Zeller et al.: Small-scale fishery catches for US island areas In the Western Pacific 



267 



160°E 



160°W 



20°N 



ICN 



0°- 



10°S 



CNMI 



A 



Hawaii 



American 

 Samoa. 



.;S 



Figure 1 



Location and Exclusive Economic Zones (areas outlined! of the major U.S. flag-associated 

 island areas in the western Pacific covered in this study: Guam, Commonwealth of the 

 Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and American Samoa. The Pacific Remote Island Areas 

 (minor islands) also under U.S. flag jurisdiction are excluded from present consideration 

 (Zeller et al.^). Map courtesy of A. Kitchingman and C. H. Close, Sea Around Us Project, 

 Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia. 



This is particularly true close to human population 

 centers on main islands, whereas the status of stocks 

 in more remote areas is generally better. Obviously, 

 places that have not experienced widespread devel- 

 opment may still suffer stock declines because over- 

 fishing alone can deplete fishery resources on coral 

 reefs. 



The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- 

 istration National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA- 

 NMFS), through its Western Pacific Fishery Informa- 

 tion Network (WPacFINM, provides data collection, 

 assimilation, and technical reporting support to U.S. 

 flag-associated island areas in the Pacific (Fig. 1). 

 The coverage of this electronic information source 

 only dates back to the early 1980s and differs between 

 islands. There is near-complete coverage for some ar- 

 eas, such as Guam, and very limited coverage for oth- 

 ers, such as Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

 Islands (CNMI). For the U.S. western Pacific region, 

 this centralized data depository is largely the result 

 of the development of WPacFIN programs in each of 



Western Pacific Fishery Information Network (WPacFIN). 

 NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, Pacific Islands 

 Fisheries Science Center, 2570 Dole Street, Honolulu, 96822- 

 2396. Website: http://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/wpacfin (accessed 

 1 November 2005). 



the island areas in the early 1980s. All the islands 

 considered here have few legislative requirements for 

 reporting of catches; however, some, such as American 

 Samoa, have instituted legal mandates that require 

 the number of fish sold be reported. Generally, the 

 focus of reported data has been primarily on com- 

 mercial harvests (e.g., the small-boat based fisheries 

 of American Samoa) and have not covered other sec- 

 tors, such as the shore-based fisheries (Zeller et al., 

 2006a). 



However, many small-scale studies have been under- 

 taken to assess these missing sectors, reporting local 

 catches or catch rates for specific periods, locations, or 

 gear types (e.g., Craig et al., 1997). Such data sources 

 can form the foundation for deriving catches, catch 

 rates per unit of area, or per capita catch rates during 

 a given time interval for these sectors of the fishery. 

 These time-point estimates provide anchor points of 

 concrete data upon which total catch estimates can 

 be based. Once all such data have been extracted 

 from their disparate sources, interpolations can be 

 employed to fill in the periods for which quantitative 

 data are missing. Thus, the key aspect of the approach 

 used here is psychological, and managers have to 

 overcome the notion that no information is available, 

 which is not only an incorrect assumption when deal- 

 ing with fisheries but a profoundly misleading one 



