FISHERIES PROBLEMS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC AREA 335 



(b) a more complete drying of cleaned and split large fish or whole 

 uncleaned small fish, down to a moisture content of about 20% 

 where it is hard and dark in colour, but, when protected from 

 attack by insects, probably has an indefinite storage life even 

 under tropical conditions. This latter technique seems con- 

 fined to the Sepik River area." 



The same paper states that:— 



"It is clear that in the absence of controllable pond fisheries 

 the preservation of coastal fish as a means of smoothing out seasonal 

 fluctuations in supply and of distributing inland to protein de- 

 ficient communities with a poor system of communication will 

 initially best be done by the traditional process of salting, drying 

 and smoking in suitable combination, rather than by adopting 

 elaborate processes such as freezing, canning and controlled 

 smoking." 



The importance of salt in the improvement of the existing primitive 

 processing techniques was emphasized by the Australian Delegation, 

 who stated that this salt will either have to be imported from Australia 

 or produced by setting up a plant for its recovery from sea water within 

 the territoi-y itself. 



Lack of cheap salt and a small market for preserved fish are partly 

 responsible for slow development in Netherlands New Guinea. 



Controllable pond fisheries as a means of smoothing out seasonal 

 fluctuations in supply has already been mentioned. The culture of fish 

 in ponds is not unknown to the Polynesian and ponds seem even to 

 belong to the Indonesian-Polynesian cultural sphere. Fish cultivated 

 are the milk fish (Tuamoto Archipelago, Nauru Island, the Gilbert 

 Islands, the Lau Group), whilst the carp (Cyprinus carpis L.) was in- 

 troduced into Fiji fifteen years ago. The Fiji Government initiated 

 pond culture experimentally in 1950 and yields of fish reached 1200 lbs. 

 per acre per year. However, since sewage had been run into the ponds 

 to promote growth of algae, the Fijians would not eat the fish. In 

 other territories also there is a growing interest in pond culture. It is 

 unknown to what extent fish culture in ponds would contribute to a 

 higher fish production in the region and to a smoothing out of seasonal 

 influences. ' ' 



The lack of information and data on Pacific island fisheries in 

 general was plainly shown and expressed in the papers submitted to the 

 Fisheries Conference. One of the recommendations of the Conference 

 was: 



