FISHERIES PROBLEMS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC AREA 333 



The inland fisheries can be divided into: 



(a) fish catching in rivers, lakes, swamps and fresh water 

 estuaries; 



(b) fish culture in ponds. 



Reef fishing is the main source of fish supply. The limited reef 

 area of some islands and the fact that fish stocks on the reefs are isolated 

 within their particular reef systems set a limit to the yield. The Fisheries 

 Conference states: 



"In some localities, in the neighbourhood of concentration of 

 regional population, these resources appear to have been over-ex- 

 ploited and the current harvest is small. These instances include 

 reefs in the neighbourhood of Rarotonga (Cook Islands), Pago 

 Pago (American Samoa), Papeete (Tahiti), Suva (Fiji), and 

 Noumea (New Caledonia) ." 



The rapid rate of population increase in Polynesia and Micronesia 

 and the deficiency of the diet in the interior of New Guinea make the 

 problem of how to allow for higher levels of fish consumption per head, 

 even more acute. Under such conditions it seems not unlikely that this 

 reef and lagoon source, already over-exploited in some areas, will be- 

 come more and more deficient in relation to the increasing demands 

 of the future. 



The mangrove and estuarine resources are believed to be abundant 

 and relatively unexploited in New Guinea. The Conference report 

 states: 



"It is in mangrove and estuarine areas that the greatest poten- 

 tial for pond culture exists, but in New Guinea and large islands 

 in Oceania the relatively large tracts of land might be expected, 

 with appropriate social and economic change in the lives of the 

 people, to make a contribution of animal protein on a scale which 

 obviously could not be reached by the smaller islands of the 

 region." 



Oceanic resources: The development of pelagic fisheries in the 

 open ocean outside the reefs offers the best opportunity for increased 

 fish production, not only for markets within the territories but also 

 for export. There are, however, in this field many unsolved problems 

 due to lack of knowledge of the pattern and distribution of the prin- 

 cipal species in these waters. Stocks in abundance sufficient to carry 

 commercial operations have been indicated in equatorial waters north of 

 New Guinea and south of the Caroline Islands. The Fisheries Con- 

 ference expressed the opinion that most prominent among these re- 



