Coastal Fisheries Governance in the Pacific Islands: The Evolution of Policy and the Progress of Management-at-Scale

Abstract

AbstractFor Pacific Island people, coastal fisheries are fundamental for supporting livelihoods, nutrition and health, cultures, and economies. However, only in the last 30 years has the region’s fisheries policy come to recognize the significant contributions of coastal fisheries and the need for national management strategies. This chapter tracks the evolving regional policy on coastal fisheries, including the challenges and opportunities for prospective regional and national policy formation and implementation. Regional policy first recognized the importance of management across coastal waters in 2003; since then, this recognition has increased through a series of directives and strategic frameworks. The need to accelerate the national implementation of coastal fisheries management has led fisheries agency staff and other science and civil society stakeholders to collectively develop, under the auspices of the Pacific Community (SPC), the “Pacific Framework for Action on Scaling up Community-based Fisheries Management: 2021–2025.” Regional policies are specifically targeted and prioritized for national needs and provide the most effective means of support delivery. The SSF Guidelines are supplementary, particularly in the areas of human rights, and their further integration through joint delivery at the national level will be important. Over 600 community-based fisheries management sites have been documented across the Pacific Islands, which in some countries includes most fishing communities. These sites represent almost the entirety of coastal marine protected areas, which are significant for achieving international conservation targets. However, in highly populated countries, substantial community coverage remains unlikely, suggesting that other aspects of the enabling environment need to be addressed. More crucially, implementation is challenged by limitations to national staffing and recurrent budgets. With increasing philanthropic interest in funding locally governed marine and coastal areas, it will be crucial that these efforts build on the substantial progress made and are guided by regional and national public policy. A critical consideration is ensuring substantially increased management budgets and administrative capacity of fisheries agencies.