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This chapter explores the giant dam meat export experience of Fiji, Tonga and Westem Samoa. This is done by reporting on interviews conducted during fieldwork in these countries and by presenting secondary data. For Fiji, the introduction of an export ban for giant dam products meant the interruption of an (unsustainable) export of more than 30 tonnes of dam meat per year. A future dam mariculture industry could therefore look towards at least recapturing this share of the export market. Western Samoa and, to a lesser extent, Tonga have limited experience in dam export due to limited natural availability of dam stocks. In Tonga, there is however some commercial export taking place in the Vava'u group. For export purposes, the Vava'u group appears to be in a better position than the Ha'apai group because of favourable air links to overseas markets

Assessments of the general condition, stocking, composition, and growth of mangroves on the islands of Pohnpei and Yap and at one area on Kosrae were undertaken at the request of these states. Methods used included: reconnaissance on foot, by air and by boat; use of 1976 aerial photographs; remeasurement of forest inventory plots installed by the US Forest Service in 1983; and installation of new inventory plots, examination of public records, and reviews of published data (Pohnpei). Average annual increment of mangroves on all islands was 6.9 m3 per hectare per year; increments on individual plots ranged from 0.9-16.7 m3 per hectare per year. The wide variation in growth rates suggests that management could do much to boost productivity. Production appears adequate to meet present consumption except for a few specific locations and products. Problems affecting mangroves on these islands include uncontrolled exploitation, excessive sedimentation, and alteration of natural drainage. Actions to conserve mangroves are recommended.

The Solomon Islands are situated between latitudes 5°S - 12*S and longitudes 155°E - 170°E extending some 900 miles in a south-easterly direction from Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. The six main islands are each roughly 100 miles long by 30 miles wide and form a double chain flanked by smaller islands with a total land area of 11,000 square miles and a population, in 1976, of slightly less than 200,000. The climate is tropical/oceanic with day temperatures around 30°C, high humidity and rainfall varying from 90-300 inches per annum. Sea conditions are generally slight with south-easterly winds prevailing from April to November, North-westerly winds the remainder of the year, with the likelihood of cyclonic conditions in the latter period.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) consists of two island chains of 29 atolls and five low-elevation coral islands in the central Pacific. The total land area is only 70.05 square miles, with 4,506.87 square miles of lagoonal areas, and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 750,000 square miles. The population level in the 1988 census was 43,380, and the average annual growth rate was 4.17 percent. The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA) is the primary agency responsible for the exploration, exploitation, regulation and management of the living and non-living marine resources in the RMI. The National Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Marshall Islands Development Authority (MIDA), Kwajalein Atoll Development Authority (KADA), and the local atoll governments also play significant roles in the exploitation and regulation of the marine resources sector. The resolution of jurisdictional overlaps is urgently required to avoid potential management problems.

Jonathan Sauer (1961) remarked, in his Coastal Plant Geography of Mauritius, that the chance to study the coastal vegetation there was like being "admitted to a field worker's paradise" and stressed that "most tropical coasts are beautiful and exciting, particularly to people concerned with natural processes . . .." The same can certainly be said for the tropical coasts of the often Edenized islands of the Pacific Ocean. Their "beauty and excitement" is considerably enhanced, however, when one is also "concerned" with cultural processes and ethnobotany, in particular, the immense cultural utility of coastal plants, a factor which strongly influences the distribution and character of plant communities.

Nukutipipi atoll (5 km2), of volcanic origin 16-17 million years old on the Pitcairn (hot spot) Hereheretue line, presents a land flora and fauna of low diversity but with a Pisonia forest and hundreds of resident red-tailed tropic birds. Nukutipipi suffered from the 1983 hurricanes : destruction of vegetation and motu as well as sand lagoon mollusc populations. The north and south rims present original geomorphological structures. Lagoon without patch reefs reaching the surface is characterised by dome patch reefs all constituted of dead Acropora with few scleractinian and mollusc species, but an important algae coverage. All these characteristics indicate the precariousness on a time scale of such a so tiny atoll, land and marine, with a closed lagoon.

In September 1991 the Government of the Marshall Islands requested assistance in compiling a bibliography of material relating to fisheries and marine resources of the Marshall Islands. After discussions between the staff of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority and the Fisheries Programme of the South Pacific Commission, it was decided that a search for appropriate documents would take place in Majuro, Guam, Tokyo, Honolulu and Suva during September, October and November 1991.