First Fisheries Monitoring and Management Consultation (FMMC) with the Funafuti Community on the Funafuti reef fishery

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The Tuvalu Fisheries Department (TFD) organised a consultation with the Funafuti community, Fale Kaupule, Kaupule, Funafuti Fishermen’s Association and outer island leaders on monitoring and management of coastal reef fisheries. The meeting ran for one and a half days, on the 23rd and 24th February 2017 at Tausoa Lima in Funafuti.

The meeting was part of a series designed as a participatory approach to managing the coastal reef fishes of Funafuti. Four main areas were covered during the FMMC:

  1. Status of the Resources: Results of Fisheries Department Creel surveys carried out since April 2015;
  2. Description of Management Options that could be used to recover the fishery;
  3. Working Group session for participants to discuss the options and overall approach to monitoring and management;
  4. Conclusions with instructions to TFD on how to proceed.

This is the first fisheries consultation to be held in order to obtain the views of the community. Further meetings will be held in April and July this year. It is expected that a draft Funafuti Reef Fishery Management Plan will be produced around September this year.

The creel survey information highlighted the overfished state of many of the reef fishes and the need to manage them to increase the production of fish. The community showed their support of improving and manage the Funafuti reef fisheries for now and future generations.