News

Seafood exporters under the spotlight

November 30, 2017 5:22 pm

Seafood exporters have been found to be encouraging many Fijians to break the recent bans being put in place by the Ministry of Fisheries.

Minister responsible, Semi Koroilavesau says with many of these people living in coastal and maritime areas – a good value is being offered to them in the market to harvest beche-de-mer or catch any other banned species of fish.

“Exporters are encouraging the harvesters or the local population harvest even though they know for a fact that we have banned it four months ago. We have them a leeway because they were using the villagers as an excuse for them to continue to purchase but we had to make a stop on it because it’s basically on sustainability.”

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Koroilavesau says Fijians should adhere to the bans as the country’s fish stock is slowly depleting and we should sustain what is left for future generations.