The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has had far reaching effects across the Pacific, including isolated island nations like the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), population 112,000. The national government closed international borders and state governments imposed a country-wide travel ban, which has been rewarded with no recorded cases of the virus. Knock-on effects have been reported and this survey is intended to gain rapid impressions of these effects from the urban municipalities of Kosrae (popn. 6,600) and the more remote island of Yap (popn. 11,400). Twenty-one respondents from five municipalities on Kosrae Island, and twenty respondents from ten villages in Tamil Municipality on Yap Island, in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) were interviewed to establish the immediate effects of the COVID-19 situation on coastal and island communities. Staff from the Kosrae Conservation and Safety Organisation (KCSO) on Kosrae Island and staff from the Tamil Resources Conservation Trust (TRCT) on Yap Island conducted interviews with key informants of both genders to gather more information on the impacts of the COVID-19 situation on coastal communities in FSM.
