Fisheries in the Pacific

Socioeconomic significance of fisheries in the Small Island Developing States…
Polynesia that those marae were the place where “guardian animals” would meet
with their mentors (Barry 2002). This was for instance the case for Upaupai Fenuaura
Marae where a famous ancestral figure, the guardian shark, would appear at very
specific seasons.
The Pacific Ocean is also the richest ocean in terms of commercial fisheries. For
example, the Western and Central Pacific tuna fishery is the largest and most intact
tuna fishery in the world, supplying more than half of the world’s tuna supplies
(Bardach and Riding 1985; Allain et al. in this volume). This economic role at times
conflicts with cultural roles that fisheries play in Pacific societies.
Another issue that concerns Pacific peoples is that many emblematic species
protected by international conventions (whales, dolphins, turtles, rays) are localized
in the Pacific Ocean and are often small populations or in the early stages of recovery
from overfishing. The Central and the South Pacific for example accommodate the
smallest specific populations of humpback whales and many other species of dolphins
such as the rough-toothed dolphin and spinner dolphin (Poole 2015).
The first part of this chapter will highlight the cultural and socioeconomic
importance of fisheries in Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS). The second
part will discuss the importance of fisheries for Pacific Islanders in terms of environmental
issues and viewing fisheries as natural heritage rather than as commodities.
This chapter reveals a contemporary trend of some Pacific Islanders reconstructing
their relations with various marine organisms and acting as guardians, not only of
their marine resources (Teiwaki 1988; Willis et al. 2003), but also of oceanic spaces
(near and off-shore) which are imbued in some localities with long and deep cultural
histories and meanings, central to Pacific identities (D’Arcy 2006a: Chapter 2; Hviding
1996). The involvement of Pacific Islanders in fisheries as well as in near and off-shore
conservation forms a complex dynamic that needs to be taken into account in any
form of contemporary and future sustainable management regimes (D’Arcy 2013).
Socioeconomic and cultural importance of fisheries
The status of fish in indigenous Polynesia
Mythologies of eastern and southern Polynesia relating to fish and the ocean are
numerous and convergent despite linguistic diversity (Arbousset 1867). According
to Henry (1928: 389), in ancient Tahiti, the whale was the “Shadow of Ta’aroa” (the
preeminent god associated with the ocean in Polynesian cosmogony). Other fishes,
including dolphins, personified the spirits of those lost at sea and drowned. In the
latter case, the changing colour of a dolphin-fish (mahimahi) was allocated from these
spirits after the death of people (Henry 1928: 390; Williamson 1933). An interpretation
of Rongorongo petroglyphs (a written language of Rapa Nui or Easter Island) locates
the whale in the song of creation of this island as born from the union of the god
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