The Pacific Island region's coastal fisheries produce a little over 100,000 tonnes offish and seafood products per year. They are very significant in providing food, income and jobs for Pacific Islanders, and further contribute to Pacific Island economies through import substitution and generation of
The framework for management of the ocean and coasts of the Pacific Islands region has been evolving since the early 1970s when Pacific Island countries played a significant role in the
Fiji has a natural resource-dependent economy. The pressures on the coastal environment (terrestrial and inshore marine) are therefore significant (IMR 2003: Levett et al. 2004). The most influential report on the state of the environment (Watling and Chape 1992) emphasizes the importance of a growing population and increasing levels of urbanisation and industrialisation as major causes of environmental degradation.
This is a report on research conducted by the author under the auspices of research funding provided by The University of Adelaide and the International Waters Project (IWP)1 of the
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP). The focus of the research project has been to examine how existing arrangements of and approaches to governance affect the management of coastal resources and environments in three South Pacific countries: Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. It is not a comparative study.
Available electronically
The International Waters Project (IWP)1 is a 7-year, USD 12 million initiative concerned with management and conservation of marine, coastal and freshwater resources in the Pacific islands region, and is specifically intended to address the root causes of environmental degradation related to trans-boundary issues in the Pacific. The project includes two components: an integrated coastal and watershed management component, and an oceanic
During a review of the priority environmental concerns in Vanuatu (Tapisue et al. 2003) sustainable coastal fisheries were highlighted as an area for action under the IWP. IWP Vanuatu, in close consultation with the National Task Force, screened a number of potential communities to host the IWP pilot project. Coastal resource management has increasingly become a priority in many communities, but is sometimes hampered due to the
lack of cooperation within and among communities, often as a result of land boundary and village leadership disputes (Johannes and Hickey 2004)..
Before making a commitment to a given area, programs such as IWP must collect information on local institutions, community history, social and political structures, livelihood strategies
and opportunities for. and constraints to achieving program activities. This information provides insights that can help in dealing with specific local issues and in identifying key
issues, as well as factors for improved management of marine resources.
Available electronically
Call Number: 333.784 4 KIN (EL)
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0355-0
This is a report on research conducted by the author under research funding provided by The University of Adelaide and the International Waters Project of the Secretariat of the Pacific
Regional Environmental Progrannne (SPREP).1 The focus of the research project has been to examine how existing arrangements of and approaches to governance affect the management
of coastal resources and environments in three Pacific countries: Fiji. Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. It is not a comparative study; tins report focuses on Vanuatu.
Available electronically
Vanuatu was first visited by Europeans in the early 17th century. James Cook explored the islands in 1774, giving them the name "New Hebrides", which lasted until independence on 30 July 1980. The first European settler was a cattle rancher who arrived in 1854. He was soon followed by cotton growers from Australia, and later by the French, who outnumbered the British three to one by the mid-1880s.
Available electronically
Call Number: 338.3727 AMO (EL)
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0372-7
An ecological baseline survey of the Amal/Crab Bay Tabu Eria (AKTE) was performed between November 2004 and May 2005. Resources were surveyed with the assistance of Community Facilitators (CFs), and under the direction of the AKTE Management Committee (MC); surveyed resources included land crabs, terrestrial flora, mangroves, avifauna,mammals, finfish, shellfish, turtles and dugongs. Available literature regarding these resources and their distrubution within Vanuatu was reviewed and summarised, and traditional and local knowledge documented, including vernacular names for resources.
The ability of a government to provide useful and appropriate services that support and guide sustainable coastal resources development, management, protection and conservation is determined largely by three factors: (1) the clarity of the institutional roles and mandates given to the various government agencies concerned, (2) the appropriateness of the structure created to fill those roles and carry out mandates, and (3) the human and other resources that are applied to the required tasks.
Available electronically
Call Number: 333.917 17 MCC (EL)
Sustainable costal fisheries are the prime focal area for Niue IWP, and are being addressed through a pilot project in the adjacent villages of Alofi North and Makefu, on the island's west coast. Along with other villages, these two identified the problems associated with their use of the coastal fishery and the results were published in a report "Participatory Situation Analysis: Summary Report of Village Consultations in Niue " (Niue IWP 2003). As with other Pacific Islands. Niues people feel their coastal waters are not as productive as they were in former years.
Generally, the introduction to community monitoring commenced with a brief presentation of the concepts and use of monitoring data (see Appendix 3 for an outline of the presentation material), which led into the proposed methods that would be used in the demonstration in the pilot villages, focusing on the target species of concern that have been already identified
The purpose of the IWP in Yap is to "promote sustainable coastal fisheries via a system of marine protected areas established and maintained through a collaboration of traditional resource owners, government and non-government organizations, and other stakeholders in one management framework" (Anon 2002). The use of MP As is being advocated around the world, particularly the developing world, in part because MP As are relatively uncomplicated to implement compared to technically demanding yield-based management measures such as quotas.
The objectives of this project are to prepare and conduct an ecological baseline survey of the nearshore reef fisheries at proposed MPA sites in each of four IWP communities in Yap. prepare a monitoring plan and support the involvement of the community in baseline assessment and monitoring work.
Available online only.
Call Number: 333.91714 [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0365-9
Physical Description: iv, 34p. ; 29cm.
The climate of Niue is hot and moderately wet in the summer months (October to April), and drier and cooler in the winter months (May to September). Annual rainfall averages around
2000 mm but varies widely from year to year (from a high of 3175 mm in 1924 to a low of 1070 mm in 1931). Maximum daily temperatures vary seasonally from 27°-31° C. Niue lies
well within the tropical cyclone belt and significant cyclones have occurred with an average 10-year frequency. More recent cyclones include Ofa in 1990, with recorded wind speeds of
The baseline assessment provides a current status report on the coastal marine resources of Niue. It offers recommendations for the management options available to address the concerns of local villagers with respect to deterioration of coastal resources. The lessons learned from the pilot project are expected to have national importance and should provide a guide to the best approach to sustainable fisheries management for all of Niue.
Available online only.
Call Number: 338.372
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0362-8