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The three days Marine Turtle Conservation Workshop in the region reflected an achievement as a successful outcome from the objective of the Turtle Conservation Project in Tuvalu, Fiji and Vanuatu implemented and coordinated by the Institute of Marine Resources (IMR) under the University of the South Pacific (USP). Fellow representatives are from various non government organisation, local community, tourist industry, government officials, SPREP staffs and regional representatives including Samoa, Tuvalu, Tonga, and the Solomon Islands. Altogether, 31 participants attended the workshop. Presentations were conclusively conducted by Dr. Ian Bell (Marine Biologist) assisted by Dr. Ken MacKay (IMR), Aisake Batibasaga (Dept. Fisheries), Alan Resture (IMR) and Lui Bell (SPREP). Participants were basically trained on appropriate scientific research methods on Turtle Conservation, these includes, identifying turtle species, identifying turtle tracks, identifying turtle nesting and feeding grounds, turtle tagging and collating and recording datas. The formulation of the network between representatives would allow information dissemination, increasing in capacity building and education and awareness on turtle conservation at national and regional level. However, SPREP installed the Turtle Research and Monitoring Database System to centralise and secure collated datas and reports on Turtle Research in the region. Conclusively, increasing in efforts, cooperation, networking, management and support on conserving marine turtles will contribute to the rehabilitation and restoring the lost population of the endangered sea turtles in the Pacific.

This brief presents a review of lessons learned and good practices in developing management plans within the context of community based resource management (CBRM) in Solomon Islands. The lessons are based on work done by the WorldFish Center, the Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI) and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources. The document is intended to complement other initiatives in the country and through the Solomon Islands Locally Managed Marine Area Network add to lessons learned by other organizations in order to help the people and the government of the Solomon Islands meet their marine resource management goals.

Research for this study was carried out under a four-year project to assist communities in Kubulau district of Vanua Levu in Fiji to establish networks of marine protected areas within their large, traditional fishing grounds (qoliqoli). In 2005 and 2009, socioeconomic household surveys were conducted in villages of the Kubulau district to examine coastal marine resource use and participation in the management process. Results from three of the villages (Navatu, Kiobo, Nakarovou) with traditional fishing rights within the three established district-wide, no-take MPAs (Namena, Namuri, Nasue, respectively) are compared with one village (Natokalau) without fishing rights in these areas but with high observed levels of community organization.

Research for this study was carried out under a two-year project to support the implementation of Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) at two catchment-to-reef sites on Vanua Levu, Fiji, during which conservation planning approaches were trialled using EBM tools to evaluate options for re-designing marine protected area (MPA) networks. Current approaches in systematic conservation planning have focused on developing tools to maximize conservation benefits while minimizing socio-economic costs to users of a landscape or seascape area. In this study, we present a novel method for calculating the opportunity costs of conservation actions to multiple gear type users arising from fisher displacement due to the establishment of MPAs in Kubulau District, Vanua Levu, Fiji. The method builds upon those applied in land conservation in which the probability of land conversion to alternate functions is used to estimate opportunity costs to multiple stakeholders, which differs from previous approaches by providing information about costs of currently unused areas that may be of potential future benefit. We model opportunity costs of establishing a network of MPAs as a function of food fish abundance, probability of catch as function of gear type and market value of species. Count models (including Poisson, Negative Binomial and two zero-inflated models) were used to predict spatial distribution of abundance for preferred target fish species and validated against underwater visual census (UVC) surveys and biophysical predictor variables (reef type, reef exposure, depth, distance to shore, protection status). Spatial distributions of targeted fish within the three most frequently sighted food fish families (Acanthuridae, Lutjanidae, Scaridae) varied considerably: Lutjanidae had the highest abundance on barrier reefs; Acanthuridae on inshore fringing and patch reefs; and Scaridae on fringing reefs. Modeled opportunity cost, estimated as a function of abundance and probability of catch by gear type, indicated highest cost to fishers would arise from restricting access to the fringing reef between the villages of Navatu and Kiobo and the lowest cost would arise from restricting access to the Cakaunivuaka reef. The opportunity cost layer was added to Marxan models to identify optimum areas for protection to meet fisheries objectives in Kubulau’s traditional fisheries management area with: (a) the current MPA network locked in place; and (b) a clean-slate approach. The opportunity cost method presented here gives an unbiased estimate of opportunity costs to multiple gear types in a marine environment that can be applied to any region using existing species data.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 requires federal agencies to examine the environmental effects of their proposed actions. On behalf of the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy is preparing this Draft EIS/OEIS to assess the potential environmental effects associated with the proposed military activities. The Navy is the lead agency for preparation of this Draft EIS/OEIS. The Office of the Secretary of Defense directed the Navy to establish a Joint Guam Program Office that serves as the NEPA proponent of the proposed actions. A number of federal agencies were invited to be cooperating agencies in the preparation of this Draft EIS/OEIS. These agencies have either jurisdiction or technical expertise for certain components of the proposed actions or a potentially affected resource. The agencies that have accepted the invitation to participate as cooperating agencies are United States (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Transportation Federal Highways Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, U.S. Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Air Force.

Following the tsunami of Sept. 29 2009, UNESCO International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST) was coordinated by the New South Wales University’s Australian Tsunami Research Centre (ATRC) and the University of the South Pacific arrived in Apia Samoa on October 12, 2009. They were joined by the Government personnel to form the Marine Environmental Assessment Team (MEAT). The team consisted of members from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Joyce Ah Leong, Mikaele Faamai); Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) (Juney Ward, Pulea Ifopo); Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) (Lui Bell); The University of the South Pacific (Ed Lovell; Posa Skelton); Vassar College, USA (Prof. Brian McAdoo).

The tsunami waves that swept through parts of the Samoa Islands on 29 September 2009 brought a lot of marine life with them, portions of which were stranded on land when the waves subsided. In addition to the reef fishes of varying sizes, marine turtles, a few sharks and dolphins were also stranded. Three dolphins were reportedly stranded but rescued and released by villagers with two more that were left on land dead and were buried. This report focuses on marine turtles and attempts to give an account on the number and fate of marine turtles that were stranded on land after the tsunami waves.