‘Let us farm sea cucumumber’, Temotu chief tells Government
A Temotu chief says they should be able to farm sea cucumbers
Traditional leaders of Duff Island, Temotu Province, are seeking the Fisheries Ministry’s permission to allow them enforce traditional methods of sustaining beche- de-mer and other marine population.
Paramount Chief Noel Hatu told SIBC an outright ban on these marine resources was inhumane for his people whose livelihood have always depended on marine resources.
Paramount Chief Hatu said his people had been practicing far better sustainable measures using the weather, sea current and traditional taboos way before the government introduced the beche-de-mer ban.
“We have been doing these methods for a long time,” he said. “We would open the farming season at one point, and then close it. Nature sustained it, it was carried out by the weather.”