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This is the first Roundtable meeting since the 2007 8th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation, held in Alotau, Papua New Guinea. All previous working groups and activities of the Roundtable were disbanded and a new set of activities proposed to the Heads of Roundtable Organisations meeting for discussion. The Heads of Roundtable Organisations meeting consisted of people with decision making ability for their organizations or with designated decision making ability. The Roundtable meeting on the second two days was for other Roundtable organization participants and developed and confirmed charters for working groups and discussed other issues pertinent to conservation in the region.

The waters surrounding Choiseul contain some of the highest diversities of coral and reef fish in the world, with the 2004 Solomon Island Marine Assessment showing that the Solomon Islands are part of the global centre for marine diversity known as the Coral Triangle. Other countries that make up the Coral Triangle are Indonesia, Philippines, parts of Malaysia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. Since 2004 The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Lauru Land Conference of Tribal Community (LLCTC) and Choiseul provincial fisheries have assisted five local communities around Choiseul in their efforts to establish Marine Conservation Areas (MCA) on their traditional reefs. The first MCA to be established was the Zinoa MCA. Zinoa is located on the south-west side of Choiseul in the Solomon Islands. The Zinoa MCA was established by traditional leaders in November 2004, covering 150 hectares and consisting of two islands and associated reefs that occur approximately one kilometre offshore from Voza village on the Choiseul mainland. The reefs around Zinoa Islands are representative of this region of the South coast of Choiseul. In early 2005 sea cucumbers, trochus and giant clams around Zinoa Islands were reported by traditional reef owners to be only a tiny fraction of their former abundance and food fish populations were also reported to be in decline.

The Question of how much Conservation is enough is one that is almost impossible to answer. There must first be some agreement on basic principles or goals, such as the desirability of preserving the diversity of life on this planet, but even then the specific application of these principles to local situations can raise many complex issues (is feeding hungry children more important than saving an endangered land snail?) Adequacy of protected area coverage may seem very different viewed from a world scientific perspective or from that of a local decision-maker who seeks to balance many different demands. Ultimately decisions on adequacy must be made by each country, although hopefully the needs of the world community will be taken into account. This paper looks at the principles by which adequacy of protected area coverage must be judged, evaluates the present status of conservation action in Oceania, and then develops some goals for protected area development in the region.

Some presentations refer to the term Marine Managed Area (MMA) instead of Marine Protected Area (MPA) in order to cover more management options. The workshop proposed and adopted a rough typology of MM As that will be useful to communicate with the key decision makers (land use planners, coastal zone planners and managers, regional planners, protected area planners and managers, community leaders, sectorial planners in fisheries and environment...)

Flourescein dye was used to trace water movements and to determine flow velocities and volume transports on two Guam fringing reef flats. Wave-driven water crossed most portions of the reef margin in a direction roughly perpendicular to the shoreline. As it moved across the reef flat it gradually changed direction until it was flowing as a longshore current in a deepened moat zone adjacent to the shoreline. After flowing in this longshore current for distances up to 1500 m, the water gradually moved seaward in a more dispersed pattern and exited the reef flat through major cuts in the reef margin. Smaller, more restricted portions of both reef flats had very sluggish water movements with less distinct patterns. Of the total water volume crossing transects which extended perpendicularly from the shoreline, 10-100% flowed in the moat zone within 80 m of the shore. Flow velocities ranged up to 0.6 m sec1. Mean volume transport across entire transects was up to 61.6 m3 sec1. and in the moat zone alone was up to 23.5 m3 sec-1. There was a significant correlation between surf and flow velocity, as well as between surf and volume transport in the moat, at all transects and tidal states tested in one bay; but the correlations were less conclusive in the other bay. Velocity was more strongly correlated with surf than was volume transport in the moat for most of the correlation analyses.

The reefs of Guam have been spared from severe and widespread coral mortality associated with large-scale bleaching events, but observations in 2006 and 2007 suggest that bleaching events in Guam’s reefs may become more frequent and severe in the coming decades. The first large-scale bleaching event reported in Guam since the establishment of the University of Guam Marine Laboratory (UOGML) in 1970, was an event in 1994, with another event reported in 1996 (Paulay and Benayahu, 1999). The bleaching in 1996 was believed to have been more severe than in 1994, but a detailed record is not available. It is generally held that neither of these events resulted in significant coral mortality. Paulay and Benayahu (1999) reported that these events were not related to elevated water temperatures, but a recent examination of satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) measurements suggests that sustained, higher than average water temperatures may have played a role.

The SPBCP is now two years away from the end of its funding support to Conservation Area Projects it is supporting in 12 different Pacific Island Countries. By the end of the year 2001, all CAP will have ceased receiving funds and would be very much self-dependent unless arrangements with some other donors are made.

The Action Strategy for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Islands Region for 2003-2007, arose out of the 7th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas which was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, in July 2002. It was then endorsed by the member country representatives of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) at the September 2003 SPREP Meeting and it was meant to represent a consensus on the priority concerns for conservation and ways in which these can be addressed.