The Samoa Conservation Society (S.C.S.) has thrown its support behind efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (M.A.F.) to stop the catching and selling of undersized marine species.

Officials from the Ministry, in a joint operation with the Police last week, swooped on sellers outside selected Apia supermarkets to seize undersized marine species.

In a statement released last Friday, the M.A.F. said Police seized 34 undersized crabs and took three men into custody.

The Ministry’s A.C.E.O. for the Fisheries Division, Magele Etuati Ropeti, said their monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement Unit (M.C.S.E.) prepared for the operation three weeks prior to the sting after receiving several reports on the sale of undersized fish and information collected during the Ministry’s regular site monitoring checks.

S.C.S. President James Atherton told the Samoa Observer on Wednesday afternoon that laws including legislation on fisheries are there for a reason and should be enforced.

And he says that even in ancient times the community already had laws promoting conservation.

"Many restrictions and rules and the fisheries act and regulations that we agree with and support and they're there for a reason,” he said.

“A lot of these rules actually were applied in the historical times in Samoa to protect resources so they're not necessarily a foreign concept, there are indigenous concepts of having rules that you couldn't fish particular species for particular periods to allow them to recover.”

Ultimately it comes down to sustainability and citizens’ use of resources to cater for the country’s growing population, says Mr Atherton, who warned that more pressure continues to be put on marine resources.

“But it's all about sustainable resources and that because of our population growth which is now 200,000 people and because of increased pressure from that number of people and also increased pressure for cash, for income, if you like.

“That the marine resources are under more pressure than they've ever used to be.”

Mr Atherton said it is standard practice around the world now for nations to save resources for the future and from his own experience he has seen more undersized lobsters and crayfish being sold than fish.

"They are often undersized, I have noticed. We completely support the Fisheries Division and their efforts to enforce the law for the good of our marine resources," he said.

"I think ultimately it's up to the public to see enforcement so if people see fish that are undersized or marine species that shouldn't be sold, for example, if they see a turtle that's for sale that's illegal, it should not be sold, then they should report it.

“And maybe even before reporting it, talk to the people who are involved and explain to them why these rules are there.”

Mr Atherton added that personally he thinks prosecution should be the last resort and more effort should be put into raising awareness.

“We really want people to be aware in the first place and not do it in the first place and understand,” he said.

“Now people don't know the law, well, we have a problem we're not getting our message out so that's something we need to be better at, is getting our message out.

“But if they do know the law and of course they are deliberately ignoring the law then that's why you need prosecution. 

“But [...] before the prosecution I think we need to do a lot better at getting the message out there as to what the laws are and most importantly why do we have these laws in place."

According to the MAF a team of nine fisheries officers and four police officers approached three seafood vendors with 34 undersized crabs for sale outside a supermarket in town. The vendors were taken into custody for questioning by fisheries investigative officers and are now under investigation with their cases pending review by the Ministry’s legal division.

The M.A.F. Senior Fisheries Officer who led the operation, Tologata Leilua, said it was disappointing to find a significant number of undersized mud crabs commonly known as pa’a limago being sold in direct violation of the Local Fisheries Regulation 1995 (part 6) which prohibits fishing, selling or handling of crabs under 15cm.