Representatives from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga participated in a three-day virtual workshop held from 15-17 July, 2020. The virtual workshop discussed gender, social inclusion and human rights principles in the coastal fisheries and aquaculture sectors and ended with recommendations for solution-oriented actions to improve the integration of these key principles into legal frameworks in Pacific Island Countries (PICs).
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For its first participation in New Caledonia’s International Underwater Film and Photo Festival, the Pacific Community (SPC) held short-video screenings for the many schoolchildren, people living with disabilities, and members of the general public who attended this very special event. The goal was to raise awareness about good fishing practices among the young and not-so-young.
Name: Telesia Sila
Job Title: Principal Mapping Officer
Organisation: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), Government of Samoa.
Country: Samoa
A glimpse into the lagoon’s inner workings
From the amazing journey of mullet, the giant clams’ team spirit, the size limits as a golden rule, the smart mesh for nets, or the privacy needed by groupers during their breeding season, the five animated videos in the first season of the Fisher’s Tales series give audiences a glimpse into the lagoon’s inner workings. These two-minute videos revealed the characteristics of several species’ groups, while highlighting sustainable practices to ensure that fishing can continue for a long time to come.
As with many other reptiles, the sex of a marine turtle embryo is determined by the temperature of the nest in which the eggs incubate. Warmer sand temperatures (>29°C) produce mostly female hatchlings, whilst cooler temperatures produce predominately males (<29°C). Scientists are concerned that due to human induced climate change, there will be an increase in female hatchlings, known as feminisation, leading to a decline in overall population due to the lack of male production.
A green sea turtle, which had been caught and entangled in a local fisher’s net, was successfully tagged and released safely back into the ocean on 6 October 2021.
The turtle, which was caught two days earlier by a fisherman from the village of Salelesi about 16 kilometres east of Apia on Samoa’s Upolu Island, was kept in the village pool while the fisher sought assistance from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) of Samoa and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
The BIEM Initiative, KRA 5 of PEUMP, implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) supported a collaboration between World Wide Fund for Nature Pacific (WWF-Pacific) and the Fiji National University’s Fiji Maritime Academy (FMA) to provide certification training to fishing crew in Fiji’s longline tuna industry.
To reduce mortality of by-catch and endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species mortality and encourage safer by-catch handling in Fiji's offshore fishing industry, 54 by-catch mitigation toolkits have been distributed to Fiji Fishing Industry Association (FFIA) member longline fishing vessels.
The supply of the by-catch mitigation toolkits was supported by the By-catch and Integrated Ecosystem Management (BIEM) Initiative implemented by SPREP under the Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) Programme funded by the European Union and the Government of Sweden.
11 February marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The day focuses on the vital role of gender equality in science, for the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.