Page 32 - Islands Business October 2023 edition

Ocean Science

Federated States of Micronesia, and others.
One of the report’s co-authors, Kezyiah Lusa Saepioh,
said the research uncovers fishing vessels involved in human
trafficking in Pacific waters and recommends “the need for
international commitment, particularly ratification, and
implementation of some of the international instruments.
For example, the International Labour Organization C188 to
address forced labour in the industry”.
Solomon Islands and other Pacific Island countries have yet
to ratify the agreement, she said.
“We found…perhaps contributing to the limited data is
this culture of WanTok – like we are protecting our families,
particularly relating to human trafficking and prostitution.
That is also a component from the study, that [victims]
weren’t able to come out to admit that they are victims, so
Sampling the deep ocean is difficult. Photo: Pacific Community (SPC) that the parents or the family just keep it under the carpet.
“So, one of the policy options [from the study] is we need
to have a more aligned framework to help [victims] address
the issue, where they communicate the abuses openly and
In 2020, only 9% of households in Wallis and Futuna were then support them if they require some assistance.”
involved in fishing due to the decline in marine resources,
said Baptiste Jaugeon, Project Facilitator with the French Marine plastic pollution
territory’s Fisheries Department. Andrew Paris, Environment Coordinator with Blue Prosperity
“80% of parrotfish were overfished due to nighttime Fiji, is helping to curb marine plastic pollution in Fiji and is
spearfishing,” said Jaugeon of their research. currently carrying out coastal litter assessments around the
Through an EU-funded project in 2020, Jaugeon and country.
his team have been collaborating with SPC to assess the During his presentation, Paris said to date, there are more
territory’s fish stock supply, with the help of artificial than 400 million tonnes of plastics produced—estimated to
intelligence tools. So far, 30,000 fish have been measured. reach 1.2 billion tonnes by the year 2050.
“We take pictures of the catch, and we upload those “Majority of those are single-use plastics. Of all the plastics
pictures on a system called Coastal Fisheries Landing Survey. produced, less than 10% are recycled and incinerated,” he
The AI tool then identifies the fish and it also measures it. said.
We just have to cross-check to see if it's the right species and Referring to a 2015 study, he said Fiji, Tonga and
size. The more species we feed into the model, the easier it Vanuatu have been found in the top 10 list of countries for
gets to identify the species,” Jaugeon explained. mismanagement of plastic waste where “a lot of it is ending
Asked about the state of the waters in Wallis and Futuna up in the oceans”.
due to the decline of parrotfish stock, Jaugeon said: “We need to start getting rid of this single-use-throw-away
“Parrotfish are important for the reefs because they are culture that we have now. We need to get rid of plastics that
herbivores, they eat the algae and help corals to thrive. we don’t really need like straws, plastic cutlery. You can buy
Luckily, we don’t see any outgrowth of seaweed on the reef. a wooden fork and spoon for your picnics, as well as wooden
The reef is still healthy. But this is something we have to be pegs rather than plastic pegs.
aware of, and work with our environment department to see A lot of government policies have enforced mechanisms that
if there’s any impact on the marine ecosystem.” penalise the consumer, but the truth is everyone has a role to
He added: “Some places in the Pacific have seaweeds that play,” said Paris.
are taking over corals. Like in French Polynesia, there are “We need to move away from the idea that it’s the
issues with Turbinaria. It's a smaller seaweed and it covers all people’s fault. The State has a role to play in formulating
the corals. We don't know what's the impact on fish stocks, effective policies in regulating the amount of plastic coming
but it for sure can kill corals.” in, and setting the ground rules for how plastics are traded,
manufactured, and managed.
Human rights violations On September 1, Solomon Islands banned single-use plastics
Human rights violations within the fishing industry in the from entering the country.
Pacific have been ignored, according to new research unveiled “That is the best solution that I can think of that’s fit for
at the conference. purpose for the Pacific. We don’t have a huge production of
A study titled, ‘Fishing Practices in Pacific Island Countries: plastics, but we have importers. So, if we can start regulating
A human rights perspective’, which is currently in review the types of plastics that we’re importing, that offers the best
stage, addressed 18 reported cases of human rights violations chance of trying to tackle this problem,” Paris told Islands
in the fishing industry in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Business.

32 Islands Business, October 2023