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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 conservation status, ecology, and cultural importance of sea turtles at the three Polynesian atolls of Tokelau are presented. The green turtle, Chelonia mydas. is the most common species, occurring as a migrant breeder mostly during September through November. The hawks- bill, Eretmochelvs imbricata. is present in small numbers at all three atolls, but nesting is only known at Nukunonu Atoll. A third species, the loggerhead, Caretta caretta. has also been recorded on rare occasions. In Tokelau, sea turtles are considered "sacred fish" (ika ha) that must be shared among the entire village by an equitable system known as inati. The number of sea turtles has declined within historical times apparently as a result of modern and more efficient hunting methods.

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.

In late 1997, Tokelau requested assistance from the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC) to conduct a stock assessment of marine resources in Fakaofo as a first step towards producing a management plan for the lagoon. SPC recruited a consultant to conduct the survey in conjunction with local staff early in 1998. However, the shipping service to Tokelau was having problems during this time, and was in NZ for maintenance. The timing of subsequent sailings clashed with other work commitments by the consultant, and the survey was not carried out until July/August 1998. The terms of reference for the work are contained in Appendix 1.

The State of the Environment (SOE) Report includes all those environmental problems that have been identified to date in Tokelau. This report also serves to illustrate the severity of some of these problems, and how we may expect to resolve them. More specific details of actions which will address these environmental problems are included in the Tokelau Environmental Management Strategy (TEMS)