Fishing is a complex topic with many species and ecosystem components as well as social, cultural, political, and economic components. Here, we focus on the defined indicator regarding tuna, considering the biomass of these pelagic fish as well as the ecosystems that support these fish. For information about coastal and nearshore fisheries, please see Regional Indicator: Coastal fish biomass.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
Inshore fish populations are complex, exist in variable
and rapidly changing ecosystems, and are harvested
and impacted by a broad range of users, making their
management complex.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
At its 14th meeting held in the Hague, the Netherlands in June 2007, the Conference of the Parties to CITES adopted decision 14.80 that directed the CITES Secretariat to seek external funding to enable a workshop to be held in the Pacific, in collaboration with appropriate regional organizations, to initiate regional cooperation on the management of sustainable fisheries for giant clams (Tridacnidae).
Report of meeting (Technical) / Secretariat of the Pacific Community)
Call Number: 333.955440995 [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-00-0406-1
Scientists have advocated for local interventions, such as creating marine protected areas and implementing fishery restrictions, as ways to mitigate local stressors to limit the effects of climate change on reef-building corals
Available online.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 30 p
Marine invasive species have received much less attention than terrestrial species worldwide. In the Pacific, the marine environment provides us with a significant part of our diet and income. Marine Managed Areas focus on protecting these important resources for livelihood purposes, biodiversity and ecosystem function, tourism and many other benefits. Although invasive species management is more difficult in the marine environment, it is not something we can neglect, and the efforts we put in need to increase. This guide seeks to provide some options for this management.
Tongas marine ecosystems are worth at least TOP 47 million per year, exceeding the countrys total export value. We are strongly committed to sustaining these values to build an equitable and prosperous blue economy.
Available online
Call Number: [EL],363.94 MAR
ISBN/ISSN: 978 82 7701 174 5
Physical Description: 84 p
This report outlines key human-mangrove relationships in Moata'a, an urban village settlement in Apia, Samoa with the aim to provide an understanding of the relationship between the Moata'a community and their mangrove environment that will inform future development, conservation and climate adaptation activities in the area.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 76 p.
This paper blends conservation science with legal and policy analysis to assess the primary threats to global shark populations and explores innovative approaches to conservation building upon the philosophy of Earth law, including the Rights pf Nature legal framework.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 18 p.
Jonathan Sauer (1961) remarked, in his Coastal Plant Geography of Mauritius, that the chance to study the coastal vegetation there was like being "admitted to a field worker's paradise"
and stressed that "most tropical coasts are beautiful and exciting, particularly to people concerned with natural processes . . .." The same can certainly be said for the tropical coasts of the often Edenized islands of the Pacific Ocean. Their "beauty and excitement" is considerably enhanced,
Coral atolls are natural laboratories within which to examine ecological processes (Sachet, 1967; Lee, 1984). They are often isolated, in some cases little disturbed, and have a geologically recent history of terrestrial plant colonisation. Reef islands around the rim of most atolls are Holocene in age. They are composed of biogenic skeletal sediments and have developed since reef growth caught up with sea level which stabilized after post-glacial sea-level rise. Plant colonisation of most of these islands must have occurred over a period of no more than 6000 years.
In a typical High Island coral reef complex of French Polynesia (transect of Tiahura, Hoorea Island, Society Archipelago!, 73 species of decapod Reptantia and stomatopod crustaceans were collected. Over 9 stations localised along the transect, 3 different units of hard coral substrate of simi1ar volume (about 17 litres each), were sampled at each station. The results are discussed from two aspects : the first shows that at least 50 carcinologic species occur within the cavitary biotopes ; 16 species (mainly Xanthid crabs), represent more than 90% of all collected individuals.
Recent studies have shown that many coral reefs are capable of
yielding a total fish catch of 18- 24 T.Km-2 (Hill, 1978; Alcala,
1981; Munro, 1987). There are, however, no estimates for the
productivity and yield of fishes associated with coral reefs in
French Polynesia. This study was designed to determine the fisheries yield from a part of the fringing reef on the island of Moorea, French Polynesia.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 22 p.
The conservation status, ecology, and cultural importance of sea turtles at the three Polynesian atolls of Tokelau are presented. The green turtle, Chelonia mydas. is the most common species, occurring as a migrant breeder mostly during September through November. The hawks- bill, Eretmochelvs imbricata. is present in small numbers at all three atolls, but nesting is only known at Nukunonu Atoll. A third species, the loggerhead, Caretta caretta. has also been recorded on rare occasions.
Reef coral collections from American Samoa are in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and in the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, W. Germany. The author has a collection of 790 coral specimens for a total of 1547 items known to be from American Samoa.
A total of 177 species (including 3 species of non-scleractinian corals) belonging to 48 genera and subgenera (including the genera Millepora and Heliopora) known to date are listed with data as of frequency of occurrence and habitat.
Available online
The Tokelau Islands consist of three atolls (Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo) approximately 500 km north of Western Samoa. Their numerous islets are formed mainly of coral sand and rubble with no standing freshwater. Sixty-one plant species have been recorded, 13 of these being introduced and 10 being adventives. There are three vegetation zones, the beach, the beach-crest, and the interior coconut/fern zone with the physiognomy of a humid tropical forest. Marine invertebrates have not been studied.
Species-numbers relationships in the McKean Island assemblage
of reef-building corals were investigated to discover how they changed along environmental gradients of the reef. For the purposes of the study, two gradients were identified a complex depth gradient and a wave exposure gradient.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 42 p.
It has been over twenty years since UNCLOS came into existence and twelve years since it came into force, in addition to fourteen years since the historic "Earth Summit" was convened in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, yet the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are finding it extremely difficult to deal with many cross-cutting and multiple issues relating to ocean management. The challenge for the Pacific SIDS is clear, successive international, regional and national initiatives
Conservation biology involves protection and management of biodiversity (Metfe and Carroll 1994). This integrated discipline requires both an understanding of an ecosystem and its associated threats, as well as an understanding of the management of the system as a resource. In order to
develop management techniques that can limit resource degradation, we need a clear understanding of the role of threats to the resources. The focus of this dissertation is assessing threats to resources, using coral reefs as a model
system.
This report lias been prepared on behalf of the Environment Service, Cook Islands as part of an ongoing monitoring programme of reef health of the fringing reef of Rarotonga. The
initial work was earned out in 2000 and this is the first subsequent sampling and report since that baseline study.
Available online|Report for the Environment Service, Tu'anga Taporoporo, Cook Islands
Call Number: EL]
Physical Description: 21 p.
Millions of visitors to public aquariums and thousands of snorkelers and divers across the globe are amazed by the diversity of life on coral reefs. Looking to replicate
this marine wonderland, an increasing number of them have
created a "living aquarium" at home, unaware of the impact this
is having on species and the lives of people in far-flung regions.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 1 Page