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Despite the ongoing impacts from the pandemic, the PacWastePlus programme Management Unit has continued to deliver outcomes, and has redoubled efforts to actively engage with you all, albeit remotely, we do understand that this has placed new burdens on you all, especially considering other programmes and agencies will have been requesting similar amounts of your time. We appreciate your ongoing commitment to the Programme and hope this edition of Connections provides some useful information on action to date, and outcomes that we will be providing in the coming few months.

GOOS is being implemented in the Pacific islands region by PacificGOOS, which was formed in Suva in 1998. In August 2000, in Apia, Samoa, PacificGOOS held a regional workshop on the development of a coastal Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) for the Pacific region. This workshop aimed to raise the level of awareness about PacificGOOS and its value for sustainable development, to inform participants about recent coastal GOOS developments, to begin forming a regional network to take forward the development of operational oceanography in the region, to broaden participation in PacificGOOS, and to develop the outlines of some pilot projects to take forward the implementation of PacificGOOS. Three project outlines were developed, on: (i) coastal water quality; (ii) mariculture developments; and (iii) coral reef health. Partnerships were created to take forward the development of each project. Participants were introduced to the concept of the Argo float project and explored its significance for the Pacific as well as the ways in which Pacific nations could participate in and assist in the implementation of the project.