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 South Pacific is home to the world's largest and most valuable tuna fishery. Despite this, the Pacific island countries have found it tremendously difficult to capture significant economic rents from the resource. It is argued in this paper that poor economic policy partly explains this. However, poor policies are preventing the implementation of strong, cost-effective institutions for the governance of the fishery which, coupled with strong institutions for broad social and economic governance, are required for development of the industry. Opportunities for policy reform that is likely to lead to significant gains from the fishery are highlighted.

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 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. 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 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 experience of the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas (FLMMA) network provides an illustration of how to mainstream community-based resource management practices that began with local communities, and were in-turn supported by a Government which has witnessed the success of community-based intervention. To improve the success of conservation in the communities and attract attention to its approach, FLMMA formed a learning portfolio. This is a network of projects that use a common strategy to achieve a common end and agree to work together to collect, test and communicate information about the conditions under which the strategy works, to enable the partners to exchange ideas and experiences. The learning portfolio enhances collaboration and also ensures that lessons learnt are shared widely with people in the network. FLMMA is working to increase the effectiveness of conservation and to ensure that the involvement of people in the management of their marine resources is both satisfying and meaningful. Modern science is an important part of the FLMMA approach because it is used to demonstrate the effects of the use of traditional resource management practices. Using simple biological, social, and economic monitoring methods, the villagers are collecting impressive results on resources and habitat recovery and the associated social and economic improvements in living conditions. The objectives of improving conservation to protect biodiversity and improve people's living conditions are important features of the kind of community-based resource conservation that is now being undertaken in the Pacific and Asia region. The objectives are also consistent with national policies for inshore fisheries development and global concerns about poverty alleviation. The success of community-based conservation in different parts of Fiji has resulted in long-term support from the communities. It has also facilitated the articulation of Government fisheries development policies. The Government has set up a new conservation unit and has formalised its support, and adopted the FLMMA method of involving local community units in the sustainable use of their marine resources. Under FLMMA, the success and combined experiences of conservation practitioners are being used to mainstream resource conservation and influence policy development in Fiji.

This dataset includes qualitative interview data aggregated and entered into an excel csv file. We collected data by observing virtual Council-hosted meetings and conducting virtual unstructured interviews from September 2020 to July 2021. Interviewees were selected either for A) their participation in the 2015-16 Hawaiʻi bottomfish commercial fishery data workshops, or B) their knowledge of, contribution to, or direct participation in Guam’s bottomfish fisheries, fishery operations and data collection, stock assessment science, and subsequent management. Participants were identified through the 2015-16 workshop attendee list (Yau 2018) and the lead author’s points of contact within the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC), the Guam Division of Aquatics and Wildlife Resources (DAWR), and Guam and Hawaiʻi fishing communities. Additional participants were identified through participant referral. A total of 42 stakeholders were interviewed. Data from interviews and participant observations were coded to track themes that emerged from the data. Data were coded to capture and organize themes relevant to multi-stakeholder engagement processes and the relationship between bottomfish fisheries, science, and management.