Report on survey work to provide baseline information on the status of reef
fisheries, and to help fill the massive information gap that hinders the effective management
of reef fisheries. Surveys took place 2001, 2002 and 2008.
The Tonga NPOA (sharks) is a policy guideline that ensures conservation and management of oceanic sharks in the Kingdom’s fisheries waters. It also promotes long-term sustainability and optimum use of sharks in Tonga’s Tuna longline fishery in accordance to national development policy frameworks, and special needs and requirements to develop and commercialise its fisheries. In the medium-long term, the Plan serves to minimize any adverse environmental effects of fishing on oceanic shark species.
A high level policy document that provides guidance to the management and development of the deep water fisheries in the periods of 2017 - 2019
SPREP is leading the charge to make the Pacific Games in July in Samoa go plastic free in an awareness and outreach initiative aptly called Greening of the Games.
This dataset holds a draft report and a raw baseline data collected from a clean-up at Mulinu'u executed on the 11th May 2019 by the the Team Samoa Va'a, to contextualize solutions and interventions to address marine litter and plastic pollution.
Direct links to chart visualizations generated by the Inform portal based on data collection are also included.
The objective of this regional meeting is to build the capacity of the 14 project target countries, with an aim to build an open data community amongst the users of the national data portals and inform outputs. This is intended to improve south-south collaboration, enhance the opportunity for sustainability and increase the feeling of ownership and belonging amongst the project countries.
This will be delivered by real world application of Inform developed processes and tools, focused on a common area to all countries; protected areas.
The Bycatch Management Information System (BMIS) focuses on bycatch mitigation and management in oceanic tuna and billfish fisheries*. It is an open resource useful for fishery managers, fishers, scientists, observers, educators and anyone with an interest in fisheries management. As a reference and educational tool, the BMIS aims to support the adoption and implementation of science-based management measures so that bycatch is managed comprehensively and sustainably.
This policy applies to SPREP’s own data as well as data held by SPREP on behalf of government agencies and partners within the Pacific.
"Comparison of the average hard coral cover between the three five-year periods comprising the last 15 years (2005-09, 2010-14, 2015-19, Tab. 9.3) indicated that there was a high degree of confidence (93%) in the long-term decline, despite the uncertainty in individual yearly estimates. Further, the vast majority (90%) of this decline occurred between 2010-14 and 2015-19, suggesting that the rate of decline in hard coral cover has accelerated during the last five years"
Circular 21/150
Inform Plus proposed 5 pillars
- Component 1: Environmental Governance
- Component 2: Monitoring and field data collection for environmental standards and standardised environmental indicators
- Component 3: Data management utilising the Pacific Island Network Portal (PEP). Production of information products for decision makers based on existing data sets.
- Component 4: Enhance and expand GIS use for data collection, analysis and presentation to inform decision makers
Coral reefs in every region of the world are threatened by climate change, no matter how remote or well protected. Identifying and protecting climate refugia is a popular recommendation for coral reef management. Climate refugia are locations that maintain suitable environmental conditions for a resident species even when surrounding areas become inhospitable.
In the Pacific Islands region, fish and invertebrates (specifically shellfish) fulfill important ecological roles in coastal and oceanic habitats, and many species are targeted by fisheries, making vital contributions to food security, livelihoods, government revenue and cultural heritage. This report discusses how climate change is expected to have profound effects on the status and distribution of coastal and oceanic habitats, the fish and invertebrates they support and, as a result, the productivity of fisheries and aquaculture
Comprehensive assessment of the risks and impacts of seabed mining on marine ecosystems by Fauna and Flora International.
This project has developed sub-regional bioregionalisations for the western-south Pacific Ocean, through expert workshops and novel statistical analysis of physical and biological data. This combines approaches CSIRO developed in Australia, used in the Bay of Bengal (in collaboration with BOBLME) with similar approaches that have been used throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans to derive a single combined bioregionalisation.
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database of marine and terrestrial protected areas, updated on a monthly basis, and is one of the key global biodiversity data sets being widely used by scientists, businesses, governments, International secretariats and others to inform planning, policy decisions and management. The WDPA is a joint project between UN Environment and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation completed field research for one of the largest coral reef studies in history: the Global Reef Expedition. The Expedition travelled around the globe surveying some of the most remote reefs on the planet, conducting research to assess coral reef ecosystem health and resiliency.
The Global Reef Expedition visited many countries in the Pacific Ocean to assess the health and resiliency of their coral reef ecosystems. See links below for more information, reports and maps.
Marine pollution in the Pacific. Regional data
This list of indicators was developed through the Inform project at SPREP for use by Pacific Islands countries (PICs) to meet their national and international reporting obligations. The indicators are typically adopted by PICs for their State of Environment reports and are intended to be re-used for a range of MEA and SDG reporting targets. The indicators have been designed to be measurable and repeatable so that countries can track key aspect of environmental health over time.
This publication ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment – Guidelines for Pacific Island Countries and
Territories’ has been prepared to provide guidance on the application of SEA as a tool to support
environmental planning, policy and informed decision making. It provides background on the use and
benefits of SEA as well as providing tips and guiding steps on the process, including case studies, toolkits
and checklists for conducting an SEA in the Appendices.
UNEP Regional Seas Ports and Studies No. 136.
SPREP Reports and Studies No. 49.
UNEP 1991