Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: Pacific Island countries have been receiving enormous income from distant fishing nations paid for fishing in PIC territories. But this industry is now imposing a strain on PIC marine resources and PICs were aware that without fishing management, their resources would soon be depleted.

     Meeting information requirements: Information on fishery resources is most important for the formalization of fishing management plans that will yield the most income from fishing without over exceeding the sustainable rate.

Background in summary:

     Problem of tuna fishery management in the Pacific islands: The tuna fishery of the Pacific Ocean is now one of the largest fisheries in the world. One stock of fish after another has vanished or been severely depleted by large scale fishing industries. Managing fish stocks is never easy and becomes even more difficult when more than one country gets involved over fishing rights. Yet it may turn out to be one of the best (and most peacefully) managed ocean fishery of all. Here's the story.

     Fees from distant fishing nations is a major source of income for the PICs: The distant water fishing nations from Japan, the United States, Korea, China, Taiwan, and the Philippines paid Pacific Island nations fishing license fees to harvest fish. In 1995, the catch was worth US$1.7 billion dollars and in 1996 the region received an estimated $66,279,815 in access fees (Gillett 1997). These fees were important to the governments of the small Pacific nations, often exceeding all other export earnings.

     To prevent overexploitation of resources, PIC came up with 2 primary solutions: The tuna resource is important economically and ecologically. Over-harvesting will create environmental problems. However, the Pacific islands were heavily dependant on the political favor of the countries who wanted to take the resources. In the light of this, PIC has to decide whether to allow foreign companies to remove the resource on a large scale and pay limited royalty fees or to develop local industries capable of harvesting the resource and attain greater income by selling the processed resources themselves.

     Sustainable management of the tuna stocks: In June 1997, 150 participants met in Majuro, Marshall Islands for the Second Multilateral High-Level Conference on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific. The meeting discussed the future sustainable management of the world's most important tuna fishery (Singh, 1997) and the Majuro Declaration on the Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific was formulated. A conservation/management mechanism was due to be established in June 2000.

     The meeting was considered a milestone in international fisheries cooperation for sustainable development.

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
1	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
1	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		1	Participation of the community
3	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	1	Participation of resource owners/users
3	Socio-cultural adaptability.	1	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
2	Level of development adaptability.	1	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	1	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	1	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:       Suggested factors that should be maintained in order for Ownership, by international cooperation among interested nations over a common resource, to work well are: Property rights over the resources should be clearly defined. These include the entire range of laws, rules and regulations over the usage and transfer of rights over the resources. Regular monitoring, to keep track of the number of available fish stock in order to efficiently and equitably allocate fishing rights to member countries at the resources optimum sustainable yield. Aggressive monitoring of fishing activities from Pacific Island member countries and outsiders and serious enforcement against violation. Strict enforcement and punishment against any violations Sustainability of the project:   Adaptability of the project to other situations:       The Pacific Community is an unusual collection of tiny nations that benefit by joining forces and resources. They are also a peaceful collection of governments, free of the political squabbles of other nations in the Region. Process of decision making and implementation:   Cost efficiency: