The project supports Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in meeting their obligations to implement and effectively enforce global, regional and sub-regional arrangements for the conservation and management of transboundary oceanic fisheries thereby increasing sustainable benefits derived from these fisheries.

This objective originated from the relationship in oceanic fisheries between the Global Environment Facility and Pacific SIDS, which started with a pilot phase. The phase supported Pacific SIDS to conclude and enforce the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention (WCPFC), which included realigning, restructuring and strengthening of their national oceanic fisheries laws, policies, institutions and programmes to take up new opportunities created and discharge new responsibilities placed on them by the Convention.

Against that background, the objective of this project is to support Pacific SIDs as they take the next step, and move on from foundational, institution-building activities to meeting their obligations to put in place regional, sub-regional and national conservation and management measures designed to change on-the-water behaviour in directions that both conserve and protect, creating global environmental benefits, and sustainably increase economic benefits to Pacific SIDS from these transboundary resources. Indicators of achievement of this objective focus on the extent of compliance by Pacific SIDS with their WCPFC obligations, and the levels of economic benefits they secure in terms of access revenues and employment.

What we do

The project has three technical components, which are specifically designed to address the project objective with outcomes at regional, sub-regional and national levels, plus a component designed to provide for stakeholder participation and knowledge management, and a project management component as follows:

1. Regional Actions for Ecosystem-Based Management,
2. Sub-regional Actions for Ecosystem-Based Management,
3. National Actions for Ecosystem-Based Management,
4. Stakeholder Participation and Knowledge Management; and
5. Project Management.

Structured in this way, the project:

1. Supports Pacific SIDS as the major bloc at the WCPFC to adopt regional conservation and management measures, through Component 1;
2. Supports the innovative approaches being developed by Pacific SIDS at sub-regional level as they collaborate in fisheries of common interest through Component 2: and
3. Assists SIDS to apply measures nationally in their own waters and to their fleets through Component 3, which is the major component of the project.

A fourth technical component targets enhanced stakeholder participation, including industry participation in oceanic fisheries management processes, and improved understanding and awareness generally of the challenges and opportunities facing Pacific SIDS in oceanic fisheries management.