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The baseline assessment provides a current status report on the coastal marine resources of Niue. It offers recommendations for the management options available to address the concerns of local villagers with respect to deterioration of coastal resources. The lessons learned from the pilot project are expected to have national importance and should provide a guide to the best approach to sustainable fisheries management for all of Niue.

The purpose of the IWP in Yap is to "promote sustainable coastal fisheries via a system of marine protected areas established and maintained through a collaboration of traditional resource owners, government and non-government organizations, and other stakeholders in one management framework" (Anon 2002). The use of MP As is being advocated around the world, particularly the developing world, in part because MP As are relatively uncomplicated to implement compared to technically demanding yield-based management measures such as quotas. This makes MP As veiy suitable for developing countries, especially those with highly diverse multi-species fisheries and relatively weak administrations. The reason for choosing to establish MPAs in Yap is that inshore fisheries and their supporting environments are experiencing increasing pressure from both fishing and (localized) pollution as the population of Yap increases (Goldman 1994a, Anon 2002). Some species (e.g. Tridacna gigas) are apparently overfished, while the case for others rests on anecdotal evidence (Goldman 1994b).

The objectives of this project are to prepare and conduct an ecological baseline survey of the nearshore reef fisheries at proposed MPA sites in each of four IWP communities in Yap. prepare a monitoring plan and support the involvement of the community in baseline assessment and monitoring work.

An ecological baseline survey of the Amal/Crab Bay Tabu Eria (AKTE) was performed between November 2004 and May 2005. Resources were surveyed with the assistance of Community Facilitators (CFs), and under the direction of the AKTE Management Committee (MC); surveyed resources included land crabs, terrestrial flora, mangroves, avifauna,mammals, finfish, shellfish, turtles and dugongs. Available literature regarding these resources and their distrubution within Vanuatu was reviewed and summarised, and traditional and local knowledge documented, including vernacular names for resources. The impacts of tectonic uplifting affecting mangrove zonation and nearshore reefs was also documented.