UU 204

ASSESSMENT 3
CRITICAL
REFLECTIVE
WRITING PAPER

STUDENT ID: S11186309

NAME: KEVIN KAILASH KRISHNAN

VAKA LEADER: MS SEREANA BALEILEVUKA

NUMBER OF WORDS:1081
TOPIC QUESTION: Using an example of a specific ocean resource in your community
critically discuss current or future issues related to its development and how these issues are
perceived by your local community and yourself.
The sea is regarded as the earth's womb where most living and non living marine organisms live
despite multiple threats. The biggest contributors to marine threat are non other than humans.
This paper will be focusing more on the water pollution in Suva, Fiji. The resources that are
affected by over exploitation are sea Cucumbers. The main points this paper will be discussing
are the location and the resources affected, the reasons why the particular is favourable to
international interest groups and the benefits highlighted by the particular group. This paper will
also discuss on whether the people are aware about the decreasing number of sea cucumbers
together with the significance of the resource and reaction of current impact. Lastly this paper
will discuss on whether local community members are proposing alternative use of those
resources mentioned and provide recommendations that could help in protecting sea cucumbers
from extinction.

The people are dependent on the sea as a source of income, food and many more. Many people’s
lives depend on the sea not just in Fiji but all over the world. Despite all this greediness of man
still continues to destroy the sea. The resource that will be discussed is beche de mer(also
known as sea cucumber) which is a French word which translates to “sea animal.” Beche de mer
are located on the sea floor in many parts of Fiji. The reason why beche de mer is a common
interest by particular groups is because it is of high value in many countries as it is a delicacy in
many countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Chinese and many others (Purcell 2014). The
people that gain the most benefits are exporters, restaurants, farmers and companies that process
beche de mer. Also the selling of this organism is of low risk due to the huge demand by Asian
countries.

The group that has been selling beche de mer have been justifying their actions by saying that
selling them provides potential benefits such as:

 Providing Gross Domestic Product

 Earning foreign exchange
  Providing employment opportunities

These are the reasons stated by interest groups, since majority of sea cucumbers are exported it
gives the opportunity to provide GDP and earn foreign exchange to aid in economic growth. The
interest group also state that since companies need people to process the sea cucumber potential
employment opportunities are available which decreases unemployment rate and this also
provides a source of income for the fishermen but what many fail to understand is over
exploiting of sea cucumbers can be harmful. A study by University of Bremen reported help in
cleaning the marine ecosystem so it basically can be said that sea cucumbers are the vacuum
cleaners of the sea. Another study done by Steven W Purcell in 2013 states that “38% of sea
cucumber fisheries are currently over exploited (Purcell 2013). If this continues for a long period
of time this could lead to the sea cucumber’s extinction. As stated above sea cucumbers are
important as is provides income to communities locally as it is Fiji's second largest contributor in
terms of commercial fishery which is one of the reasons for overfishing of sea cucumbers. It is
also a source of food for the people of Fiji as it has a rare taste compared to other fishes.

The decreasing numbers of sea cucumbers have caused a great concern among community
members and the public. Due to this impact many villages had put strict measure on harvesting
sea cucumbers such as overfishing and harvesting of small sea cucumbers that was all done
before a “ban" was put on by the Fiji government on harvesting, selling and exporting of sea
cucumbers till 2021. Since ban was put on sea cucumbers local communities had to look for
other alternatives such as catching other types of fish and other marine resources for their
Livelihood. The ban put by the government will greatly benefit the people and most importantly
the sea cucumbers as it will allow them to reproduce and grow in number to avoid extinction but
despite strict measures put by the village chiefs and government there are still people who break
the law and harvest sea cucumbers. A report by Fiji Sun showed 30 tonnes of sea cucumber
being confiscated in Labasa which was valued around $20 million(Fiji Sun 2018). It was sad to
see that despite knowing the decreasing numbers of sea cucumbers people still harvest or export
them for easy money.
It can be said that sea cucumbers are an important resource of the sea as they clean the seas. This
means that sea cucumbers must be treated with utmost care. Although bans have been put forth
there are still some people that don not respect the law while others do it because they are
vulnerable. To conclude, there are still many problems associated with worrying number of sea
cucumbers and the numbers could get worse as the government is considering lifting the ban due
to covid 19 but although the ban is present it is not as effective as it is not being enforced the
way it should be as illegal activities related to selling and smuggling of sea cucumbers from Fiji
to the rest of the world. There is urgent need of effective policies that need to be implemented to
ensure that sea cucumbers do not go extinct.

It is recommended that harsher penalties be applied on those that sell, export and poach sea
cucumbers so people refrain from carrying out illegal acts. Heavy penalties that can be imposed
are $100,000 in fine, 10 years in prison or both. Another recommendation is random check by
the Fisheries department more frequently. This is to ensure that companies do not get into illegal
activities related to exporting, processing and s buying of sea cucumbers. Alternatives such as
seaweed can be regulated to ensure people have a source of income.
 REFERENCE

STEVEN P, 2014, VALUE, MARKET PREFERENCE AND TRADE BECHE DE MER FROM PACIFIC ISLAND
SEA CUCUMBERS, VIEWED 20TH OCTOBER 2020.

ARIETA V 2018, ‘$20 MILLION WORTH OF BECHE DE MER CONFISCATED IN LABASA, SAYS
MINISTER, FIJI SUN, 6 MAY, VIEWED OCTOBER 21ST 2020.
ELEMENTS HIGHLY PROFICIENT 3 PROFICIENT LIMITED PROFICIENCY NO PROFICIENCY
2
1 0
EMBARK Answers the Topic Partially answers topic Barely answers topic Does not answer the
question question question question
FIND AND Finds and lists at least Requirements partially Barely meets minimum Does not meet
GENERATE 5 relevant references met. 3-4 references requirements. requirements.
(other than the 1-2 references
compulsory readings).
References that are
not mentioned in the
text are not counted. 2 1 0
3
EVALUATE Incorporates Requirements are Barely meets minimum Does not meet
AND REFLECT examples of personal partially met. requirements requirement
experience/interviews
oral histories 1
3 2 0
ANALYZE AND Incorporates and Requirements are Barely meets minimum Does not meet
SYNTHESIZE critically discusses the partially met. requirements requirement
relevant literature and
other sources 2 1
3
ORGANISE Content is well Inconsistency in Content is poorly Content lacks structure
AND MANAGE structured overall structure and structured and lacks and development
development development
3 2 1 0
Communicate Within word limit (100 Does not adhere to Does not adhere to Does not adhere to
and apply below or above) ) word limit (200 more word limit (300 word word limit (400 more or
Correct spelling or below). Extensive more or below) with below) English writing
*grammar*correct spelling grammar extensive spelling too hard to understand
syntax & use of ENG syntax punctuation grammar and due to spelling grammar
VOCAB. Correct and errors. Incorrect and punctuation errors. syntax and punctuation
consistent referencing inconsistent Incorrect/no errors.
style in text and referencing style. referencing
bibliography. 1
3 2 0