- 05 May 2022

Regulated fishing zones at the heart of exchanges in French Polynesia

As part of PROTEGE project, the Minister of Culture, Environment and Marine Resources in charge of handicrafts and the Marine Resources Department are organizing from May 2 to 4, 2022 a territorial and regional workshop gathering about 40 stakeholders from the Regulated Fishing Zones (RPZ) of French Polynesia.

The RPZs allow the implementation of fishing rules specific to a delimited geographical area, considering the context, they have been developed with the participation of local fishermen.

There are currently 35 RPZs, spread over French Polynesia. These RPZs are part of a great diversity of socio-economic, cultural, and environmental contexts, making each of them unique. However, their management committees face similar problems, such as surveillance, knowledge, and monitoring of resources, or reconciling the interests of stakeholders.

This workshop aims to promote exchanges, experiences and to identify common problems and solutions to improve management of RPZs. It will also introduce discussion on the opportunity of a network to facilitate exchanges, pool resources and better represent themselves to the country and local, national or international organizations.

Emile VERNIER, a fisherman from Hitiaa, testifies to the importance of setting up a network to empower communities and give them the ability to manage their resources.

"In Hitiaa, we don't have a RPZ yet, we don't know if we will be able to set one up because it is difficult. We would like to have a network to get advice. I hope that we will put ourselves together because we need you. It will be difficult to do it alone for our small commune of 2000 inhabitants without a network. We can't wait, we have no more fish, come to Hitiaa and give us your help."

Regional stakeholders were also invited to the workshop, including representatives from Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia, as well as representatives from the international Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) network in Fiji and the Hawaii KUA network to share their respective experiences.

This event marks an additional step in the project of co-management of marine resources by the Country of French Polynesia, the municipalities, and the local populations.

Download the complete workshop program