Wishing everyone a great year in 2012.

OceansWatch is gettting into its planning for the next year. One of our main projects this year will be at the Reef Islands, Solomon Islands. Building on our visits in 2010 and 2011 OceansWatch will work with the communities of the Reef Islands, the Temotu Fisheries department and Temotu Provincial government to create an approximately 30,000ha Marine Managed Area (MMA) which shall incorporate a network of 5-10 community no-take Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). OceansWatch visited Tuwo for about 9 days in 2010 in response to an invitation from community leader Lawrence Nodua.

During that visit the first MPAs boundaries were marked by the community of Tuwo with buoys we provided. We also trained 6 Reef Guardians to monitor and protect the MPA’s in that year.
In 2011 we carried out repeat surveying inside and outside the MPAs using the Reef Check methodology as part of monitoring the effect the MPA is having.The main highlight of this second visit was getting agreement from all the Chiefs of Fenualoa Island to jointly manage the entire area under their jurisdiction (The Great Reef) and for each village to declare its own No Take MPA. This will enable us to assist in the setting up of an ~30,000ha Marine Management Area that shall include the community MPA’s as well as others that we can suggest to ensure a MPA network, resilient to climate change.
We shall also be looking at ways to ensure that any commercial activities, such as Beche de Mer and shellfish harvesting are sustainable.

This community IS suffering the effects of Climate Change. We know this as the villagers tell us the wells are getting saltier and we verified this through testing for salinity last year. We shall survey the whole island using a simple method that will allow us to map the freshwater "lens" that is their main water source. This will allow the community to access the best possible water source for drinking. Another possible Climate Change issue is beach erosion so we shall be looking at the best ways to slow this problem.

We have full support from the Provincial Government and the Provincial Fisheries Department for this exciting project.

Beach erosion, Fenualoa.

This remote area of the Solomon Islands has trouble accessing the human and materiel resources it needs for from central government in Honiara. OceansWatch has been asked to undertake MMA projects throughout the Province so this is an exciting project that can have a huge long term impact.

We plan on taking a team of Marine Biologists, divers and community development volunteers to Fenualoa for 3 months in mid 2012 and we expect OceansWatch members to join us on their yachts too. The communities will have already chosen their proposed MPA’s and it will be our job to confirm that there is no scientific reason that they should not be suitable. It is very important that communities are empowered by choosing their own MPA’s. Once surveyed and confirmed we shall supply resources such as buoys, rope and chain to mark the MPA’s. The actual work of setting the buoys etc will be done mainly by the communities.
We will also work with all the villages to finalise the overarching regulations for the entire fishery. This might include regulations such as net or small hook bans. This process was already started in 2011. Our trained survey teams will work hard at mapping and surveying The Great Reef. This is a huge job as the reef is so extensive. From this surveying we hope to identify other areas that it would be important to protect such as spawning aggregation sites and areas that might enhance resilience to climate change. Another big job will be training five teams of "Reef Guardians" to survey and patrol the reef.

We have just uploaded some great little video clips of Tuwo village in the Reef Islands. This includes some traditional dancing that has not changed since before Christianity. Go here to watch. Tell your friends please we want lots of support for this project.

Picture is a Reef Guardian team sailing out to a survey site.

We are already taking expressions of interest from members with yachts and marine biologists and divers who may like to volunteer with us in 2012.

This is a big project for us and would love the support of anyone who thinks that it is important to conserve the reefs for the future of these communities and for the planet.

If you can help by offering your time contact chris@oceanswatch.org or please help us financially here

If you are an USA citizen who needs a tax receipt please donate here

NZ$25 buys 1 marker buoy for a Marine Protected area.

NZ$500 runs a village awareness campaign

NZ$1,100 resources a team of 6 "Reef Guardians"

NZ$70,000 runs one of our yachts for a year!