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A community of living things, along with its surroundings, is referred to as an ecosystem. An ecosystem often takes its name from the most common, or most obvious, thing present. The parrotfish shown in Figure 1.1, for example, is said to be part of the coral reef ecosystem.

This booklet is about the coastal environments of South Pacific islands. The environment is the living and non-living surroundings of a plant or an animal. The environment of a giant clam for example includes the coral reef on which it lives and the sea water which surrounds it. A collection of different living things, and the environment in which they live is called an ecosystem.

As in many tropical countries, subsistence fishers in Samoa live in discrete communities which have a high level of marine knowledge and some degree of control of adjacent waters. These factors provide an ideal basis for motivating communities to manage their marine resources. In Samoa, a community-based fisheries extension program encouraged each village community to define its key problems, discuss causes, propose solutions and take appropriate actions. Various village groups provided information which was recorded as problem/solution trees. The extension process culminated in a Village Fisheries Management Plan which listed the resource management and conservation undertakings of the community. Undertakings range from enforcing laws banning destructive fishing methods to protecting critical marine habitats. Within the first eighteen months, the extension process commenced in 57 villages of which 40 have produced Village Fisheries Management Plans. An unexpectedly large number (32) of these villages chose to establish Marine Protected Areas, the first community-owned marine reserves in the country.