ
An important point about tuna fishing in Kiribati concerns the oceanographic conditions and their effect on tuna purse seining. During El Niño periods, the favorable fishing areas for seining shift from Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia eastward toward the Kiribati EEZ, resulting in large tuna catches in the Gilbert, Phoenix, and Line Islands. The estimation of the catch of the coastal fisheries is open to considerable speculation. Gillett (2009) examines previous estimates, export data, annual reports of the Fisheries Division (2003 - 2006) and the results of the 2006 household income and expenditure survey. Selectively using these sources of information, the 2007 volumes and values of coastal commercial and coastal subsistence fishery production were estimated: Table 6 - Volumes and values of coastal commercial and coastal subsistence fishery production – Kiribati (2007)
No discussion of fishing in Kiribati would be complete without some mention of (1) the government fishing company, (2) the tuna troll fishery of Tarawa, and (3) the ark shell fishery. Domestic industrial fishing activity in the country during the 1980s and early 1990s was dominated by Te Mautari Limited (TML), a wholly government-owned company established in 1981 to develop a pole-and-line tuna fishery in Kiribati’s EEZ. Technical and economic difficulties associated with Kiribati’s remoteness, lack of infrastructure and variability in resource abundance have, however, plagued TML’s operations. Despite landing good catches in some years the company has rarely made a profit, and has required continued Government support. In May 2001 Central Pacific Producers Ltd. (CPPL) was set up to incorporate three entities: TML, another government fishing company on Christmas Island, and the Outer Island Project. At that time CPPL had a new processing facility, complete with ice plants and generators in Betio and the company exported about 2 tonnes of tuna and other pelagic fish species to Hawaii in 2001. In April 2008 the company employed 70 people, including 20 women. One of the most productive small-scale commercial fisheries in the Pacific Islands is the tuna troll fishery of Tarawa. In 2008 an informal survey of that fishery was undertaken (box). Box 1 - The Tarawa Tuna Troll Fishery - Kiribati
Preston (2008)(11) describes the fishery for “te bun”, the ark shell or blood cockle Anadara maculosa. This shell inhabits sandy lagoon floors and seagrass beds and supports a fishery of traditional importance in several atolls, including Tarawa, where harvests in 1992-1993 were of the order of 1 000 tonnes per year by subsistence collectors, and a similar quantity by commercial harvesters. However over-collection appears to have caused resource depletion in Tarawa and other areas. Recent estimates are now of the order of 222 tonnes per year in South Tarawa, about 10 percent of previous levels. (9) FFA (2008). The Value of WCPFC Tuna Fisheries. Unpublished report, Forum Fisheries Agency, Honiara. (10) Savins, M. (2008). The Tuna Troll Fishery of South Tarawa. A Report prepared for GPA Ltd. (11) Preston, G. (2008). Coastal Fisheries Development and Management. Working Paper 3, Institutional Strengthening Scoping Study Report, Forum Fisheries Agency, Honiara. Landing sitesCatches taken by foreign fleet within the Kiribati EEZ are not offloaded in Kiribati. For purse seining, depending on the flag of the vessel, tuna catch is either transshipped for transport to a cannery (seiners from Taiwan and Korea), delivered directly to Pago Pago (US vessels), or delivered to a port in Japan (Japanese vessels). Pole-and-line vessels deliver their catch directly to port in Japan. The longliners either make deliveries to Asian ports or transship at a port in Kiribati or neighboring Pacific Island country. The catches from small-scale commercial fishing are mostly landed at a site in South Tarawa, but much smaller quantities are landed at villages throughout Kiribati. Small-scale commercial landings at non-Tarawa locations have expanded in recent years due to increasing ice production in outer islands. Many islands now have cold storage (14 islands out of 33 total in Kiribati), enabling storage for local sale and shipment to Tarawa. Subsistence fishery landings occur at coastal villages throughout the country, roughly in proportion to the distribution of the population. Fishing practices/systemsTumoa (2008) reviews foreign fishing activity in the Kiribati EEZ. In 2007 a total of 337 foreign fishing vessels were licensed to fish in Kiribati EEZ. The fleet consisted of 160 longliners, 171 purse seiners, and 6 pole-and-line vessels. Fisheries Division (2009)12 states the licensed fleets in 2008 were: 186 longliners, 178 purse seiners, and 25 pole-and-line vessels. There is one Kiribati-registered purse seiner but, according to Fisheries Division, the vessel has not come to Tarawa in several years and is managed by an office located overseas. The Fisheries Division has periodically used a 13 meter catamaran (Tekokona II) for trial fishing and training, but it never achieved a commercial production level.13 Information on the production means of the very active Tarawa troll fishery is given in the Box 1 above. Subsistence and small-scale artisanal fishing is conducted throughout the islands, from traditional canoes driven by sail or paddle, from plywood canoes powered by outboard motor and from larger outboard-powered skiffs. Fishing is by bottom hand-lining, trolling, pole-and-line fishing, mid-water hand-lining, spearing, trapping, netting and reef gleaning. (12) Fisheries Division (2009). Annual Report to the Commission’s SC5 Meeting, Port Vila, Vanuatu 10-21 August 2009. WCPFC-SC5-AR/CCM-10. Western and Central Fisheries Commission. (13) Source: Barclay, K. and I. Cartwright (2007). Capturing Wealth from Tuna: Case Studies from the Pacific. Asia Pacific Press.Main resourcesFisheries Division (2009) gives the catches by species in the 2008 purse seine fishery based on raised logsheet data as: 90.7 percent skipjack, 4.7 percent yellowfin, 4.2 percent bigeye, and 0.4 percent other species. The corresponding data for the longline fleet catch in the Kiribati EEZ for 2008 are incomplete but for the 2007, the reported catch (Section 3.2.1. above, 6,149 tonnes) was about 40 percent yellowfin and 60 percent bigeye. The pole-and-line catch in the Kiribati EEZ was about 95 percent skipjack and 5 percent yellowfin. The catch of the coastal commercial and subsistence fisheries is extremely diverse. Sullivan and Ram-Bidesi (2008)14 give the main finfish species sold in Tarawa – which is indicative of some the important finfish in the coastal fisheries. Table 7 - Common fish species sold on South Tarawa - Kiribati
Invertebrates are quite important, especially in the subsistence fisheries. “Te bun”, the ark shell is described in Section 3.2.1 above. Other significant invertebrates are various species of crabs (especially the coconut crab, Birgus latro), bivalves, and gastropods. (14) Sullivan, N. and V. Ram-Bidesi (2008). Gender Issues in Tuna Fisheries - Case Studies in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Kiribati. DevFish Programme, Forum Fisheries Agency, Honiara.Management applied to main fisheries Offshore Fisheries Management Kiribati is a member of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission that was established by the Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. The Convention entered into force in June 2004. In the early 2000s Kiribati Tuna Development and Management Plan 2003-2006 was formulated with assistance from the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA). Because the document was not officially adopted, it cannot be relied upon to provide accurate information on national tuna fishery management arrangements. Nevertheless some insight can be obtained by examining aspects of the Plan.
There has been a large amount of regional cooperation in the management of offshore fisheries. This has been exercised primarily through the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) – in which Kiribati is an important member (see Box 2). Box 2 - The PNA - Kiribati
The PNA16 has implemented a number of management arrangements. These include a set of non-negotiable minimum terms and conditions for foreign fishing vessel access and a limit on the number of purse seine vessels operating in the region under bilateral licensing arrangements. Currently the PNA countries (including Kiribati) are implementing a limitation on purse seine effort based on the number of vessel days. Coastal Fisheries Management Preston (2008) reviews coastal fisheries management in Kiribati. Management of coastal fisheries is poorly developed at the national level in Kiribati. Resource-specific regulations exist only for lobsters and, since February 2008, for bonefish on Christmas Island. There are no size limits for coastal marine resources other than lobsters, no quotas, no limits on the number of licences issued, no gear restrictions, and only two formally-established local fishery management areas (in North Tarawa, and in Christmas). A fisheries management plan is in preparation for the beche-de-mer fishery but discussions with fisheries staff indicate that this is likely to be based on a national total allowable catch (TAC) which involves no spatial allocation and which may therefore be insufficient to prevent overexploitation on any given island. A management plan is also being developed for the aquarium fish industry in Christmas, again using a TAC which may be based on previous export volumes rather than any objective assessment of the resource base, and which may also not provide sufficient resource protection to ensure sustainability. There appears to be a perception among the population in general, and among many government officers, that coastal marine resources are essentially limitless, or at least sufficiently abundant that no management is needed, especially as regards the outer islands. This situation may have arisen because overexploitation of inshore resources has not until recently been perceived as a problem area. Historically, inshore resources have primarily been seen as development opportunities, while most management effort has been directed towards oceanic tuna fisheries. The situation in regard to management of coastal fisheries is nevertheless changing. The combination of growing population, increasing market demand for certain products (especially beche-de-mer and shark fins) and improved international and domestic transportation linkages and market access in some cases means that coastal resources are nearing or may have exceeded their sustainable production limits. Some resources (deep-water snappers, coastal tunas) may have potential for further development, but in the case of lagoon and reef species the future focus will need to be on conserving, managing and, in some cases, restoring stocks. Institutional Arrangements for Fishery Management In Kiribati the main institution involved with fishery management is the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development. The role of this agency is covered in more detail in a section below. (15) Gillett, R. (2009). Tuna Management Plans in the Pacific Ocean - Lessons Learned in Plan Formulation and Implementation. Forum Fisheries Agency, Honiara, 45 pages. (16) Source: Tarte, S. (2002). The Nauru Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Management of Fisheries of Common Interest - A Review of the Agreement and an Analysis of its Future Directions. A Consultancy Report prepared for the Forum Fisheries Agency and the Parties to the Nauru Agreement.Fishing communitiesThe concept of “fishermen communities” has limited applicability to Kiribati. Nearly all households in the country are involved in fishing activities. It could therefore be stated that all villages in Kiribati are “fishing communities”.Inland sub-sectorThere are no freshwater fisheries in Kiribati.Aquaculture sub-sectorADB (2008)17 describes some of the main aquaculture operations in Kiribati:
Kiribati reported 10 tonnes of milkfish and 1788 tonnes of Eucheuma seaweeds from aquaculture in 2009 and the estimated total value of aquaculture was about USD 163 000. Table 8 - Aquaculture production as reported to FAO (tonnes) - Kiribati
(17) ADB (2008). Kiribati: Managing Development Risk - A report in ADB’s Pacific Islands Economic Reports series. Asian Development Bank, Manila. Recreational sub-sectorThe only significant sport fishery in Kiribati is on Christmas Island, where overseas tourist anglers visit to fish for bonefish and, to a lesser extent, for large coastal pelagic species such as trevallies, wahoo, tunas and, occasionally, marlins. Christmas also attracts small numbers of divers. Tourists originate mainly from the United States, Japan and, since the commencement of flights from Fiji a few years ago, Australia and New Zealand. The sport fishery generates economic benefits for Christmas through sport-fishing licence fees, jobs for about 70 professional fishing guides, and tourist expenditure in the island’s hotels. Fly-casting for bonefish operates under a catch-and-release system, and so has a limited impact on bonefish stocks, unlike the artisanal gillnet fishery which targets the same species. (Preston 2008) Post-harvest sectorFish utilizationThe catch taken by various foreign purse seine fleets operating in the Kiribati EEZ is almost all for canning, but the mechanisms for getting their catch to the canneries shows considerable variation. The Japanese purse seiners return to Japanese ports to offload the catch. US purse seiners offload their catch at the canneries in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and do not transship often. Taiwanese, Korean, and Chinese seiners (or vessels controlled by interests from these countries) usually transship their catch. This transshipment occurs either in Tarawa Lagoon, Christmas Island, or in a port in a neighboring country – often Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia or Majuro in the Marshall Islands. ole-and-line vessels operating in the Kiribati EEZ deliver their catch directly to port in Japan, for mainly consumption in Japan in various forms. Longline vessels operating in the Kiribati EEZ either make deliveries to Asian ports or transship at a port in Kiribati or neighboring Pacific Island country. The higher grade tuna is mainly used for sashimi in Japan, the lower grades for mainly for canning for EU and USA markets, and the intermediate grades for sashimi in non-Japanese markets. Sullivan and Ram-Bidesi (2008) give information on the post-harvest aspects of the small-scale fishery for tuna in Kiribati. The report states that there is almost no processing of the tuna from the artisanal fishery as the fish is sold fresh on the day when it is caught. The only significant processing done in recent years has been the production of tuna jerky by a few private individuals. The government fishing company is now undertaking some quasi-commercial sales of processed tuna. In the past, Tarawa’s artisanal tuna trade was adversely affected by fish discarded from transhipping vessels. While in the Kiribati EEZ, these vessels are required to transship inside Tarawa lagoon rather than offshore. Frozen discards were collected on the wharf and resold in direct competition with small scale fishermen. Consumers could see that the fresh fish were much better quality but still bought the discards because they were cheaper. As a result, prices slumped temporarily. The town councils now control the price of market fish whilst the government fishing company maintains an exclusive claim on all discards from transshipments. In the outer islands catches are mainly used for home consumption, or shared, although some excess catch may be salted and dried for later consumption or sale. Many islands now have cold storage (14 islands out of 33 total in Kiribati), enabling storage for local sale and shipment to Tarawa. In the past the schemes to transport fish to urban markets met with limited financial success due to the difficulties and cost of maintaining the infrastructure and transporting the product. Some of the Tarawa tuna catch is processed into jerky. A small processing/exporting company was established in 1990 and began exporting tuna jerky in 1993. Exports of this product reached a maximum in 1996 when 1 380 kg worth USD 57 960 was sent to Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, and Hawaii. Jerky exports are currently sporadic. The aquarium fish are exported to distributors in the mainland United States via Hawaii. Fish marketsCatches taken by small-scale commercial fishers in South Tarawa are mainly sold alongside the road from insulated ice boxes. Some are disposed of through small commercial fish markets. In 2004 a study was undertaken by WorldFish on the fisher sellers of Tarawa. Box 4 summarizes some of the results of the study – which emphasize the difficulties and constraints faced by the sellers. Box 3 - The Fish Sellers of Tarawa - Kiribati
(18) Tekanene, M. 2005. The women fish traders of Tarawa, Kiribati. WorldFish Center, Global Symposium on Gender and Fisheries, Penang (Malaysia),1-2 Dec 2004 Socio-economic contribution of the fishery sectorRole of fisheries in the national economyA recent study by the Asian Development Bank (Gillett 2009) attempted to quantify the fishery-related benefits received by Kiribati. The study gave the available information on the contribution of fishing/fisheries to GDP, exports, government revenue, and employment. The results can be summarized as:
(19) The fishing contribution of USD 38 million in the recalculation is more than half of the official 2007 GDP of Kiribati. A valid comparison cannot be made however, as the official figure does not include subsistence activities of any kind.Supply and demand Supply The government has several strategies to increase the national fish supply. These involve supporting the marketing of fishery products in Tarawa from other parts of the country by refrigeration and transport schemes, promoting aquaculture, and discouraging foreign tuna fishing close to the islands of Kiribati. Major factors affecting the local supply of fish are over-fishing, transport links to the outer islands, the degree of domestic tuna industry development, and “leakage” from foreign industrial tuna vessels. Demand The per capita consumption of fish in Kiribati, based on the 2007 FAO Food Balance Sheet, is 75.1 kg. Various other studies have made estimates ranging between 72 and 207 kg. Considering Kiribati’s population, 100 kg of fish consumption per capita translates into a 2010 demand for 10 090 tonnes of fish. Factors influencing the future demand for fish are emigration, increase in price of fish (over-exploitation of inshore areas, fuel cost increases), relative cost of fish substitutes, changes in dietary preferences, and population changes. TradeThe National Statistics Office website does not show export data after 2004. Unpublished data from the National Statistics Office gives the exports from Kiribati by commodity through 2007. Unfortunately, the data on many important fishery exports is incomplete since 2004. Gillett (2009) considers the available data on fishery exports of the country and concludes that a crude estimate of the volume and value of the fishery exports of Kiribati in 2006 is about 4 250 tonnes, worth about USD 5 million. Food securityFish is an important element of food security in Kiribati. The FAO Food Balance Sheets show that in 2007 fish contributed an average of 28.8 percent of all protein to the diet and 55.8 percent of animal protein. Sullivan and Ram-Bidesi (2008) consider much of the recent literature on fish consumption in Kiribati and make summary statement: “What is clear is that (a) fish and fish products remain a very significant part of total animal protein supply in Kiribati and (b) tuna species remain the single most common and important marine resource consumed in Kiribati.” Animal protein substitutes for fish consist mainly of various types of imported meat, much of which are extremely fatty and have negative health implications. EmploymentThe 2005 Kiribati census provides some information on employment related to fisheries. In the census “working” is defined as being any activity concerned with providing the necessities of life. Respondents were coded on the questionnaire into the three mutually exclusive categories of “cash work”, “village work” or “no work”. A person who is employed or works mainly for cash is a cash worker. Persons doing village work are those performing a variety of tasks involved in growing or gathering produce or fishing to feed their families and are described as subsistence farmers or fishermen. The results of the census show:
Gillett (2008)20 tracked the number employed in the large-scale domestic tuna industry in Kiribati over a seven-year period: Table 9 - Employment in the Kiribati domestic tuna industry - Kiribati
(20) Gillett, R. (2008). a Study of Tuna Industry Development Aspirations of FFA member Countries. Forum fisheries Agency, Honiara, 70 pages.Rural developmentIn the Kiribati context, “rural development” could be thought of as any development efforts that take place outside of the South Tarawa urban area. The primary mechanism for fisheries development in those areas is through promoting income-earning opportunities, mostly by encouraging the capture and culture of products that are subsequently shipped to Tarawa and/or exported. The success of those efforts has been mixed. Outer island fish collection schemes and seaweed culture -have certainly produced benefits for the producers – but this has come at considerable costs in terms of government subsidies and donor funding. Many of the constraints on the feasibility of the rural fisheries development schemes relate to business skills, regular maintenance of mechanical equipment, and government involvement in commercial activities. Trends, issues and developmentConstraints and opportunitiesSome of the major constraints in fisheries sector development are:
Table 10 - Kiribati
(21) Gillett, R. (2008). A Study of Tuna Industry Development Aspirations of FFA Member Countries. Forum Fisheries Agency, Honiara, 70 pages.Government and non-government sector policies and development strategiesAs mentioned in Section 3.2.5 above, the Kiribati Tuna Development and Management Plan was not officially adopted, but it does provide some insight into government policies and strategies in domestic tuna industry development. The Plan states there will be a three-phased programme:
With respect to coastal fisheries development, Preston (2008) states that the government’s aim is to have development driven mostly by the private sector with the government-owned company Central Pacific Producers Ltd. (CPPL) ‘trail blazing’ to encourage private sector development by showing people that a certain business could work provided they know how to do it. This strategy has met with mixed success. On one hand there is a need for government catalyst where there is a weak or non-existent private sector. On the other hand, some people feel that CMML is constraining the private sector by providing government-subsidized competition. Research, education and trainingResearchThe Fisheries Division, usually with the support of external donors or organizations, undertakes fisheries and aquaculture research in Kiribati. The objectives are usually to conduct research on marine resources that have potential for development and to coordinate collaborative research activities with regional research organizations. A very large number of fisheries research projects have been carried out in Kiribati. Many areas of Kiribati and most types of resources have been covered by various research endeavors. The older research is listed in the Kiribati Fisheries Bibliography22. More recent fisheries research is listed in the latest annual reports of the Fisheries Division. This includes research projects involving ciguatera, stock assessments of various species, post-larval fish, rapid marine resource assessments, and coral reef monitoring. Tarawa Lagoon has been especially well-researched due to a large externally-funded project in the early 1990s. That research included assessments of shellfish, coral reef and benthic organisms, a finfish assessment, with special emphasis on bonefish, a study of primary and secondary production, along with an analysis of the food web in the lagoon water column, and a computer simulation of lagoon circulation with special emphasis on the impact of causeways. A household survey of 4 percent of the households in South Tarawa and 2 percent of the households of North Tarawa was used as a tool to understand public attitudes and lagoon use patterns. (Biosystems 1994)23. (22) Gillett, R., M. Pelasio, and E. Kirschner (1991). Kiribati fisheries bibliography. Document 91/8, FAO/UNDP South Pacific Regional Fisheries Development Programme, Suva, Fiji (23) Biosystems (1994). Tarawa Lagoon Management Plan. United States Agency for International Development. Education and trainingEducation related to fisheries in Kiribati is undertaken in a variety of institutions:
Box 4 - The Fisheries Training Centre - Kiribati
(24) Barclay, K. and I. Cartwright (2007). Capturing Wealth from Tuna: Case Studies from the Pacific. Asia Pacific Press.Foreign aidBilateral programmes of technical cooperation, collaboration and assistance in fisheries have been provided by the Governments of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and USA, and by multilateral donors including UNDP, ADB, FAO, UNCDF. Kiribati also enjoys technical assistance or the channeling of multilateral donor assistance from various regional agencies including, FFA, SPC, SOPAC, and the University of the South Pacific. Significant assistance projects in the past several decades have included:
Institutional frameworkThe Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development (MFMRD) is the Kiribati Government Agency responsible for developing and managing the nation’s fisheries as well as other marine resources (marine aggregates, deep-sea minerals). The Ministry comprises Administration and Finance sections as well as the two main technical divisions, the Fisheries Division and the Mineral Resources Division. The Fisheries Division is by far the larger of the two, employing some 88 staff as opposed to 4 in the Mineral Resources Division. The total establishment of the Ministry is 115 staff, with the remaining 23 being employed in administration, financial management and other non-technical functions. The Fisheries Division comprises three technical branches:
There are several other institutions in Kiribati that are considered as fishery stakeholders. These include both government ministries and other agencies:
Note:Information in this section is from Preston (2008) and Vunisea, A. (2003). Social and Gender Considerations. Working Paper for Kiribati Tuna Fishery Development and Management Planning Exercise, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea. Legal frameworkThe basic fisheries law of Kiribati is the Fisheries Act. In this legislation the “Minister may take such measures as he shall see fit to promote the development of fishing and fisheries in Kiribati to ensure that the fisheries resources of Kiribati are exploited to the full for the benefit of Kiribati.” Important aspects of the Act are:
Other legal instruments relevant to fisheries include:
More information at: References ADB. 2008. Kiribati: Managing Development Risk - A report in ADB’s Pacific Islands Economic Reports series. Manila, Asian Development Bank. Barclay, K. and I. Cartwright. 2007. Capturing Wealth from Tuna: Case Studies from the Pacific. Asia Pacific Press. Biosystems. 1994. Tarawa Lagoon Management Plan. United States Agency for International Development. . FFA. 2008. The Value of WCPFC Tuna Fisheries. Unpublished report. Honiara, Forum Fisheries Agency. Fisheries Division. 2009. Annual Report to the Commission’s SC5 Meeting, Port Vila, Vanuatu 10-21 August 2009. Western and Central Fisheries Commission. WCPFC-SC5-AR/CCM-10. Gillett. 2009. The Contribution of Fisheries to the Economies of Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Manila, Asian Development Bank. Pacific Studies Series. Gillett, R. 2009. Tuna Management Plans in the Pacific Ocean - Lessons Learned in Plan Formulation and Implementation. Honiara, Forum Fisheries Agency. 45 pp. Gillett, R. 2008. A Study of Tuna Industry Development Aspirations of FFA Member Countries. Honiara, Forum Fisheries Agency. 70 pp. Gillett, R., M. Pelasio, and E. Kirschner. 1991. Kiribati fisheries bibliography. Suva, Fiji, South Pacific Regional Fisheries Development Programme Document 91/8, FAO/UNDP. Preston, G. 2008. Coastal Fisheries Development and Management. Honiara, Forum Fisheries Agency. Working Paper 3, Institutional Strengthening Scoping Study Report . Preston, G. (2008) and Vunisea, A. (2003). Social and Gender Considerations. Working Paper for Kiribati Tuna Fishery Development and Management Planning Exercise. Noumea, Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Savins, M. 2008. The Tuna Troll Fishery of South Tarawa. A Report prepared for GPA Ltd. Sullivan, N. and V. Ram-Bidesi. 2008. Gender Issues in Tuna Fisheries - Case Studies in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Kiribati. Honiara, DevFish Programme, Forum Fisheries Agency, . Tarte, S. 2002. The Nauru Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Management of Fisheries of Common Interest - A Review of the Agreement and an Analysis of its Future Directions. A Consultancy Report prepared for the Forum Fisheries Agency and the Parties to the Nauru Agreement. Tekanene, M. 2005. The women fish traders of Tarawa, Kiribati. WorldFish Center, Global Symposium on Gender and Fisheries, Penang (Malaysia),1-2 Dec 2004. ⇧Additional informationFAO Thematic data bases
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