Strengthening fisheries management in Vanuatu- keys to achieving Millennium development goals

Abstract

The Republic of Vanuatu is an archipelago of some 83 islands in the southwest Pacific with a population of 221,000 predominantly Melanesian people with over 110 different cultural-linguistic groups. It remains a UN LDC with a per-capita GDP of US $1500 that lias been increasing 5-7% per annum over the last 3 years (Gay 2008). This increase is largely attributed to the forces of globalization and the adoption of a foreign-investor led growth policy, especially the development of coastal real estate1 and associated services industry as well as tourism (op. dr.). This growth has been concentrated largely in the two urban centers where 20% of the population resides. The 80 % rural population relies largely on an agricultural and fisheries based economy where people continue to live on their traditional lands. The disparity in economic growth reflects the strongly dichotomous nature of Vanuatu's economy: the formal economy operating in the urban centers and the informal or 'traditional economy' of rural areas.