Peace Corps volunteer, Wendy Cove assists in Niue fisheries management plan
Niue's marine invertebrate species to be included in fisheries management plan
In November 2000 the Community Fisheries Section completed fieldwork in Niue. The work was requested by the Niue government as part of ongoing SPC assistance to Niue in the area of sustainable development and management of its marine resources. SPC’s Community Fisheries Officer undertook the fieldwork together with a Canadian-funded training attachment, USP Masters student in marine science, Lilian Fay Sauni.
Also assisting with the work were Brendon Pasisi, Desiree Tukutama and Charlene Funaki of the Niue Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Peace Corps volunteer, Wendy Cover. The aim of the fieldwork was to identify and document the important marine invertebrate species collected by women in Niue, to look at potential management measures for those species, and to ensure that species collected by women are included in an inshore fisheries management plan being developed by Niue Fisheries and SPC.
Desiree, Wendy and Lilian search for invertebrates at low tide
Although Niue has only a small fisheries section they recently created a new position – the Women’s Fisheries Development Officer – a post held by Desiree. Niue Fisheries remains committed to seeing that the entire community is consulted and included in their work.
Niue, with a total land area of only 258 km2 and a circumference of 65 km, is reputedly the largest upraised coral atoll in the world. The population is less than 2000, with nearly 10 times that number of Niueans now residing in New Zealand. Niue has no lagoon and only a narrow fringing reef surrounds most of the island. The former reef and lagoon is raised to about 60 m above sea level, descending to over 1000 m depth within 5 km of the shore.
The small reef flat yielded a surprising number of utilised species
Although a number of studies have been done on the marine resources of Niue, none have resulted in a clear idea of exactly what, or how many, species of invertebrates are utilised in Niue. At first glance the rugged coastline and small reef flat area, accessible only in calm weather and at low tide, would appear to have few species that could be utilised. However the women gather a surprisingly large number of invertebrates for food and shellcraft. By the end of the two-week fieldwork, 92 Niuean invertebrate names had been recorded, 55 of those were actually observed on reef trips, 29 of them are used for food and around 10 species or groups of species are used for shellcraft. Over 70 species have been definitely or tentatively identified.
The list is by no means exhaustive but will be a useful guide to the most commonly utilised species. Once the work has been completed a report will be submitted to Niue with recommendations for management of the most important species.
