Despite the large number of islands within its Exclusive Economic Zone, Solomon Islands has a relatively limited amount of coral reef to support inshore marine fisheries. The nation's population is growing rapidly and continues to depend heavily on inshore marine resources, particularly finfish, for subsistence. In the past decade, there have been substantial exports of bêche-de-mer
(processed sea cucumber), trochus shell, pearl oyster shell, green snail shell, turtle shell and crocodile skin. In late 1993, export of turtle shell and crocodile skin was banned in response to an obvious need for the conservation of these species. The export of pearl oyster shell was also prohibited in late 1993, to foster the development of aquaculture, by improving the supply of wild
spat and by ensuring that there are sufficient numbers of wild oysters to provide broodstock for future hatcheries. Since 1986, there has been active research in Solomon Islands on the aquaculture of giant clams to improve their future export value and provide opportunities to reseed denuded reefs. Simple controls, e.g. minimum and maximum size limits, have been placed on
the harvest of several non finfish species, and closed seasons have been self-imposed on sea cucumber and trochus by some communities. Increased use of self-imposed regulations by customary owners and a variety of conservative common-sense management measures would help to ensure that the stocks of the main export commodities, such as sea cucumber, trochus and green snail, provide sustainable and lucrative harvests in the future.
