The fish from the lagoons and reefs, which are the only products marketed on the atolls themselves, are sold on the two main Polynesian markets which are held on the island of Tahiti, in the towns of Papeete, which deals with 70% of the output, and Pirae.

At the Papeete market, the lagoon fish constituted 54% of all the fish sold in 1996, way ahead of bonito (22%) and tuna fish (11.5%).

The data giving the tonnages depending on the geographical sector from which the fish of all kinds originated show the high productive capacity of the Tuamotu atolls, which provided 42.6% of the total catch marketed. In terms of the lagoon fish alone, the atolls accounted for 90% of all the sales of this type of fish on the Papeete market.

In financial terms, this corresponds to an estimated sum of 340 800 Fr. CFP for the year 1996.
In terms of the tonnage, however, the total output of fish of all kinds has been showing a consistently downward trend, since these figures dropped from 1 952 tonnes in 1990 to 1 189 tonnes in 1996. This decrease was entirely due to a drop in the sales of lagoon fish and bonitos, which decreased by half during the period in question. On the other hand, the sales of tuna fish and other deep-sea fish (mainly "mahi mahi") are on the increase on these municipal markets.

Although lagoon fishing  tends to be mainly an alternative for unemployment or inactivity on Tahiti and Moorea, it is often a complementary activity in the atolls (where the inhabitants are also involved in copra farming, pearl farming and tourism).

The Polynesian Government aims to assist traditional lagoon and off-shore fishing, since its members are aware of the economic and social role which this activity, like copra growing, plays in the atolls.

A survey on the fishing sector has been launched in French Polynesia in order to assess the commercial potential of this sector in the Tuamotu-Gambier archipelago, in particular.

The main obstacle to the development of this sector seems to be the growing competition with the industrial deep-sea fishing companies, whose boats  (longliners, tuna boats and bonito boats) are more efficient and benefit from many financial incitements, such as special tax measures and tax-free fuel and equipment.
The National Interest Market (MIT) instituted in 1995 made it possible to set up a reliable market network, harmonise the prices and provide customers with higher quality products. This market focuses only on deep-sea fish, however, especially tuna fish.
The catch is mainly intended to be exported abroad, which has helped to improve the Territory's internal financial resources and balance the payments spent on imported goods. Despite the vast marine resources available in Polynesia, this Territory imports around 100 to 150 tonnes of fish a year, which often consist of the  "luxury varieties" (salmon, etc.) which are not to be found in these waters. Since there are no local fish processing industries on this Territory, the amount of processed, canned and otherwise preserved fish  imported is even greater, reaching a value of 378 million Fr. CFP in 1996, which corresponds to 1 560 tonnes in weight.

What are  the alternatives facing the fishing sector in the atolls?

With the admittedly rather timid attempts to develop regions such as the Eastern and North-Eastern Tuamotu islands, the atolls throughout this Territory may decide to specialise in lagoon fishing rather than developing the deep-sea market. Distinguishing in this way between the two types of catches would certainly make it possible to rule out all competition, since the lagoon produce are sold on the domestic market, and the deep-sea catches are exported abroad. The atolls with their vast potential   (72 islands and the strongly developing local market consisting of more than 200 000 inhabitants) stand to gain by developing on these lines. This technically less expensive option would pay off in the short term.

On the other hand, the Tuamotu-Gambier archipelago might also do well to consider developing complementary offshore (and even deep sea) fishing activities, using these atolls' most fully equipped harbours, such as those of Rangiroa in the Western Tuamotu and Hao in the Central Tuamotu islands. The fishing sector could benefit here from the facilities provided by the  back-up bases near the newly developed fishing centres: this would help to increase the output and restore the balance on the vast waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone, which have been practically abandoned to the Korean fishing fleet up to now.