Marine Resources

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly spread around the world with extensive social and economic effects.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an area-based conservation strategy commonly used to safeguard marine biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Palau’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with a total of 500,238 km2 (over 300,000 mi2 ), became a multi-zoned national MPA in 2015, through the Palau National Marine Sanctuary Act.

The Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) initiative was launched by the Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in 2016, as a response to a conservation crisis in the protection of marine mammals and wider global ocean biodiversity.

The fourth edition of the Newsletter of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Oceania (2018). IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected area expertise.

Marine spatial planning (MSP) has the potential to balance demands for ocean space with environmental protection and is increasingly considered crucial for achieving global ocean goals.

The inherent complexity of high‐diversity systems can make them particularly difficult to understand.

The ocean is on the front lines of the battle against climate change. It already has absorbed 93 percent of the heat trapped by human-generated carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions.

The ocean is a dominant feature of our plant, covering 70 percent of its surface and driving its climate and biosphere. The ocean sustains life on earth and yet is in peril from climate change.

The Open Ocean:  Status and Trends

Natural habitats have the ability to protect coastal communities against the impacts of waves and storms, yet it is unclear how different habitats complement each other to reduce those impacts.

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’.

Many species of sharks are threatened with extinction, and there has been a longstanding debate in scientifc and environmental circles over the most efective and appropriate strategy to conserve and protect them.

Integrated management of coral reef foods, as a highly diverse set of blue foods, can contribute to addressing the dual challenges of malnutrition and biodiversity loss.

Mangroves are vital components of the planet coastal ecosystems. Mangroves sequester carbon at up to four times the rate of terrestrial forests, making them tremendous allies in our struggle for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Healthy mangrove ecosystems are critical for global climate action – playing a key role in carbon storage and in building resilience to a rapidly warming world.

The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 highlights the critical importance of fisheries and aquaculture for the food, nutrition and employment of millions of people, many of whom struggle to maintain reasonable livelihoods...The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture is the only publi

The 2020 edition of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture continues to demonstrate the significant and growing role of fisheries and aquaculture in providing food, nutrition and employment. It also shows the major challenges ahead despite the progress made on a number of fronts.

The great majority of marine protected areas (MPAs) fail to meet their management objectives. So MPAs can be effective conservation tools, we recommend two paradigm shifts, the first related to how they are located and the second related to how they are managed.

This paper reviews the value of, especially, no-take marine protected areas (MPAs), specifically for protecting offshore areas.

Governments around the world are increasingly committed to reaching terrestrial and marine conservation goals. But achieving such commitments is challenging, and conservation targets that are reached on paper, e.g., in terms of square kilometers protected, can be misleading.

Research on the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) has waxed and waned over the last few decades, mostly in response to population outbreaks at specific locations.

Feeding wild animals is a regular habit in ecotourism worldwide with poorly known consequences for ecosystem functioning.

The implementation of marine spatial planning (MSP) is bringing together a new body of practitioners who are largely drawn from related professions but have relatively little specific education, training or qualifications in MSP.

In 2005, the government of Fiji committed to protecting at least 30% of Fiji’s marine areas using ‘comprehensive, ecologically representative networks of MPAs [marine protected areas], which are effectively managed and financed’.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a recognised global problem which undermines the integrity of responsible fisheries management arrangements and results in lost value to coastal states.

While there have been recent improvements in reducing bycatch in many fisheries, bycatch remains a threat for numerous species around the globe. Static spatial and temporal closures are used in many places as a tool to reduce bycatch.

This report explores the role of traditional marine resources management in meeting both the goals of communities and those of national and international conservation strategies.

The adoption of effective fisheries conservation and management measures (‘CMM’) represents a critical stage in the process of sustainably managing global fishing stocks.

Islands are useful model systems for examining human–environmental interactions.

The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss have brought into stark relief the need for greater collaboration and action at the international level to conserve, manage, and restore coral reefs.

Various Resources on Sea Turtles

Indian Ocean Southeast Asia Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding

Invasive species pose a significant threat to a primary objective of marine conservation, protecting native biodiversity. To-date, research quantifying invasion risk to marine protected areas (MPAs) is limited despite potential negative consequences.

Despite worldwide demand for tuna products and considerable conservation interest by civil society, no single global dataset exists capturing the spatial extent of all catches from fisheries for large pelagic species across all ocean basins.

In recent decades, despite their value, coral reefs have been endangered and are swiftly declining because of land overuse, rising sea temperatures, and increasing ocean acidification. This study assesses the willingness to pay (WTP) for coral reef conservation in Japan.

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

Vanuatu signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) joining other 190 CBD parties to protect our global biodiversity. Vanuatu’s first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) was developed and endorsed in November 1999.

Bleaching and disease are decimating coral reefs especially when warming promotes bleaching pathogens, such as Vibrio coralliilyticus. We demonstrate that sterilized washes from three common corals suppress V.

Bleaching and disease are decimating coral reefs especially when warming promotes bleaching pathogens, such as Vibrio coralliilyticus. We demonstrate that sterilized washes from three common corals suppress V.

Island and coastal nations need to protect their waters to keep the oceans healthy. But they often have lots of debt and aren't able to prioritize ocean conservation over other needs.

Experiences from the Kiribati Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development regarding their medium grant under the EU-ACP BIOPAMA Action Component focusing on management interventions for the Kiritimati Island Conservation Protected Area.

 'Gwala Rising in the Bwanabwana Islands' depicts the revitalization of traditional conservation practices in the islands of Papua New Guinea.

The Pacific Islands Regional Marine Species Programme (Marine Species Programme, or PIRMSP) is a regional strategy for the cooperative conservation and management of dugongs, marine turtles, whales and dolphins, sharks and rays, and seabirds.

Meet Josefa Bau from Nataleira who runs a dolphin watching business with tours to Moon Reef, a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Fiji.

Palauans describe the environment as "Lukel a Klengar" - the nest of life.

Every year, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems is estimated between 9-14 million tons and this projection could nearly triple to 23-37 million tons per year by 2040.

We are in a period of unprecedented growth in conservation philanthropy. How will this influx of private funding affect conservation agendas?

Human rights matter for marine conservation because people and nature are inextricably linked. A thriving planet cannot be one that contains widespread human suffering or stifles human potential; and a thriving humanity cannot exist on a dying planet.