Thematic Area

The aim of the present report is to provide a comparative assessment of commonly used pelagic sampling methods. We do this by undertaking a qualitative, yet comprehensive, review of the published literature to identify their potential advantages, limitations, and their relevance to monitoring efforts. A ‘silver-bullet’ approach to pelagic monitoring likely does not exist, nor is necessarily feasible. Instead, this comparative assessment provides a blueprint for guiding sampling activities in the context of pelagic monitoring efforts.

This report presents the results of the 2016 Funafuti Community-Based Ridge-to-Reef (R2R) Rapid Biodiversity Assessment (BIORAP) of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES), hereafter referred to as the BIORAP. In this context the Tuvaluan translation for BES is “meaola mo vaega mea aoga kia tatou i te fenua mo te tai” (literally “living things and those things that are useful to us from our land and sea.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) is in a naturally ironpoor region in the equatorial central Pacific. The main introduction of iron to this environment is from maritime debris, especially shipwrecks and anchor gear, and is linked to proliferation of turf algae and benthic bacterial communities, and the formation of degraded ‘black reefs’...

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An expedition in 2002 to the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in the Republic of Kiribati documented an extensive and delicate community of staghorn and tabular Acropora colonies...

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This report was a collaboration Science and Conservation of Fish Aggregations, University of Hong Kong, Fiji Ministry of Fisheries, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the University of British Columbia (Canada).We conducted a seafood VCA for the coral reef grouper (Epinephelidae) fishery in Fiji with the goal of understanding the distribution of value gained from grouper along the trade chain, from fisher to consumer.

This report updates the 1992 State of Environment report with the latest findings from the Marshall Islands. Environmental reporting is defined as a requirement for RMI in the ‘Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination (OEPPC) Act 2003’. The present report results from a concerted effort of all national stakeholders with OEPPC being the lead agency working with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in gathering information from national stakeholders to compile this report.

During the planning phase the efficacy of different strategies to manage marine resources should ultimately be assessed by their potential impact, or ability to make a difference to ecological and social outcomes. While community-based and systematic approaches to establishing marine protected areas have their strengths and weaknesses, comparisons of their effectiveness often fail to explicitly address potential impact.

In this article, I explore the knowledge and values that allowed the people of Oceania to develop sustainable use of their marine resources, followed by the demise of these systems after western colonization and the breakdown of traditional societies. The current renaissance of customary stewardship has resulted in not only more effective management, but also a cultural reawakening in many of these island nations. The integration of customary and contemporary management regimes holds great promise for reducing reliance on foreign goods and services, while also improving social cohesion.

This study identifies the importance of: acquiring robust baseline data, being fully protected (no-take), using ecosystembased management, community inclusion, and of adopting an ecologically connected network approach. These features are needed for large marine reserves to maximize achieving both ecological and socioeconomic goals, with particular attention to engagement of local communities.