Malaita Outer Islands MPA pleads for government to reopen Beche-de-mer trade

 

A desperate call is being made for the national government to reopen the Beche-de-mer harvest and trade.

Patrick Apua, Provincial member (MPA) for Liuaniua, in Malaita Outer Islands constituency, reveals that the current ban is tolling heavily on his people; their livelihoods on the verge of disaster and poverty.

“At the current situation of my people at Luaniua in the malaita outer islands we have suffered most from earning and involving in any economical programmes in our society.

“Our people depend mainly on our sea resources where bechdemar is our regular sea resources that our people have received our daily incomes from for our sustainability.

“Our national government step in and banned the selling of beche-de-mer which affects us in our means of income.

“Currently the national government have supplied us food for our people but not much as before that some of our basic needs were need to be met.”

Hon Apua emphasises that Beche-de-mer is not a delicacy for his people thus the ban should not be prolonged like those bans placed on food resources to allow them to be naturally replenished.

“Beche-de-mer is not our regular food and how if our national government did want us to preserve this marine resource.

“The government should amend a law and we could have control over it in a proper way for exporting and including preserve measures for our resources.

“I believe that if the government address is issue the demand for supplying us food daily for our people will reduce because we can provide for ourselves as usual.”

The government had recently placed a ban on the resource in 2015 after it was found that it had been over harvested across the country.