Posted on April, 05 2012

If leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) work together, they can help to reverse a worrying trend in overfishing and ensure Melanesia has thriving communities and sustainable national economies supported by healthy fisheries.

This was the message from a group of conservation organizations, including the WWF South Pacific Programme Office (SPPO) to Prime Ministers, Foreign Affairs Ministers and senior government officials attending the MSG Leaders’ Summit in Suva, Fiji, in late March.

WWF is part of the Pacific Islands Roundtable For Nature Conservation Offshore Fisheries Working Group (Greenpeace, IUCN Oceania, SeaWeb, the University of South Pacific, the US Regional Environment Advisor and WWF), which prepared a presentation and hosted a lunch in Suva during the MSG leaders meeting. Kesa Tabunakawai, Head of the WWF SPPO, delivered the presentation and Taholo Kami, Director of IUCN Oceania did the welcome and opening.

"The MSG must take on a strong leadership role in the stewardship of the Pacific Ocean through effective national level action as well as participation in regional initiatives such as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, the Coral Triangle, Oceanscape and other existing initiatives," said Ms Tabunakawai.

She added that the MSG is in a powerful position to influence both national and regional processes for sustainable fisheries and responsible oceans governance through equitable engagement across the Asia Pacific region.

The PMs for Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji attended, as did the Foreign Affairs Ministers for Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, plus representatives of New Caledonia's Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak Socialiste (FLNKS) group. The focus was largely on offshore fisheries but the talks also included inshore fisheries and touched on integrated oceans governance.

A statement from the Offshore Fisheries Working Group urged MSG leaders to consider a shared vision and roadmap for sustainable and equitable fisheries and integrated oceans governance as part of a blue economy.

Solutions presented for consideration to the MSG ministers included: supporting community based management of inshore fisheries, incorporating more balanced management approaches into national fisheries plans such as eco-system-based fisheries management, voluntary eco-certification schemes and pursuing multilateral approaches to access arrangements for tuna in order to ensure maximum returns across the board as a negotiating bloc.

The outcome in the MSG Leaders communiqué was a recognition of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation Offshore Fisheries Working Group presentation and issues of concern around sustainable fisheries, an agreement to take action and to support the work of the group and to develop a road map for protection of inshore fisheries.

Overall, the event was a great combined effort of NGOs and the University of South Pacific coming together on sustainable fisheries, and an official recognition of the work of the Offshore Fisheries Working group, the issues of concern about inshore and offshore fisheries and a commitment from MSG leaders to work with the group to help address these issues—a big step forward with advocacy on sustainable fisheries management in the South Pacific and the eastern part of the Coral Triangle.