Port Moresby, Jul 16 2012 - Coastal fisheries in Papua New Guinea, used primarily by local subsistence fisher folk, will face increasing pressure from climate change, compounding the twin problems of population growth and overfishing.

Regional organisations like the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), along with local NGOs, are pushing for the development of Marine Protected Areas to safeguard the future of marine ecosystems and livelihoods.

Nancy and her family are fishers from the Hula village in the Central Province, located on the south coast of Papua New Guinea.  Over the years, she has noticed striking changes in local fish populations.

“In the 1970s our fishermen were still using traditional fishing methods. One or two would go out in a canoe and catch fish with spears,” Nancy recounted. “There was a lot of fish in our coastal area then.

But in the 1980s people began buying large dinghies and using expansive fishing nets.

“One family can own up to four or five dinghies,” she continued. “Now there is less fish being caught, especially the large fish, and fishermen are trying to sell everything they get, even the tiny fish, octopus and shells.  There are fewer fish caught and they are more expensive.”

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 95 percent of small-scale fishers are located in developing countries and over 500 million people in the developing world depend on fisheries for food security.  Coastal subsistence fisheries production in Papua New Guinea is more than 30,000 tonnes per annum, compared to coastal commercial fisheries, which produce approximately 6,000 tonnes annually.

Papua New Guinea, part of the Coral Triangle, which includes the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Philippines, Timor Leste and Malaysia, is home to diverse marine ecosystems.  Coastal resources of the Coral Triangle – comprised of 53 percent of the world’s coral and home to 76 percent of all known corals and 37 percent of coral reef fish species – sustain 363 million people.

But climate change, especially increased air and sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification, is predicted to degrade reef habitats and spur the migration of marine species away from the equator and toward the polar extremes. Ninety percent of coral reefs could be endangered by 2030 and the SPC predicts Pacific reef fish populations could decline by 20 percent by 2050.

For the complete article, please see Inter Press Service