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In 2002, the Tokelau government approached SPREP for assistance with marine resource management of their atolls. A scoping study was undertaken in Tokelau over two separate visits in 2002 and 2003 to assess the level of community and leadership interest in revitalizing the proposed marine resource management project. The scoping study found that the communities and their traditional leaders of all atolls were very supportive of the government proposal and that all three atoll communities were keen to be involved. SPREP put together a multi-disciplinary team (including scientists, educators, managers, and community specialists) to visit each of the Tokelau Atolls to undertake an assessment of the status and use patterns of the inshore and lagoon resources of the atolls as first step towards establishing a marine conservation program in Tokelau. The team also worked with the community on each atoll to establish an overview of community perceptions of atoll resource status, general concerns, as well as their attitudes towards conservation approaches to marine resources.

The development and sustainable management of Nukunono's resources requires active involvement from all sectors of the community. Meetings were held with all stakeholder groups to document their concerns and perceptions of atoll resources and current and historic resource use. These were further supplemented by semi-structured interviews conducted at random with individuals from all community groups to obtain more details perceptions on the status and use of resources and also on management systems and their success or otherwise.