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Traditional marine resources management in Vanuatu: Acknowledging, supporting and strengthening indigenous management systems

Much of the marine related traditional knowledge held by fishers in Vanuatu relates to increasing catches while managing resources of cultural, social and subsistence value. Traditional beliefs and practices associated with fisheries and their management follow natural cycles of resource abundance, accessibility, and respect for customary rules enshrined in oral traditions. Many management related rules that control fishers' behaviours are associated with the fabrication and deployment of traditional fishing gear.

Vanuatu fisheries resource profiles

The Fisheries Department is the sole agency responsible for the control (regulation), development and management of the fisheries resources within Vanuatu. However, consideration of the impacts from developments on the environment is the responsibility of the Environment Unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources. There is a possible overlap of responsibilities between the two agencies in certain areas like assessment work and conservation of species.
Available online|Fisheres Dept. version include graphics (2007; 117 mb). Subsequently published without graphics as IWP report

Recent evolution of village-based marine resource management in Vanuatu

In 1993 a study of coastal villages in Vanuatu revealed that within the previous three years there had been a rapid increase in marine resource management (MRM) activities. The initial impetus for these events was the Vanuatu Fisheries Department's promotion of a voluntary, village-based trochus management programme. Initially the programme involved only a few fishing villages out of a total of several hundred.

Status of giant clam fishery and management: Vanuatu

Vanuatu is an archipelago of 80 volcanic islands in the Western Pacific ocean with a population of 192,000, the majority of which are Melanesian. Approximately 79% of the population live in the rural areas, and depending on subsistence lifestyle of gardening, fishing and animal keeping. The islands are geologically young with narrow fringing reefs that support a limited marine and fisheries resources. These marine resources are important source of protein and a source of income from local sale of products such as fish, crabs, shellfish and lobsters. Trochus shell (T.

Vanuatu Coral reef monitoring network project: 2004 Bi-annual progressive report

The Vanuatu Coral Reef Monitoring Network Project (VCRMN) is a regional network funded under the Canada South Pacific Ocean Development (CSPOD) programme coordinated by the University
of the South Pacific's Institute of Marine Studies at the School of Marine studies Programme (MSP) in Suva Fiji. Under the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the Pacific Node is divided into