Marine Resources Sample Clauses

Marine Resources. Marine resources are the mainstay of the economy. An estimated 80 per cent of households make a living through fishing. Fishing fleets from a number of countries pay licensing fees to operate in Kiribati's territorial waters and these produce substantial revenue (see Section B). The revenue raising capacity of fishing licenses has a profound effect on the economy of the country, as it provides a major part of government revenue

Marine Resources. As discussed above, the three Kiribati EEZ areas lie across the equator, with the Line Islands group stretching to around 15°S, providing a typically tropical oceanic environment, sparsely interspersed with coral-tipped seamounts. This provides the two main resource types within the EEZ: • Coastal resources, which include many groups of fish and invertebrates, such as finfish (scarids, lethrinids, lutjanids, and carangids), beche de mer, trochus, giant clam, lobster, and turbo. They are characterised by their shallow water habitats or demersal life-styles. Because of their relative accessibility, these resources form the basis of most of the small-scale fisheries in Kiribati. • Oceanic resources, which include tunas, billfish and allied species. They are characterised by an open-water pelagic habitat, potentially extensive movements of individuals, and wide larval dispersal. These resources form the basis of the industrial fisheries of Kiribati and its foreign partners. Kiribati fall within the 20ºC isotherm that defines the limits of tropical waters suitable for coral reef development. Kiribati’’s Line Islands group probably serve as a source for much of the coral reef biota of the eastern Pacific (UNEP/IUCN 1988 referred by Bleakley 1995). Kiribati’’s coastal and marine habitats harbour many species of finfish and non-finfish resources of commercial interest, including lobster, deep-water shrimp, giant clam, ark shell, pearl oyster and beche-de-mer. In general, however, these inshore resources are limited because of the small area of land, reef and lagoon, and would not be able to support large fisheries. Deep slope bottom-fish resources, for example, have been estimated as capable of a sustaining a yield of between 73 and 219 mt/year (FAO Country Profile). In addition, high levels of exploitation near population centres are already occurring in some cases. Potential for development of inshore resources is thus limited, although certain aquaculture ventures may possibly have long-term potential. Kiribati’’s oceanic resources are much wider ranging, mainly consisting of larger pelagics such as skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye (Thunnus obesus) tunas. The skipjack tuna is found throughout the central Pacific, with the warm, poleward-flowing currents near northern Japan and southern Australia extend their distribution to 40°N and 40°S. Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical wa...