Sustainable Tuna Fishery Management in Solomon Islands Main Group Archipelagic (MGA) Waters

Abstract

Solomon Islands offshore tuna fisheries is a very important sector to the country’s national economy as it is for food security and livelihoods of its people. Due to the highly migratory nature of these important resources, their long-term sustainability means Solomon Islands needs to dialogue and work in partnership with other regional and international stakeholders to minimise their susceptibility to overexploitation. In this study, the CYP bioeconomic model is applied to determine the CMSY and EMSY for the combined catch and effort of the Solomon Islands domestic pole and line and purse seine fleet that access the Main Group Archipelagic (MGA) Waters of the country. As the result shows, Solomon Islands MGA can support an estimated EMSY of 27 fish vessels with CMSY of 32,352 metric tons of tuna per year. With the current effort of 8 vessels of which 3 are pole and line vessels and 5 purse seiners, there is the potential to further expand the current number of fleets in its MGA waters with catch limit set at the CMSY reference point. However, it is important that the Ministry responsible take precautionary measures to safeguard the tuna stock within its MGA waters. The following measures are recommended: that there needs to be a proper assessment of the available tuna stock to restrict catch to a predetermined level (MSY), where TAC or ITQ can be allocated; and to give limited access such as number of day or licenses to fish.