9. Online Project Nomination Form
Email Address
julia@oceanswatch.org
FromCivSoc
on
NameOfGroup
OceansWatch
NameOfFocalPoint Increasing food resources
Title
Feeding Fenulaloa
StreetAddress
Mamaki, Clements Road
City
Whangarei
StateProvReg
Northland
Country
New Zealand
PostalCode
0173
PhoneBusiness
094344066
PhoneMobile
PhoneFax
OceansWatch is a small charitable NGO based in New Zealand and working in the most in need Pacific islands. Our vision is
for Healthy oceans and sustainable Island communities. Our
Mission to work towards this is to work in partnership with Island communities to develop marine conservation plans,
sustainable livelihood projects and to support primary school education.
The Activities we are involved in to achieve this are:

We run expeditions aboard donated yachts.

We encourage, facilitate and resource OceansWatch members with yachts to partner with
volunteers to take part in OceansWatch projects.

1 - Description
We undertake marine ecosystem monitoring surveys using International and our own
methodologies.

When a community requests it, we assist and educate them in Ecosystem Based Management
of their reefs and the setting up of Marine Protected Areas that are resilient to Climate Change.

We facilitate a schools partnership program that supports schools in developing countries.

We assist communities in other ways, as requested to build their capacity to create a sustainable
environment and sustainable livelihoods.
.
Main Partners
This project is one of the projects that we are involved with. The partners that
OceansWatch works with are organisations in the communities and countries that
we visit. OceansWatch is based in the developed Southern country of New
Zealand and works in the developing countries of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands
and Papua New Guinea.
2 - MainPartners
In Vanuatu we have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Environment
Department of the Vanuatu government and we also work closely with the
Fisheries Department. The other organisation that we work closely with is
Vanuatu Reef Check. We have been visiting communities in Vanuatu every year
since 2008 and in each community we work closely with the local Chiefs and work
to help them monitor their Community Conservation Areas and address particular
issues they have and then report back to the Government departments. Vanuatu
consists of many islands and the government does not have the resources to
enable them to monitor all these protected areas themselves.
The Solomon Islands have recently made Marine Conservation a priority and
signed the Landmark Pact an agreement between the six countries of the Coral
Triangle to work towards preserving this area. This pact, involving all of the
Provincial Premiers, supports community- based efforts to sustainably manage
their resources. OceansWatch has been approached by two of the
Provincial Fisheries officers, for both the Temotu and Renbel Province. Our
projects in Fenualoa and in Rennell island directly contribute to the
implementation of the Provincial government’s action plan. We have also
recently set up OceansWatch Solomon Islands as a registered non-government
organisation based in Honiara. The board of directors is made up of islanders who
are working in Honiara but are also involved with their island communities in
setting in place marine management plans and marine protected
areas. OceansWatch has been working in the Solomon Islands since 2009.
OceansWatch is also working with a community in Karkar Island in Papua
New Guinea. Since 2008 we have set up three Marine Protected Areas for
the villages of Mater, Marangis and Mon and they have formed a
community body called the Mamoke Conservation Committee that is
committed to conserving their marine resources for the future.
3 - Achievements
The Reef Islands are part of an upraised atoll formed by 15 islands
(including Fenualoa) with an extensive coral reef system surrounding a
large lagoon. The approximately 2000 residents of the five
communities on Fenualoa Island rely heavily upon their natural
resources for their daily survival. The community of Tuwo where the
initial MPA is located is the largest community of about 1000
people. Fenuloa is a very isolated island but it is serviced by a regular 2
hour banana boat ride to Temotu’s capital Lata. Transport to Solomon
Islands capital Honiara is either via plane from Lata or a weekly
passenger ferry that takes 48hours.
By increasing the fish numbers and sizes over time the MPA network
will increase the protein available to the community and therefore
improve their diet. The sense of community spirit encouraged by
working together on the common goal of making their communities
and islands sustainable has already resulted in fewer land disputes and
better communication.
By addressing alternative livelihood inititatives and potential
mariculture opportunities to raise cash the communities can also
support educational opportunities and it gives them greater freedom.
4 - Sustainability
A large body of scientific evidence now supports the role of “no take”
Marine Protected Areas in increasing the abundance, size and
productivity of marine life both within the “no- take” area and in the
surrounding ecosystem. These benefits and the increased biodiversity
of fish within the protected area are not gained in partial or other
marine management systems. To get the optimum benefit of the
“reserve effect” well designed networks of marine protected areas are
the best way to effectively protect habitats, biodiversity and the
functioning of the ecosystem.
As with any management solution the support of the community and
compliance are the key elements for success. This is achieved by all our
management plans being driven by the community and addressing
ecological, social and economic considerations with the long-term reef
productivity and sustainability outweighing the desire for short-term
fishery yield.
We focus on eco-system based management that prioritises key species
and functional groups and we conduct applied biological, social and
economic research and monitoring in both our management and
evaluation.
When locating new MPAs we focus on areas with the greatest resilience
in the face of the threats of climate change.
MPA’s are the best tool for creating sustainable ecosystems due to
their benefits of protecting spawning and nursery habitats.
Through education and outreach in the schools and with all
stakeholders the aim is to change the mindset so that having a “Fish
Bank” within each community’s customary fishing ground becomes the
new normal.
This project relies heavily on capacity building , empowerment and a
transfer of knowledge and requires very little in the way of running
costs, which makes it a very sustainable initiative for the residents of
Tuwo, who have very few opportunities for economic gain or increasing
their finite resources.
Our solution is to use sailboats to work with these remote island communities
that have requested our assistance in managing their marine resources.
The advantage of creating Marine Protected Areas and protecting the coral reefs
of remote island communities is that they are far from the pollution of the main
centers and the communities are enthusiastic at enforcing the fishing ban
because they have requested the support and have little other interaction with
the outside world so it is important to them.
5 - Innovation
6 - Replicability
Using sailboats is a powerful solution as it allows us to access these remote
communities in a very cost efficient manner and to live next to but not in the
community. So although we have many visitors on the yacht and spend a lot of
time in the community they do not have to “look after” us. This allows us to be
able to stay longer, to not be affiliated with one clan or tribe, to move around
the island, to carry dive gear and a dinghy so that we can carry out monitoring,
to not depend on them for food when they have so little themselves, to have
computers and other equipment. It is also an attractive option for qualified
marine biologists who need the experience to enable them to get a paid job. We
provide internships for them which reduces our costs. We are currently using a
wharram style catamaran whose design is based on pacific lines so it fits in and
they can relate to it.
There is no other organisation that we know of that works like we do using
more than one yacht to focus on assisting communities manage their marine
resources. Since 2008 OceansWatch has been working in Vanuatu, the Solomon
Islands and Papua New Guinea and we have had people in the US, Belgium,
Spain and Australia all wanting to do the same thing with their yachts in
different areas. We have formally set up organisations in the US and done some
reconnaissance work in the Caribbean, we have also had someone do a
reconnaissance trip to the Cape Verde Islands. We have requests for help from
Timor L’est and other communities in the Solomon Islands and Papua New
Guinea. We are a membership organisation and have over 100 yacht owning
members that want to assist with this work in some way.

7 - Contribution
8 - Awareness
9 - Other
The majority of villagers live a subsistence lifestyle, engaged in
occupations such as fishing, raising pigs, household duties, and
gardening. Opportunities for employment in the village are limited.
Nevertheless, there are some villagers who are engaged in paid work,
for example as teachers.
Our project will give the islanders more opportunities to gain cash
through selling their crafts and through the mariculture porjects.
The main use of cash in the villages is in educational expenses so
increasing alternative livilihood opportunities increases access to
education. Both men and women are involved in obtaining resources
from the reef and it is mainly the women who are involved in the crafts.
Effectively responding to Climate Change and managing the
environmental management: This project addresses Climate Change by
raising awareness, creating MPAs using reef resilience guidelines,
implementation of a community-run marine resource monitoring
program (Reef Guardians) to increase scientific data collection and to
monitor for any Climate Change effects and to take the necessary
action needed.
This project creates an enabling environment for the promotion of a
holistic, sustainable approach to natural resources management
addressing biodiversity, fisheries and marine resources and to raise
awareness of Climate Change to members of remote coastal
communities. It supports conservation and the sustainable use of
natural resources for food security, protects marine resources and
promotes the scientific data gathering needed for the sustainable use
of resources and for monitoring purposes.
We have a website www.oceanswatch.org and an active Facebook site.
We send out monthly newsletters to over 4000 people. Articles have
been written in various magazines, newspapers and other websites . We
have videos on youtube and our CEO has been interviewed on Radio.