Pacific officials preparing for a major international meeting on the international treaty on the high seas must remember that they negotiate on behalf of the people of the Blue Pacific who greatly depend upon the ocean and its resources, says Pacific Ocean Commissioner Dame Meg Taylor.
Communities dependent on natural resources for food and livelihoods are extremely vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. Tropical cyclones are a frequent occurrence in the Pacific and can have devastating impacts on coastal communities, particularly in remote or isolated areas. However, most post-cyclone studies focus on damages and losses to infrastructure and services, and do not quantify the impact on fishers or community fisheries. We conducted a study to assess the social and economic effects of Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Winston on mud crab fishers in Bua Province, Fiji.
From Thailand to Alaska, the battle to tap ever-dwindling resources from minerals to fish is spurring new conflicts over who has the right to the treasures of the deep seas. Click on the link below to read the full article.
Since 1974, the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society® has provided firsthand experiences in underwater-related disciplines to young people considering careers in the underwater world. Click on the link below for further information on marine-related scholarships offered.
Millions of pounds’ worth of funding to tackle global overfishing and protect coral reefs will be announced at a major conference in Indonesia this week.Click on the link below to read the full article.
The government hopes to sell five-year licences to explore the seafloor before entering into the next phase of the process, which deputy prime minister and finance minister Mark Brown referred to as “exploitation”. Click on the link below to read the full article.
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.
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.
...King Tupou VI of Tonga was joined by a host of other Pacific Island leaders calling for action on what they saw as “the defining issue of our time”. Click on the link to read the full article