Search the SPREP Catalogue

The very productive lagoon fisheries of Tarawa atoll changed greatly in recent decades as human development and intensive harvesting increased. Tarawa typifies the increasingly common condition of resource depletion and marine community structure change with expanding human activities and population growth. Fisheries-dependent reports have documented the change in fisher landings for nearly two decades. A comparison of fisheries-independent data collected during 1992-93 with data collected in 1977 allowed for documentation of large changes in important finfish resources in Tarawa Lagoon. The historically important bonefish (Albula glossodonta), like other important fishery species, demonstrated declines in catch-per-unit effort (CPUE), proportion of catch, mean length and weight (1977: 46.4 cm, 1.31 kg; 1992-93: 37.6 cm and 0.84 kg), and sex ratio (1977: 0.71:1 [F:M]; 1992-93: 0.15:1). Beach seine sampling of bait fishes demonstrated a major shift in species composition between 1977 and 1992- 93, with severe depletion of some preferred species. These results suggest declining abundance in locally important fish species and large changes in species composition within Tarawa Lagoon.

Knowledge of the fishermen of Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati concerning some key food fish in their waters is described and shown to be highly relevant to the management of these fish. The bonefish, Albula glossodonta, has been the most important shallow- water finfish in Tarawa catches. However, all but one of its known spawning runs has been eliminated according to fishermen and this last remaining run is showing signs of severe depletion. Traditional marine resources management measures, some conservation-driven and others with different objectives, were diverse. But they have largely disappeared due, in part at least, to the impacts of British colonial rule. Reestablishing some form of local marine tenure seems essential to sound marine resource management, although the difficulties that would be encountered in doing so are not trivial.

In late 1997, Tokelau requested assistance from the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC) to conduct a stock assessment of marine resources in Fakaofo as a first step towards producing a management plan for the lagoon. SPC recruited a consultant to conduct the survey in conjunction with local staff early in 1998. However, the shipping service to Tokelau was having problems during this time, and was in NZ for maintenance. The timing of subsequent sailings clashed with other work commitments by the consultant, and the survey was not carried out until July/August 1998. The terms of reference for the work are contained in Appendix 1.

The State of the Environment (SOE) Report includes all those environmental problems that have been identified to date in Tokelau. This report also serves to illustrate the severity of some of these problems, and how we may expect to resolve them. More specific details of actions which will address these environmental problems are included in the Tokelau Environmental Management Strategy (TEMS)

Mongabay rainforest profiles: American Samoa, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu