Fisheries in the Pacific

Samuel Cornier and Isabelle Leblic
quotas and catch size, prohibited species). This area refers to the customary marine
territory, which is placed under the authority of the chiefdom of Yambé and the
landowner clan of the tribe (i.e., the customary clan having land rights on this territory).
The area was expanded to include territory to the north and south of the reef to
respect customary kin relationships between the Yambé tribe and two neighbouring
tribes, Tchambouène and Diahoué. These tribes were also invited to participate in the
MPA project. The MPA also includes three “wildlife reserves”. Zone E (1-5) , which
refers to the customary taboo area (Hwanga Lé-Dan), and Zone F (1-4) , covering the
marine border with the customary district of Lé-Jao, are under a “permanent notake”
regulation. Zone G (1-4) , which refers to the pre-existing customary marine reserve
(Péwen), and which was not previously recognized under provincial law, is under a “partial
no-take” regulation. Finally, the MPA’s terrestrial buffer zone, aims to integrate sustainable
inland activities with respect to marine environment preservation objectives. This area
refers to the main customary land under the responsibility of the chiefdom of Yambé.
Having described the context, we will focus now on some issues regarding fisheries,
traditional knowledge and customary marine management which have emerged
from our field research. First, due to the MPA’s legal framework, some community
members are frustrated because they feel that provincial law seems to be overriding
their customary practices and rules more than it had in the past.
“Now, with the MPA, it is not like before. We are no longer really the ones who
decide. It is the (North) Province which decides when one can fish and for which fish.
There are places we can no longer go, but before, we worked with customary request and
gestures enabling us to fish in these places, and we used to decide everything together as
a tribe, the periods of opening and closing of fishing. But we stay at home and so it is we
who are the most affected” (extract from an interview with a 42-year-old man).
Their opposition to the project and Western fishing prohibitions has had three
main consequences. One is the emergence of overfishing, especially in the context of
customary events when people have to ask for official permission to fish specific
protected species. Permission must be asked beforehand from the police department
of the council of Pouébo with authority over the territory of the tribe. The case of
sea turtles (Chelonia mydas [Linnaeus 1758] in this case) that used to be collectively
caught for customary events is significant (see Leblic 2008: 161-167; Sabinot in this
volume). Because permission is now only attributed for the “Yam ceremony”, which
is a central event in the customary calendar of northern Kanak communities, while
the capture of sea turtles is prohibited during the rest of the year, people are tempted
to capture more turtles than allowed or needed for the event. During fieldwork
conducted in 2013, we observed that while a permit is usually attributed for one or
two turtles, four turtles were captured (see pic. 9a-b-c).
One may also witness hidden fishing practices involving protected and regulated
species. People capture such species whenever possible, but keep their capture secret
because they could be faced with penal and financial punishment (see pic. 10).
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