The district of Tavua signed an agreement this morning to ban the harvest of Kabatia, commonly known as Thumbprint Emperor from within its fishing grounds for the next five months.

This comes after the depletion in the stock of this fish in their fishing ground.

Na Turaga na Tui Tavua, Ratu Nacanieli Uqeuqe says these are desperate times, fishermen are coming back with less catch and what they are catching is smaller in sizes and Kabatia is heavily fished now as they are easily caught.

The ban follows a WWF-Pacific and the Ministry of Fisheries presentation on the results of a six-month fish length based – spawning per recruitment assessment on the health of their reef fish.



WWF-Pacific’s Coastal Fisheries Officer, Laitia Tamata says it is encouraging seeing Tavua take another step in the sustainable management of their depleting marine resources.



Some of the representatives suggest they should put the ban for all species fish instead of just the Kabatia.

Representatives from Tavua villages signed the agreement.