Re-estimation of coral-reef fishery landings in CNMI suggests decline

Coral-reef fisheries are deeply intertwined with the culture, economy, and society of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Given their central role to CNMI’s livelihood and economy, there is a continuous need to understand and manage these very dynamic resources. This is especially true now that improved technology and fishing gear provides access to many reefs that were once hard to get to.

Recently, a new study on CNMI’s reef fisheries has been published in the journal Reviews of Fish Biology and Fisheries by authors Javier Cuetos-Bueno and Dr. Peter Houk, associated with the Pacific Marine Resources Institute and the University of Guam Marine Laboratory. The study examined both published papers and technical reports providing reef fishery data over the years, including standardized interviews and numerical estimates. From these data, the authors described the most probable scenarios for coral-reef fish landings since the 1950’s. Understanding fish landings is of great interest because they represent one key piece of information that local and federal fisheries agencies use when determining allowable catch limits each year.
Lead author Javier Cuetos-Bueno describes the results as being very interesting for several reasons. “First, although improved technology has provided fishermen access to more fishing grounds and much more efficient fishing gear, we report that reef fish landings have most likely declined by 39 to 73 percent since the 1950’s. Second, we found that previous studies looking at reef fish landings in CNMI over the years very likely underestimated the contribution of reef fish harvesting for subsistence and recreational purposes. We found that non-commercial reef fishing remains as the dominant fishing activity in CNMI, and by incorporating the improved estimates one gets a better perspective of long-term trends. Third, we found that data collected by local and federal fisheries programs since the 1980s showed a lot of unexpected variability that appeared to be an artifact of data collection concerns rather than actual landing trends. This suggested a need for improvements to data collection efforts. According to several governmental fishery scientists, these improvements are reportedly underway already.”

Dr. Houk added that, “one unique source of fisheries data was provided by the CNMI’s Nutrition Assistance Program who have kept excellent records of fish vendors who participate in their food-stamp program over the years. Through these records, and their consistency with previous studies taking snapshots in time of CNMI fish landings, we were able to better comprehend inter-annual variations and emphasize the need for ongoing improvements in data collection systems.”

The authors added that, “while the population growth in the CNMI since the 1950s has increased overall fishery demand in recent decades, the availability of alternative protein sources being brought from overseas has probably lowered personal consumption (amount of seafood consumed per person). Yet, in order for reduced demand from consumers to account for the declining trends in landings we found, the individual consumption of local seafood would have to be ~10 kg per person, per year. This is unrealistically low for any island nation, especially CNMI. Alternatively, the decline in landings due to decreasing resources is matched by several studies that show a decline in the sizes of many common food fish (Tataga and Laggua for example), and a decline in reef health for the most accessible reefs.”

A declining fishery, as suggested by the findings, not only impacts CNMI’s coral-reef fishing revenues, but also the health of the coral reefs, the tourism sector, and personal livelihoods. The authors conclude that “fisheries represent a very difficult resource to manage because of the diversity of users and stakeholders, yet a declining fishery is of less benefit to all. Stakeholder-driven decision making is the key to improving the future of CNMI’s marine resources and the services they provide to the society and economy. Science plays an important part in this process by informing stakeholders of whether their goals are being met or not. While we continue to improve upon the science, the hard part is to improve stakeholder involvement in a meaningful way and generate a publically-acceptable vision with clearly defined goals. We are hopeful that local and federal fisheries managers continue along this path.”

Further inquiry or copies of the study can be obtained from the Pacific Marine Resources Institute (info@pacmares.com). (PR)