Tavua will ban the harvest of Kabatia, commonly known as thumb print emperor, within its fishing grounds for the next four months.

The Turaga Na Tui Tavua, Ratu Nacanieli Uqeuqe, announced the ban following a WWF-Pacific and the Ministry of Fisheries presentation on the results of a six-month fish length based.

Uqeuqe says Kabatia is one of the most heavily fished species and needs to be conserved as sizes were getting smaller.

The ban is from this month to the first of December.