An Overview Of Our Solution
Sailing for a Sustainable Solomon Islands
Who is this solution impacting?
Ecosystem
Océanos/Costas
Community Type
Suburbano
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Oceanía
Problem
Describe the problem
Our solution is to use sailboats to work with remote island communities that have requested our assistance in managing their marine resources. The communities create Marine Protected Areas and are enthusiastic at enforcing the fishing ban because they have requested OceansWatch’s support. Using sailboats is a powerful solution as it allows us to access these remote communities in a very cost efficient manner and to live next to but not in the community. So although we have many visitors on the yacht and spend a lot of time in the community they do not have to “look after†us. This allows us to stay longer, to not be affiliated with one clan or tribe, to move around the island, carry a compressor, dive gear, reference books and a dinghy so that we can carry out monitoring of the reefs.
Biodiversity Impact
A large body of scientific evidence now supports the role of “no take†Marine Protected Areas in increasing the abundance, size and productivity of marine life both within the “no- take†area and in the surrounding ecosystem. These benefits and the increased biodiversity of fish within the protected area are not gained in partial or other marine management systems. To get the optimum benefit of the “reserve effect†well designed networks of marine protected areas are the best way to effectively protect habitats, biodiversity and the functioning of the ecosystem. As with any management solution the support of the community and compliance are the key elements for success. This is achieved by all our management plans being driven by the community and addressing ecological, social and economic considerations with the long-term reef productivity and sustainability outweighing the desire for short-term fishery yield. We focus on eco-system based management that prioritises key species and functional groups and we conduct applied biological, social and economic research and monitoring in both our management and evaluation. MPA’s are the best tool for creating sustainable ecosystems due to their benefits of protecting spawning and nursery habitats. When locating new MPAs we focus on areas with the greatest resilience in the face of the threats of climate change.Through education and outreach in the schools and with all stakeholders we aim to change the mindset so that having a “Fish Bank†within each community’s customary fishing ground becomes the new norm. /
Solution
The marine environment to the west of Fenualoa shows a high degree of diversity and provides space for a large variety of marine habitats. The local threats to biodiversity in the communities that we are working include the impacts of fishing for food and harvesting to support their livelihoods and the potential threats as a result of the effects of climate change. These communities do not currently have significant pollution issues and education will helpfully prevent any in the future although some may be beyond their control and a resilient system will protect against this stress too. The threat of non-compliance of the no-take regulations is enhanced by an increase in stakeholder participation in decisions regarding the fisheries management so they feel they have ownership. The engagement of Reef Guardians from many clans within the community who are responsible for compliance and monitoring of the coral reef ecosystem ensures the whole community wants to maintain and are proud of their ƒ??Fish Bankƒ?. The problem outside the MPA is that there is poaching from neighboring communities and also there is some illegal fishing operations by external fishing operations. These issues are being addressed by the community. Well designed and managed MPAs help maintain ecosystem health and biodiversity by maintaining the full range of genetic variation which is essential in securing viable population of the key species. The MPAs will lead to sustainable evolution of the entire ecosystem which will ensure both resilience in the face of human use and of natural disturbances. // The total area for the Fenualoa MPA will be 40 000 hectares. The reef Island group consists of two larger inhabited islands Fenualoa and Lomlom that are located to the east of an approximately 77KM2 lagoon. Smaller islands are found scattered around the lagoon or offshore. Tuwoƒ??s customary owned marine area comprises the bulk of the southern half of the lagoon and associated reefs and extends westwards for around 26km. Tuwoƒ??s villagers also exert customary fishing rights over the reefs located to the Southeast of Fenualoa and also a portion of the deep channel that separates it from Lomlom. The southern boundary of the reef flats is generally very pronounced and swiftly leads to deep water. The communities on the island want us to establish a network of MPAs first and then use the same solution throughout the Temotu province as requested by the provincial fisheries officer. This will eventually cover ~20% of the nearshore fishery areas of the Temotu Province.We will also assist them to identify areas to cultivate high value marine species (such as Trochus and Beche de Mer) for potential community-run mariculture projects. Fisheries officers from other Provinces in the Solomon's including the Renbel Province have also approached OceansWatch for assistance.Overall the aim is to ensure the long term sustainable use of the nearshore fishery through the management of the entire resource and to educate all the coastal communities in sustainable resource management, and to ensure this sustainability without ongoing outside intervention.
Replicability
How many years has your solution been applied? 2 years // Have others reproduced your solution elsewhere? Yes // OceansWatch is only a small NGO and has a home based office in New Zealand. Since we have been working in the Solomon Islands we have also set up OceansWatch Solomon Islands which has a board of skilled directors from different Islands around the country who all work in Honiara. OceansWatch takes several yacht expeditions to the Pacific each year. We have teams consisting of marine biologists, oceanographers, social scientists and divers. Most of our workers are enthusiastic graduate interns getting some work experience. The teams sail to each community that has requested our assistance. In each community we spend time having many meetings with all the stakeholders, we show films about marine conservation, we run marine education classes in the schools, we help the community develop their management plan (eg. in Tuwo this includes no night fishing), we help them demarcate any “no-take†areas, we provide fishing logs for the fisherfolk, we empower the youth to build sailing canoes, we train “reef guardians†to enforce compliance and be responsible for their reef, we do coral reef monitoring, we do SEM Pacifica socio-economic monitoring and we help the community develop other livelihood projects like our Moana Arts project selling craft they have produced.OceansWatch's work with the communities relies heavily on capacity building and a transfer of knowledge and requires very little in the way of running costs, this makes it a very sustainable initiative for the residents of Tuwo, who have very few opportunities for economic gain or increasing their finite resources.
Human Well Being and Livelihood Impact
The Reef Islands are part of an upraised atoll formed by 15 islands (including Fenualoa) with an extensive coral reef system surrounding a large lagoon. The approximately 2000 residents of the five communities on Fenualoa Island rely heavily upon their natural resources for their daily survival. The community of Tuwo where the initial MPA is located is the largest community of about 1000 people. Fenualoa is a very isolated island but it is serviced by a regular 2 hour banana boat ride to Temotu’s capital Lata. Transport to Solomon Islands capital Honiara is either via plane from Lata or a weekly passenger ferry that takes 48hours. By increasing the fish numbers and sizes over time the MPA network will increase the protein available to the community and therefore improve their diet. The sense of community spirit encouraged by working together on the common goal of making their communities and island sustainable has already resulted in fewer land disputes and better communication. By addressing alternative livelihood initiatives and potential mariculture opportunities to raise cash the communities will also support educational opportunities. Other livelihood initiatives that are being explored include making crafts to sell as part of OceansWatch's Moana Arts project which buys the crafts from the artist for their selling price and then sells it again in New Zealand and returns the profit the following year. By moving from local to regional then to country level the Solomon Islands has the potential to be a sustainable country that could become a global model. // The no-take area was initiated and established by the Tuwo community, this was led by a group of conservation minded individuals and has been endorsed by the community leaders and all community members. All initial meetings were chaired by Lawrence Nodua who had initially requested OceansWatch's assistance. For all meetings we were proactive in ensuring there was wide community awareness and involvement and that all stakeholders were represented. The community chose the no-take area themselves and were involved in the demarcation. They selected eight of their young men to be ‘Reef Guardians’ who will be the driving force behind monitoring the success of the MPA. Its position was chosen as it was a known breeding site. All Tuwo's reef is used for fishing (apart from the MPA) and all adults are involved in some method of marine resource extraction. Therefore everyone needs to support any changes in marine management and respect the no-take area. The government has stopped the taking of beche-de-mere due to its over harvesting and as this was the village's main source of cash this has significantly affected everyone, markets for Trochus and other shells have also reduced. As everyone in the village has been affected by the reduction of fish numbers or reduced access to resources all are concerned and want to do something to change this. Therefor support for managing their resources is from the whole community and they have been excited by the increased numbers and size of fish in the MPA that they have seen over a relatively short time, this adds to their enthusiasm.