Pacnews Islands Business 11 Jul 05;
SOLOMON ISLANDS --- Solomon Islands will put in place an indefinite ban on the export of Beche-demer or sea cucumber from next month.
This was revealed by Tione Bugotu, the permanent secretary for fisheries and marine resources. He said the ban would apply to all species of beche-demer.
“From now on until 31 July, we are giving all buyers and exporters to export all their beche-de-mer products in their possession.
“No beche-demer will be allowed to leave the country as from 01 August,” Mr Bugotu said.
He told the Solomon Star the decision was reached in a review of the beche-de-mer fishery in the country by Dr Christain Ramofafia of the World Fish Centre.
Mr Bugotu said the review revealed that the country's beche-demer stock was in “serious problem and faced an uncertain future.”
The review also found that catches and exports have fallen since peaks of 615 tonnes and 715 tonnes were achieved in 1991 and 1992 respectively.
The review also found that in contrast to declining catches and exports, the number of sea cucumber species exploited for beche-demer production has increased from 22 in 1994 to 32 currently, with 50 per cent of the species have low market value.
“This contrasting trend suggests dwindling sea cucumber resources, especially of high value species and local over-fishing.
“It is likely that current fishing levels are unsustainable,” the review concluded.
Mr Bugotu said it was obvious from these results that the beche-demer fishery in the Solomon Islands needed proper management strategies or the fishery would face a collapse.
Beche-demer has been a major source of income for Solomon Islands rural dwellers.
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