Marine Atlas: Maximizing Benefits for Tonga

SMALL FISH, BIG IMPORTANCE: INSHORE FISHERIES Catch from Tonga’s inshore fisheries is eaten locally and sold on the market. While inshore fisheries are relatively small, they are much more valuable to Tonga than its offshore fisheries. However, to maintain these benefits, sus- tainable management of dwindling inshore resources is key. O F F S H O R E I S H E R I E S

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Almost all of Tonga’s approximately 700,000 km 2 of marine waters is classed as offshore (99 per cent), as opposed to inshore (1 per cent) (see also chapter “Tonga’s commitment to marine conservation”). It would therefore be easy to assume that most of Tonga’s fish were caught in the vast offshore area and would produce by far the highest value for the country. However, this is not the case, as outlined below (see also chapter “Fishing in the dark”). Tonga’s fisheries can be divided into two broad categories: subsistence fishing and commercial fishing. Subsistence fishing is the use of marine and coastal resources by local populations directly for food or trade, rather than for profit. It typically occurs when these products are consumed by the fisher or their family, given as a gift or bartered lo- cally. In Pacific Island countries, coral reef fisheries are characterized by a strong predominance of subsistence fishing, with an estimated 80 per cent of coastal fisheries’ catch consumed directly by the fisher and their communities. While commer- cial offshore fisheries produce a total of TOP 4 mil- lion per year, inshore fisheries yield a much higher amount, with a total of TOP 12 million per year (Salcone, 2015). This underlines how vital inshore fisheries are to the people of Tonga, particularly those in rural and remote areas, who often rely on them for nutrition and income. FAO estimated that fish contributed an average 11.5 per cent of protein to Tongan diets in 2011 (15.6 per cent of all animal protein) (FAO, 2014). Sadly, inshore fish- eries are some of the most vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters and direct anthropogenic pressures. Tonga’s inshore fisheries are highly dependent on its healthy reef ecosystems (Burke et al., 2011), which are at risk from climate change,

storm events, land-based pollution and some fishing practices.

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The Kingdom of Tonga is well known in the Pacif- ic region to have one of the most abundant fish communities in its deep reef waters. The extensive series of inshore banks and seamounts support multi-species assemblages of members of the fish family Lutjanidae (snappers), Lethrinidae (emper- ors) and Serranidae (groupers). However, catches indicate a lot more fish species found at different depths. The Kingdom of Tonga and the SPC (and recently the European Union and New Zealand) have been working on this deepwater and grouper fishery since 1974, acquiring more biological data to inform policies for its sustainable exploitation and for more effective management. The break- down of catch for key inshore fisheries is given in the table below. In the early 2000s, a change in Tonga’s fisher- ies legislation allowed for local communities to manage fisheries, through Special Management Areas (SMAs). Since then, the Fisheries Division has been working with coastal communities to establish 11 SMAs (FAO, 2017). SMAs are another spatial tool to increase the management of valua- ble marine resources. The map shows the distribution of fishing licences for each of the main island groups. Tongatapu has the most licences, followed by Vava’u and Ha’apai, with a low number of licences in Niuas. However, when population is taken into account, the rela- tive importance of fishing to local economies is often greater in the remote areas, away from large population centres. The map also indicates the placement of nearshore-anchored fish-aggregating

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devices. These are devices located beyond the reefs that encourage large pelagic fish to aggre- gate and give the communities greater access to offshore species such as tuna. This effort is intend- ed to improve local food security and livelihoods, reduce fishing pressure on vital reef fisheries and increase community resilience to tropical cyclones and climate change (see also chapters “Hotter and higher” and “Stormy times”). The importance of sustainably managing Tonga’s offshore fisheries, but also its valuable inshore fisheries, is becoming increasingly evident. Sub- sistence food provision from inshore fisheries and coastal resources has been valued at a total na- tional gross value of TOP 7 million per year, while small-scale inshore commercial fisheries produce a total value of up to TOP 5 million per year. The combined inshore fisheries value of TOP 12 million per year is similar to the licence fees for tuna fisheries, worth TOP 4 million per year (see graphic and previous chapter), which demon- strates that the small inshore fisheries are of big importance for Tonga.

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Tonga inshore fisheries statistics 2013.

Catch Volume (mt)

Net annual value (TOP)

Inshore Subsistence

Rural and urban subsistence Total subsistence

1200–2200 1200–2200

5,460,000 5,460,000

Inshore Commercial

Small-scale coastal fisheries Bêche-de-mer Aquarium trade Total commercial

1,000–1,800 55 – 1,055–1,855

4,200,000–7,300,000 450,000 250,0000 4,900,000–8,000,000

Source: Salcone et al. (2015)

Sea cucumber, or bêche-de-mer, is an important inshore fishery in Tonga.

MAXIMIZING BENEFITS FOR TONGA

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