Samoa has a Marine Resources Use Policy, and is working towards the delineation of its EEZ with the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the SOPAC.
Traditionally Samoans rely on marine resources for their well-being and daily required sustenance. Over 70% of villages are located on the coastal fringe of the islands, and subsistence fishing is a major activity of the inhabitants of such villages. Fisheries also play an extremely important role in the economy of Samoa as well as contributing significantly to the health and nutrition of the people. Fisheries are the major income-earner for the country. Offshore fisheries, in particular the tuna sector, have been recently developed and now are the most valuable among fisheries contributing significantly to Samoa’s economy. However, pressures arising as a result of overfishing, inshore environment degradation, ongoing coastal developments, pollution, and natural disasters have adversely affected the coastal resources and marine environment.
8 April 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has announced Daniel Namosuaia, of the Solomon Star newspaper, as the 2012 winner of the Vision Pasifika Award, on the theme “Clean Pacific,” in the framework of the Pacific campaign addressing waste management issues in the region.
Namosuaia won the Award for his story “Wastes of our City,” which highlights issues and solutions with waste management practices in Honiara. A special...
19 March 2013: On the sidelines of the Fourth Regional 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) Forum in Asia and the Pacific, 30 small island developing States (SIDS) exchanged lessons learned from the Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste (J-PRISM) Management in Pacific Island Countries, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 2000.
Convened in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, from 18-20 March 2013, the roundtable session. titled “3Rs...
22 March 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has announced a partnership with the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST). The new partnership will involve research on marine pollution, biodiversity and ocean acidification.
SPREP and KIOST, an ocean research organization affiliated with the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of Korea, have signed of a Memorandum of Understanding. SPREP reports that KIOST is committed to...
