This record describes, and links to a working paper produced through the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific (RMAP) Program based at The Australian National University in Canberra. One of the most hotly debated issues of fisheries policy in the Pacific is whether or not public funds should be used to finance commercial tuna fishing ventures. Many commentators from within the region argue for public investment in the industry to stimulate domestication. In this paper we propose an alternative policy in which tuna fishing revenues are invested offshore through a trust fund, rather than re-invested in domestic commercial fishing activity. Trust fund earnings could then be used to stimulate and support private sector initiatives and alternative economic activities. We use the example of Kiribati, one of the poorer Pacific island countries, to illustrate how offshore investment through a trust fund has succeeded in generating substantial revenues, when most Kiribati government corporations, including a state-owned fishing enterprise, have performed poorly.

This record describes, and links to a working paper published through the Economics and Environment Network at The Australian National University in Canberra. The paper reviews the importance of tuna fisheries in the western and central Pacific Island Countries (PICs) and examines whether current and proposed economically focussed institutional mechanisms, that underpin tuna management, are sufficient to promote appropriate and long term tuna-led development. Substantial potential gains are shown to exist from co-operation in terms of tuna management, but it seems highly unlikely such benefits will be realised in the short or medium term despite the formation in 2004 of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Even if gains from co-operation were to be realised, without substantial improvements in the institutional quality and capacity of many PICs the tuna fisheries might still fail to sustain the regions long-term development. The studys implications are that the twin development priorities in the region should be support for social infrastructure, especially capacity building to increase the effectiveness of the public sector, and the promotion of co-operative approaches to ensure the sustainability and profitable use of the region's shared fishery resources.

This record describes, and links to a working paper produced through the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific (RMAP) Program based at The Australian National University in Canberra. The tuna resources of the Western and Central Pacific (WCP) are the world's largest and most valuable fisheries of their type and are of significant economic importance to the Pacific Island countries (PICs), through whose waters of national jurisdiction the tuna migrate. Two major concerns exist with the current governance of the fishery. First, PICs are receiving only a small share of the resource rents from the tuna fisheries. Second, current management structure of the fisheries will not ensure the long-term sustainability of the resources. The paper presents a simple model to argue for increased resource taxation as a means of raising tax revenues and improving sustainability of the resource. Such an outcome is only possible when a single policy-maker has the prerogative to set taxes so that the government acts as a Stakelberg leader in this game. Institutional mechanisms to engender cooperation between PIC governments and with distant water fishing nations (DWFNs) to achieve the espoused outcomes of the model are also presented.

This record describes, and links to a working paper produced through the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific (RMAP) Program based at The Australian National University in Canberra. In this paper we examine the strengths and weaknesses of state-supported Customary Marine Tenure (CMT) systems in two independent Melanesian states in the context of burgeoning commercial and subsistence fisheries. Both Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands can be categorised as 'weak states' where access by foreign-owned fishing companies to state-owned resources (e.g. tuna) is typically easy to obtain by bribing the relevant politicians and bureaucrats at national and/or provincial level. By contrast, access to near-shore fishery resources necessitates negotiation with the landowners of adjacent coastal zones, and this in itself can provide some level of resource protection. However the expansion of markets and rapid increases in populations in the region are exerting pressures on subsistence and commercial fisheries that are already creating significant problems. In the Solomon Islands the recent collapse of the state in a militia coup has also meant that any escalation in marine resource piracy is likely to proceed unchecked and indeed in many cases unnoticed and unreported. The management tool of choice for multi-species fisheries across the world, and particularly in cash-poor developing countries is the Marine Protected Area (MPA), and this system has proved quite successful in many instances, particularly in rich, industrialised countries. However, with some exceptions, typical Melanesian CMT regimes make MPAs difficult to establish because many coastal zones are finely divided along clan boundaries, such that few clans would be willing to 'lock up' their own reefs for the benefit of neighbouring clans. How then can local communities in these countries most effectively manage their marine resources in an environment of escalating fishing pressure and weak governance? In this essay we analyse the social and institutional contexts of near-shore community-based fishery resource management, and explore options for the future. We look at the potential utility of educating reef owners about aspects of the life cycle of marine organisms that are mostly absent from local knowledge systems and how this information could empower villagers to better formulate their own management regimes.

This inport record serves as a repository for two PIFSC Human Dimensions projects that examined the role of compliance in Western Pacific Fisheries. The first project examined the 'seascape' of compliance or the scope of compliance issues in the Western Pacific Region. For this project, we conducted 29 unstructured interviews with compliance experts across the region and conducted a detailed literature review on scientific studies published on compliance in this geography. The second project used qualitative research methods (38 unstructured interviews with Hawaii longline captains, owner-operators, and crew) to better understand the role that Hawaii longline fishers play in further reducing protected species bycatch in the Hawaii longline fishery.

This sub-project addresses the question what are the initial and longer term (2 years) economic and social values generated under the changed management arrangements associated with the demersal finfish fisheries of the West Coast Bioregion’, in relation to the charter boat industry of Western Australia. It assesses the development, size, and structure of the industry, and examines the socio-economic impact of recent changes to the management of recreational fishing in the West Coast Bioregion. The results of an operational and financial and socio-economic survey of active operators and an analysis of daily trip returns show that tour operators have adapted to the new management regime in five principal ways: (i) a decline of fishing effort; (ii) an increase in alternative (non-demersal) fishing activity; (iii) an increase in non-extractive activity; (iv) a transfer of some effort outside of the West Coast Bioregion; (v) and the exit of active operators and the retirement of inactive licenses.