79

Report of a household fisheries and

dietary survey October - November 2000

Kelvin Passfield, Mike King, Mulipola Atonio Mulipola & Etuati Ropeti *

Introduction
Samoa consists of two larger main islands, Upolu (1108 sq. km.) and Savaii (1695 sq. km.) as
well as seven small islands, all located in a relatively small area of the Pacific Ocean,
between 13o 25'S -14o 05'S and 171o 23'W-142o 48'W. Owing to the proximity of near
neighbors, it has the smallest Exclusive Economic Zone in the Pacific, at only 130,000 sq.
km. The present population is around 175,000 (Upolu, 132,000. Savaii 43,000), with an
urban population in the Apia area of 39,000.

Fisheries play an extremely important role in the economy of the islands. They are a major
earner of foreign revenue for the country, with reported fish exports in the year 2000 of
around 4500 metric tons (mt) worth SAT40 million)1. This is equivalent to between 60% and
70% of the total value of all Samoan exports.

Apart from their commercial importance, the fisheries of Samoa are also of major subsistence
importance, contributing significantly to the health and nutrition of the people. This paper
documents the important marine resources, fishing methods, and fisheries habitats, and shows
to what level these are significant to the people. It places fresh seafood consumption into
perspective with regard to consumption of other sources of animal protein such as meat and
canned foods, and allows a value to be estimated for the subsistence resources.

Information for the report was obtained by conducting a survey of 5% of the population from
a cross section of villages over a three-week period in late 2000. Some comparative
historical information was available from several earlier surveys conducted within the past 25
years2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

A stratified sampling strategy was adopted in order to allow more effort to be expended in
surveying households more likely to engage in fishing. One major factor affecting fishing
and fish consumption was likely to be the distance of the village from the coast. It was also
possible that seafood catches may vary by coastal habitat, e.g. mangroves, lagoons, and cliffs.
The survey was designed to take these possible variations into account.

Samoan village demography

The population of Samoa is spread throughout 21,424 households in 326 villages on four
islands. About two thirds of these villages are on the island of Upolu, and one third on
Savaii, with only a small number of villages on the other two inhabited islands, Manono and
Apolima. The Statistics Department classifies about 18% of these villages, containing around
22% of the total number of households as urban.

*K. Passfield is the Fisheries Advisor; Dr. King is the Team leader for the AusAid fisheries project, M.A.
Mulipola is the Principal Fisheries Officer and E. Ropeti is Senior Fisheries Officer, Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry, Fisheries & Meteorology
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The number of households per village varied from a low of four to a high of 575, with an
average of 65. The average number of people per household in 2000 was 8.29. This equates
to a total population of approximately 175,000. Table 1 gives a breakdown of Samoan
villages by strata.

Location Upolu Savaii Total

Villages Households Villages Households Villages Households
Cliff 0 0 19 971 19 971
Inland 80 5371 18 749 98 6120
Lagoon 87 5502 49 2609 136 8111
Mangrove 57 5374 16 848 73 6222
TOTAL 224 16247 102 5177 326 21424
Table 1. Numbers of Samoan villages and households by strata

Household survey methodology

Survey design
The sampling methodology was designed over a period of several months by project and
counterpart staff in early to mid 2000, with additional advice sought from the SPC Statistical
Unit in Noumea. The questionnaire was designed by Fisheries Division and Project staff, in
collaboration with the Samoa Statistics Department. Careful consideration was given to
designing the questions in a way that would facilitate the collection of useable data from the
households.

Village and household selection

Using information from the Agricultural Census 198910, a fishing index was calculated for
each village based on the number of fishing trips per week in the village. This index was
used to stratify villages for sampling, so that less effort was afforded strata where fishing was
rare, and greater effort was placed in villages where fishing was common. Villages were
randomly selected within each stratum. The final number of villages selected was 66,
consisting of 40 for Upolu, and 26 for Savaii, which represented 20% of all Samoan villages.

In order to further reduce the number of households to be surveyed to a more manageable

sample, the number of households to sample in each village was determined as follows.
• Less than 50 households, sample 50% of all households.
• Between 50 and 99 households, sample 20% of all households.
• More than 100 households, sample 10% of all households.
This resulted in 1092 households in total, or 5% of total Samoan households. Figure 1 shows
the distribution of the 66 villages around Samoa.

Enumerators were left to select individual households such that the required number of
households in each village was sampled. For example, if 20% of households in a village
were to be sampled, enumerators would select approximately every fifth household.

Population
The total number of households surveyed was 1092, consisting of 689 in Upolu and Manono,
and 403 in Savaii. The total number of people included in the households was 9090, made up
of 5818 from Upolu, including Manono, and 3272 for Savaii.
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Appropriate weights were applied to raise all figures obtained for the sampled population to
figures representing the total Samoan population. Table 2 shows the figures obtained for the
sampled population, as well as the raised figures.

Figure 1. Map of Samoa showing locations of surveyed villages.

Island Sampled no. Raised no. of hh Sampled Raised Av. Household

of hh population population population
Upolu 689 16,223 5,818 131,866 8.13
Savaii 403 5,240 3,272 42,734 8.16
Samoa 1,092 21,463i 9,090 174,600 8.14
Table 2. Population estimates based on the survey results. Note that there is a slight variation from the number of
households reported in Table 1. This is probably due to rounding errors when using P. of S. weights for each
village.

12000
Male
10000
Female
Number of fishers

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
Mangrove Lagoon Inland Cliff Total
Village location

Figure 2. Number of male and female fishers in each stratum

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Fishing activities
The survey indicated that there are 8,377 fishing households in Samoa. Within these
households, there are 11,700 fishers, made up of 9,600 males and 2,100 females. Figure 2
shows the number of fishers for each stratum for this survey.

Fishing methods
Figure 3 shows the percentage use of the various fishing methods, both by time spent fishing,
and the total number of trips. The most common fishing method both by time spent and
number of trips is diving and spearing.

50
Hours
45
Trips
40
35
30
Per cent

25
20
15
10
5
0
Diving or Gillnet Hook and Gleaning Others Trolling Castnet
Spearing Line
Fishing method

Figure 3. Percentage of each fishing method by number of trips and by total hours

On reef
Outside reef
11%
18%

Mangroves
2%

Shoreline
11%

Lagoon
58%

Figure 4. Reported percentage of fishing trips in each type of fishing area

Fishing location
The proportion of total fishing trips undertaken in each of the fishing zones is shown in
Figure 4. Inshore fishing trips comprise 82% of the total. Only 18% of trips are undertaken
outside the reef. Most of these are likely to be diving and spearing on the reef edge, or
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fishing close to the reef from canoes, as very few fishers have access to boats that can safely
fish far offshore. Note that Figure 4 represents the frequency of fishing trips, and not the time
spent in each location. Time spent in each location is shown in Table 3.

Catch and effort

The total seafood catch reported from the survey was 7169 tons. The average CPUE for all
fishing was 2.05kg/person/hr fished. Table 4 gives the breakdown for the seafood catch and
the CPUE for the different strata. This shows that 29% of the seafood caught is classed as
offshore. This includes bottom fish caught over the reef, as well as tuna and other pelagic
species. Villages in the Fisheries Project catch a higher proportion of offshore species,
reflecting the fact that they spend more time fishing outside the reef than do Non-Project
villages (Table 3). This could be attributable to the efforts of the Village Fishery
Management Advisory Committees (VFMACs), to shift effort from the depleted lagoon
resources to the offshore resources11.

Village Strata Mangrove Shoreline Lagoon On reef Outside reef

Inland 0.8 2.7 59 12 25.6
Cliff 0.0 16.0 57.1 3.0 23.9
Mangrove 2.7 9.5 51.3 10.3 26.2
Lagoons 0.6 11.5 44.8 12.5 30.8
Upolu 1.5 9.9 51.1 12 25.6
Savaii 0.7 11.5 41.4 9.8 36.7
Project 0.7 10.3 38.2 15.6 35.1
Non project 1.5 11.2 51.3 9.5 26.4
Samoa total 1.3 10.3 48.3 11.4 28.7
Table 3. Percentage of total time spent at each fishing location

Village Inshore Offshore Crustacean Mollusks Other Seaweed CPUE

Strata fish fish Inverts kg/hr
Inland 59.8 12.2 4.7 16.9 6.4 0.0 2.25
Cliff 60.2 11.1 0.7 25.9 2.1 0.0 1.63
Mangrove 46.0 34.2 2.3 11.7 5.5 0.4 2.12
Lagoons 41.0 29.4 3.0 17.9 8.2 0.5 2.00
Upolu 46.4 28.7 3.2 13.2 7.9 0.6 1.99
Savaii 40.8 29.6 2.2 22.4 4.9 0.1 2.19
Project 32.9 42.6 1.5 14.2 8.0 0.8 2.80
Non project 50.6 22.3 3.6 17.0 6.4 0.2 1.77
Samoa total 44.8 29.0 2.9 15.9 7.0 0.4 2.05
Table 4. Seafood catch (% of total) by broad category of seafood, and total CPUE

Villages with management plans developed under the Project initiated community based
fisheries management programme reported a catch rate of 2.8kg/hr, 40% higher than the
average, and 55% higher than that for villages without management plans, as can be seen in
Figure 5. This may be attributable to the fact that these villages are effectively managing
their own fisheries, but may also be due to other factors, such as villages with the most
productive marine areas seeing good reason in joining the village fishery management project
in order to maintain what they had.
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Women's fishing
The survey found that 18% of all fishers are females, responsible for about 10% of the total
fishing effort. The average trip length for women was three hours, compared with four hours
for men. Observations in the villages suggest that women mainly glean for invertebrates
along the shoreline. Exceptions are women diving, sometimes from canoes, for invertebrates
such as sea cumbers, jellyfish, sea urchins, and for seaweed.

2.5
CPUE km/hr

1.5

0.5

0
Inland Cliff Mangrove Lagoon Upolu Savaii Project Non project Samoa total
villages villages villages villages
Stratum

Figure 5: Catch per unit effort (kg/person/hr) for each stratum.

Despite the lower effort expended by women, it is likely that they harvest around 23% of the
total weight of seafood, assuming they are responsible for collecting most of the shell fish
and other invertebrates harvested in the villages. Women are also the major contributors to
post harvest processing of both men and women’s catch.

Subsistence consumption

Seafood
Annual subsistence consumption of seafood was estimated to be 9,971 tons for 2001. This
was determined by multiplying the total number of meals of seafood consumed by a portion
size of 366g per adult, and 188g per child under 15yrs. This portion size was ascertained by a
separate questionnaire survey of Fisheries Division staff, and refers to the whole weight of
the fish (not flesh only). It is assumed that most of the fish consumed that was in excess of
the village catch was purchased through commercial outlets, and came from bycatch from the
commercial longline fishery. The survey indicated that 7169 tons of this seafood was caught
in the villages. The different seafood varieties consumed are shown in Table 5.

Strata Crustacean Mollusk Other Inverts Seaweed Lagoon fish Red fish Pelagic fish
Cliff 4.6 7.9 4.9 0.1 28.4 46.2 7.9
Inland 7.3 6.0 6.4 3.1 24.0 35.3 17.9
Lagoon 5.1 8.3 8.0 1.8 30.9 38.8 7.1
Mangrove 5.3 7.6 8.4 3.1 32.1 36.3 7.1
Savaii 5.1 7.7 5.8 0.4 29.3 44.6 7.1
Upolu 5.9 7.4 8.1 2.9 29.4 35.6 10.6
Samoa 5.7 7.5 7.6 2.4 29.4 37.5 9.9
Table 5. Percentage of total meals consumed containing various seafood groups
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Figure 6 shows the percentage of total meals made up by each of the various seafood groups
for all strata combined. Finfish comprise approximately 77% of all seafood consumed, with
invertebrates and seaweed making up the other 23%. The only notable variation across strata
is shown in the inland villages, where pelagic fish comprised 18% of the total.

Of the inland villages surveyed 44% were in or near the Apia urban area. It is therefore
likely that pelagic fish are more commonly eaten in inland villages because inland villagers
are more likely to purchase their fish from the Apia Municipal fish market, where pelagic
species are generally cheaper to buy than reef or lagoon fish.

Seafood consumption can be further broken down within these larger groups. Figure 7 shows
the nature of consumption in more specific categories. The most commonly eaten seafood
species are surgeonfishes, locally known as pone Ctenochaetus striatus and alogo
Acanthurus lineatus.

40
35
30
25
Per cent

20
15
10
5
0
Cruastacea Mollusc Other Seeweed Lagoon fish Reef fish Pelagic fish
Invertebrates
Seafood group

Figure 6: Percentage of total meals containing various seafood groups, Samoa

In the inland stratum, tuna is the single most common type of fish eaten, the only stratum
where surgeon fish do not dominate. Other pelagic fish are also more commonly eaten in the
inland villages, adding further support to the theory that these villages obtain most of their
seafood from the fish market where bycatch from the longline fishery is sold.

Jellyfish (alualu), which would be considered by many nationalities as a somewhat unusual

food, was reported to be eaten at a surprisingly high number of occasions, and in fact more
often than giant clams (faisua).

Note that snapshot surveys of this nature are unlikely to pick up any seasonal variation in
catches. This survey was undertaken in October/November, and seafood types that were
reported to be consumed rarely may be consumed more often at other times. For example,
scad consumption was fairly low for this survey, whereas if the survey had been conducted in
March/April, when atule are abundant, it may have produced higher figures. Another
seasonal species is palolo, reported to be eaten by 60% of all households, but only once or
twice per year, in October and November.
 86

12

10
% of total seafood meals

h
em s h

f/w int c h
er

co fish

pr s
sh

bb e t

r r ve
sn h

r p sh

dr er
ay
s

ns
se ns

he sea r

lo
pa ror

ut
ro a

oc i l
se rabs

lo s
r
d

oo d

je d

a t la m
te
pe

ic

fis
bu

s
n

is
co

a
a
l

he m
gg

lo
ro
fi

ga lyfi
tfi

he tfi

aw
gi

al
or
tu

ul

r l we

sc
sn

bs
ag
itf
pe

ap

to
on

ot um
ck

pa
lt
o t b iv
ur

f
c
m

ot g o a

tri
rro

ee
el

l
ra
e

a
rg

ra

er
r
ag
su

he
ot
Seafood type

Figure 7. Percentage of meals containing specific seafood types, Samoa.

Seafood consumption per capita

Figure 8 shows the per capita consumption of seafood for the various strata, with 57kg being
the overall average for Samoa1. This is made up of approximately 44kg of fish, and 13kg of
invertebrates and seaweed. This is much higher than the world average per capita
consumption of fish of around 12kg2.

In 1991 it was estimated that fish consumption per capita in Upolu was approximately 21.5
kg per capita, i.e. a subsistence catch of 2,260 mt for the year5. The subsistence catch for
Savaii has likewise been estimated at around 1400 mt, or 35 kg per capita, for the same
period6,7. The total subsistence catch was estimated at 4,600 tons in 1989, or around 30 kg
per capita, by collecting data from school students issued with a one week fishing diary4.

80
70
60
Kg/person/year

50
40
30
20
10
0
Samoa Cliff Inland Lagoon Mangrove Savaii Upolu
Strata

Figure 8: Seafood consumption per capita for each stratum

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The higher per capita fish consumption reported from this survey (57 kg) compared to earlier
surveys may be partly attributed to the large increase in the commercial longline fishery, and
the associated influx of bycatch to the local market. Although high, this consumption rate is
not inconsistent with other per capita fish consumption reported for the Pacific3. As would
be expected, inland villages consume significantly less seafood than coastal villages.

Other sources of animal protein

In order to determine the relative importance of seafood in the Samoan diet, the survey also
gathered information on consumption of other major sources of animal protein. Overall
canned fish consumption for Samoa was 14kg per capita, tinned meat consumption was 5.7kg
per capita and consumption of other fresh or frozen meat, including mutton flaps, chicken,
sausages, salted beef etc was 94km per capita.

The inland stratum shows the highest consumption of other meats. Rural inland villages are
likely to replace fishing activities with farming activities and rely more on local produce such
as chicken, pork and occasionally beef than on seafood.

Figure 9 shows the total combined protein consumption (excluding such items as eggs and
milk not covered in the survey) for each stratum. This shows an overall figure of 171kg per
capita for Samoa. Approximately one third of this comes from seafood. The figures are fairly
uniform across all strata though the cliff villages do appear to be a little lower than the others.
This may be due to small sample size (2villages, 22 households).

200
180
160
Tin meat
Kg/person/year

140
120 Tin fish
100 Meat
80 Sea food
60
40
20
0
Samoa Cliff Inland Lagoon Mangrove
Strata

Figure 9: Total annual protein consumption per capita by strata

Values of marine resources

Allocating a dollar value to the consumed seafood allows for an approximation of the value
of marine resources to the village economy to be made. A comparison can also be made with
the value of other sources of animal protein in the household economy. The following figures
are used to calculate these values:
Seafood – An average value of ST16.29 per kg of consumed seafood was calculated, based
on the proportions of different seafood types reported to be consumed and a weighted average
price for seafood in the Apia markets.
Canned fish – This was valued at establishes an approximate value of the ST4.40 per kg,
based on ST2 for a 3453g tin
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Canned meat – This was valued at ST15.40 per kg based on an average price of ST7.00 per
450g for the cheaper brands.
Other meat – An average value for meat of ST4.69 per kg based on 362 instances where
value and weight of meat consumed were given in the survey, were given, with the 10 highest
and 10 lowest excluded at outliers.

Figure 10 shows the relative values of these commodities as well as the total weights
consumed. Note that preliminary figures available from the Statistic Department for canned
fish imports for the year 2000 are about 30% below those obtained from the survey.

90
Value(millio tala)
80
Wt (tons x 1000)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Seafood Meat Tin fish Tin meat
Animal protein source

Figure 10: Value in millions of tala and weight in thousands of tons for the
major sources of animal protein

Discussion and conclusion

The household survey has documented the importance of seafood in the diet of the Samoan
people. It establishes an approximate value of the consumed seafood of over ST60 million
per year. When added to the value of fishery exports the gross value of Samoa's marine
resources is around ST100 million per year.

The village level fishers harvest seafood weighing 7169 tons, valued at approximately ST145
million. This fishery can be considered to be the most important component of Samoa's
fisheries to the Samoan economy. The cost of harvesting the approximately ST145 million
worth of seafood is low, with labour being the most significant input. In comparison the cost
of harvesting the ST40 million of exported tuna is probably around ST22 million, half of it
leaves the country to pay for imports for the industry such as fuel, bait, fishing gear as well as
loan servicing.

The value of the seafood to the health of consumers is well documented. The high per capita
consumption of fresh seafood in Samoa contributes towards keeping the villagers healthy,
saving the country money on health associated costs. The most common fishing methods
used are those that require a minimal financial outlay for fishing gear such at boats, nets, etc.
These methods include diving and spearing and gleaning. The most popular areas for fishing,
again, are those for which a boat is not required, i.e. lagoons.
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Considerable time is spent fishing outside the reef. It would be hoped this will in the future,
through prudent village-based management relieving pressure on inshore resources. The
Fisheries Division can continue to assist by making village fishers more aware of the
vulnerability of inshore resources and at the same time increasing their ability to harvest
pelagic resources outside the reef through training.

Of the 55 coastal villages and 927 coastal households included in the survey 17 villages
containing 303 households had fisheries management plans developed with Fisheries Project
assistance. These villages had a catch rate 55% higher than villages without management
plans. This suggests that the management plans have had a positive impact on fisheries in
these villages, though it may be that those villages that have adopted management were
already blessed with more abundant marine resources and thus were more receptive to
improved management.

Household fisheries surveys such as this are expensive in terms of labour and associated
costs. They can however give an indication of the value of subsistence fisheries as well as
provide an indication of the proportion contributed by seafood to the overall subsistence
protein consumption of the country. Because of the costs involved, particularly in terms of
manpower, they are likely to be repeated only every 3 to 5 years, and it would be useful to
obtain some information in these intervening years.

An alternative method to collect subsistence fisheries data, which has been trialed on several
occasions, is the use of school students4,1,2. Further consideration should be given to using
this method in future, as it can provide a substantial amount of data at relatively low cost, on
an annual or even quarterly basis. It has the added advantage that it can be used as a teaching
tool to raise awareness about marine resources in school age children. Considerable
planning, time, and effort would be required to initiate such a programme, and get it included
into the schools regular curriculum. After this initial push, it should require less effort to
maintain than a nationwide household survey.

Finally it should be noted that this was a survey based on respondents' recall of their fishing
activities and seafood consumption patterns, rather than on direct measurements such as creel
surveys or weighing food items to be consumed. Information contained in the report should
be viewed with this in mind. However, people's knowledge of their own practices and habits
should not be underestimated and may in fact prove more accurate in the long term than other
methods of data collection such as 'snapshot' creel surveys and household diaries.

References
1 Watt P. and S. Moala. 2001. Estimate of rejection in the Samoa tuna fishery, 2000.
Report prepared under the AusAID supported fisheries project. GRM International, Apia.
2 Statistics Department, undated. Fishery Catch Assessment Survey, 1978.
3 Zann, L.P., L. Bell and T. Sua 1984. A preliminary survey of the inshore fisheries of
Upolu Island, Western Samoa. Institute of Marine Resources, USP, Suva.
4 King, M. 1989. Fisheries research and stock assessment in Western Samoa. FAO
Terminal Report, TCP/SAM/8852: (draft). FAO, Rome
5 Zann, L. 1995. The Inshore Resources of Upolu, Western Samoa. Coastal Inventory and
Fisheries Database. A report prepared for the AusAID supported Fisheries Extension
and Training Project. IDSS/
6 Statistics Department, 2000. Demographic and Vital Statistics Survey, 2000. Govt. of
Samoa.
 90

7 Statistics Department, 2000. 1999 Census of Agriculture. Govt. of Samoa.

8 Note that there is a slight variation from the number of households reported in Table 1.
This is probably due to rounding errors when using the P. of S. weights for each village.
9 Passfield, K., A. Mulipola and S. Vaofusi. 1999. The outer reef slope fishery profile.
Report prepared under the AusAID supported fisheries project. GRM International, Apia.
10 The seafood weight referred to here is equivalent live weight. The actual amount of flesh
eaten would be approximately 70% of this, or 40kg per capita.
11 King, M. 1995. Fisheries biology, assessment and management. Fishing News Books,
London
12 Coyne, T. 1994. The effect of urbanisation and western diet on the health of Pacific
island populations.