e. not a boom-and-bust cycle) and maintained employment in communities. Objectives to sustain stocks and economic value of the fisheries were most highly valued (Fig. 3). The two least important objectives of fishery managers, on average, related to the consumptive use and value of sea cucumbers to stakeholders but the rankings varied greatly. Management processes

were generally weak. Only two of the countries (Tonga and Papua New Guinea) had management advisory committees, involving stakeholders, for their sea cucumber fisheries. Selleckchem LBH589 Just one-third of countries had a national management plan for their sea cucumber fishery. Half of fisheries imposed size limits on fresh and/or dried sea cucumbers. None of the fisheries limit the number of species that can be fished or limit new species from being fished; i.e. no shortlists of allowable species. Eight of the 13 fisheries ban the use of SCUBA and hookah for collecting sea cucumbers. In just one-third of the fisheries, fishers need a permit and must furnish logbooks. A list of all fishers is kept by less than one-quarter of agencies but most

of them (82%) have a list of processor/exporters. check details Fishery officers visited, on average, just 12% (±15% s.d.) of sea cucumber fishers in their fisheries in 2011 but this was highly variable among PICs. Four of the 13 fishery agencies did not have any communication activities with sea cucumber fishers Morin Hydrate in 2011. Only three of the 13 fishery agencies send out newsletters or information leaflets to fishers. All but three (77%) of the managers believed that it was difficult or impossible to license the sea cucumber fishers. Conversely, all but two managers believed it should be easy to license all processors/exporters in the fishery. In nine (69%) of the fisheries, the managers believed that fishers have increased in numbers in recent years and information was insufficient to ascertain fisher numbers for three countries. In all but two territories (French Polynesia and New Caledonia), managers believed that fishers are collecting lower-value species more nowadays. Similarly, two-thirds of the managers stated that a wider range of sea cucumber species

is exploited nowadays than in the past. None of the three geographic regions (Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia) had all fisheries sustainable; i.e. fully fished, moderately fished or under-fished (Table 2). In a broad sense, Melanesia has a higher proportion of fishery stocks in poor condition (overfished or depleted) than Micronesia or Polynesia (Table 2) and three of these five countries had national moratoria in place (Fig. 1). The three fisheries diagnosed as having moderately-exploited stocks are the three fisheries in which exports of sea cucumbers has been banned to preserve subsistence fishing (Fig. 1). For all but two fisheries, both industrial-scale and small-scale fishers are subject to a common set of regulations.