Illegal fishing and trade of Beche-de-mer fishery in PNG

The illegal harvesting and trade in the Beche-de-mer fishery had been ripe in Papua New Guinea since the moratorium was placed in 2010. The number of illegal BDM buyers had significantly increased over the years. Most of these illegal buyers were logging companies operating in the country.

The National Fisheries Authority had spent large amount of money on enforcement in all fisheries sector. Beche-de-mer fishery alone took huge slice of the enforcement budget as there was rife in illegal pouching in the country. However, little was done to curtail this activity due to man power shortages and logistics hiccups to actively carry out surveillance in and within the international borders and sea port routes.

Places like Daru in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea shares a common international border with Australia and Indonesia. According to studies conducted by the National Fisheries Authority, Sand fish, Lolly fish and other species have a tendency to improve in stock due to the closure. However owing to illegal harvesting, the sizes were reduced and densities were still low or maintained when comparing from data of previous surveys. Pouching of sea cucumbers also occur in Australian waters (Torres Strait) and illegally sold into Indonesian side of the border. Daru is one part of many isolated cases of illegal harvesting of sea cucumbers in Papua New Guinea.  Some other provinces in Papua New Guinea that are known for their illegal activities are West New Britain Province, East Sepik Province, Sandaun Province and Milne Bay.

One interesting cases of this illegal trade in in Beche-de-mer fishery in Papua New Guinea is in Milne Bay Province. In some parts of Milne Bay, people claimed to do sea ranging on sea cucumbers. That is to take stocks from the wild and placing them into cases. They have been ranging sea cucumbers for some time and when expected to see an increase of stock, however, there was hardly any species in those ranges.

Anywhere, when NFA is doing all its best to maintain the moratorium for sustainability, people of Asian origin are colluding with locals to illegally fish, thereby reducing the stock minimizing recovery. All stakeholders should play an active role to maintain the fishery for sustenance and livelihood in the future.  

A Dragon fish-