"Ungakoa" - Fishing for a rare delicacy in the South Pacific

“Ungakoa” or “ugako” — here referred to as ungakoa — is a local seafood specialty in the Cook Islands and Niue. Ungakoa represents a group of sessile gastropods, more commonly known as vermetids or worm-shells. Their vernacular name comes from their worm-like tube shells, which may be regularly or irregularly coiled. The shells are usually cemented to hard substrates (Fig. 1). During the Pacific Regional Oceanic and Coastal Fisheries Programme (PROCFish-C), a number of rural coastal fisheries communities and their fishing grounds were surveyed in 17 Pacific Island countries to assess the current status and usage of reef and lagoon resources. Structured questionnaires were used to collect fisheries data from female and male fishers of invertebrates and finfish. Socioeconomic baseline data and seafood consumption information were also collected for households. (Socioeconomic surveys show the types of fisheries that exist and the extent to which these have developed in response to natural habitat endowment, subsistence needs, consumer preferences and income opportunities.)