The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has launched its ‘bagan’ to encourage Pacific Islanders to fish for smaller fish as the effects of climate change take a grip on their islands.
A bagan is a fishing platform which will help fishers change their fishing effort from large reef fish such as groupers and snappers, to small open-sea fish like sardines and anchovies.
The project was designed by Michel Blanc, a Fisheries Development Adviser with the SPC, with input from the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency.
“The bagan is a platform with a hole in the centre, winches at each corner, a lift net hanging underneath and a string of lights,” Mr Blanc says. “It’s a simple idea - the fish are attracted to the lights and then we haul the net to catch them.”
“We need to find new sources of food, because the population of the Pacific Islands is rising rapidly and we can no longer depend entirely on reef fisheries,” he says.
SPC predicts the human population in the Pacific will increase by 50% by 2030, while tropical Pacific reef fish populations are predicted to decline by up to 20% by 2050.
SPC says that fish are becoming harder to catch because overfishing has reduced their numbers. A threat looming over the fishery is climate change, which bleaches and then kills the coral where parrot-fish, grouper and snapper live.
“Small fish like sardines have lots of advantages. They breed quickly, they are highly nutritious, and they swim in schools which makes them easier to catch,” says Mr Blanc.
The fish can either be eaten or sold in local markets. Preparing fish for market will open up new job opportunities for women.
