A review of ecosystem approach to fisheries within The Nature Conservancy's Community Engagement Process in Melanesia

Abstract

In many ways The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is already successfully implementing a great many of the imperatives of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries in their work in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The following TNC platforms are much in line with the EAF: 1) The Marine Managed Areas / Marine Protected Areas (MMA/MPA) approach, backed up by local level legislative support, 2) collaboration with a range of other relevant institutions, particularly in relation to the mitigation of sedimentation from terrestrial developments, 3) consistent and sustained outreach, and 4) involvement of local people in monitoring and enforcement. TNC’s marine resource management work is clearly one of the most culturally, politically and ecologically enlightened programs in the region. This can be attributed in large part to the presence of high calibre teams at all of the project sites I visited, which include a large number of highly experienced, motivated and effective staff, many of whom TNC has recruited from the governments, primarily the fisheries departments, of both countries. The group also benefits from a strong support team in Brisbane, with a similarly impressive collective experience, and a broad range of regionally relevant expertise.