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.
October 2010: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has announced that four of its member States have recently signed agreements concluded under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
SPREP announced that Palau and Vanuatu have become the final two Pacific dugong range States to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Dugongs and their Habitats throughout their Range (Dugong MOU). SPREP thus confirms that all SPREP members...
6 October 2010: The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) met on 6 October 2010, in New York, US, to continue and conclude its general debate, addressing, inter alia: support to small island developing States (SIDS); climate change issues; the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); disasters, and international governance.
A number of speakers addressed issues pertaining to support to small island developing States (SIDS). Egypt expressed his commitment to...
8 October 2010: “The Pacific Voyage” will be the central theme of a campaign supported by Pacific islands attending the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), meeting in Nagoya, Japan, from 18-29 October 2010.
The campaign, launched by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), aims to highlight that the Pacific has had success in nature conservation, and that scaling up could be enhanced with even...
