Sustainable Seafood Series - What Seafood To Avoid?

The Humphead or Napolean Wrasse aka elephant of the sea

© WWF

Keeping away means we are adopting the ideals of the sustainable seafood shopper and we are giving nature a chance.

Last week we introduced what sustainable seafood is. This week we go a little deeper and explore two sea foods that are often a hot favorite!

However, they are increasingly becoming a delicacy, even rare to find because of their declining numbers.

Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulates)

Or the ‘varivoce’ as we know it better in Fiji! This very special fish is one of the largest known coral reef fishes and can reach over 2 meters in length and the maximum weight recorded was a staggering 190kg. It’s no wonder it’s also known as the ‘elephant of the seas’.

They can live for over thirty years; they feed on fish and invertebrates such as mollusks, crustaceans and sea urchins and are one of the few predators of crown-of-thorns sea stars (crown of thorns starfish) which through its destructive feeding habits can disrupt the entire reef ecosystem.

Therein lies the ‘elephants’ ecological importance.

However as a slow growing fish the ‘varivoce’ reaches sexual maturity between 5 to 7 years which means it has a slow rate of replenishing its stock. Overfishing and the live reef fish trade (export and sale of fish) have drastically reduced its number and the ‘varivoce’ is now listed as Endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List.

The Fiji Fisheries Act forbids the export of live fish and because it is a protected fish it is illegal to catch the ‘varivoce’ under Fiji’s Endangered and Protected Species Act.

However, I’ve purchased the ‘varivoce’ from a certain municipal market – my ignorance of both its status and the law – factors contributing to my unsustainable seafood choice. Ignorance of the law is no excuse though.

We can help the ‘varivoce’ – don’t buy this fish, alert fisheries authorities if you find the humphead wrasse on sale in fish markets, fish shops, or by the roadside.

Doing our bit and being a sustainable seafood shopper may save the varivoce from being forced into extinction.

Physical Description

Adult humphead wrasses are identified by thick lips and a prominent hump on their forehead, while juveniles are a light green colour, with two black lines extending from behind the eye.

Turtles

Hooked to your turtle meat curry? Please think again! 

Five species of sea turtles are known to swim Fiji’s waters. There’s the hawksbill or taku, the Green or Vonu Dina, the leatherback, the loggerhead or tuvonu and the Olive Ridley.

And they are all protected species because their numbers have seriously declined. Turtles are protected under the Turtle Moratorium Decree that forbids harvest or commercial exploitation of turtles. The 10 year moratorium runs from the 11^th of March 2009 to the 11^th of June 2018.

Turtles can only be harvested upon special exemption approved by the Fisheries Department and this for traditional purposes only.

However, from November to March which is the turtle nesting season there is a complete no take of turtles.

So if you find turtle meat being sold at your local market, by roadside vendors, at the village or being eaten without that special permit than you must report it to the fisheries department near you.

Why protect the turtle you ask? Because of their ecological importance and they’ve been swimming our oceans for millions of years, surviving many climatic changes and even the era of the dinosaur!

But if we don’t become good stewards and take up our duty to protecting our natural resources we will be guilty of forcing this sad creature into extinction.


Next week we introduce more seafood but have a look at the table below, extracted from the Fiji Fisheries Act – the Sixth Schedule that outlining the minimum size limits of fish. 


SIXTH SCHEDULE 

(Regulation 18)
(Minimum size limits for fish)

This is an extract from the Fiji Fisheries Act


Written by Theresa Ralogaivau, Communications Officer, WWF SPPO

(The Sustainable Seafood Series is published weekly on Wednesdays in the Waterfront Section of the Fiji Times. The series was introduced by WWF SPPO to create awareness, build knowledge and encourage consumers to buy seafood harvested sustainably)