By Loretta B Manele

Filling in gaps in unassessed stocks through science is one way of supporting fisheries sustainability.

Dr Eva Plaganyi, Senior principal research scientist and research group leader based at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Environment, Australia spoke about this at the Honiara Summit last month.

Speaking as a panellist on Session 4: Supporting fisheries sustainability through science, she expressed that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in filling some gaps around the numbers of unassessed stocks.

Plaganyi touched on the urgent need to address climate change through science.

In the case of applying science in fisheries sustainability, she outlined management strategy evaluation, forecasting techniques and modelling as scientific methods to test how resilient harvest strategies are.

Plaganyi said approaches like management strategy evaluation can be used to build the robustness of management methods that they are trying to use to help manage stocks sustainably.

On top of that, she stated that we can use some forecasting techniques and mentioned that there are a number of scientific advances in seasonal forecasting.

“That’s an example where we’re able to, again, use our scientific knowledge, share those outputs and enable better forward planning to respond to climate change.”

She went on to talk about modelling and stressed that to have adaptable and responsible frameworks there is the need for new modelling and data collection systems.

Plaganyi highlighted that modelling is a really powerful tool because it helps to test different strategies for how are we going to respond to future extreme events or climate events without actually having to first experience those events.

“We can try to figure out beforehand which strategies are winners and which ones are not likely to help us down the line.”

Plaganyi said that from the work being carried out by scientists around the world, there are a number of tools and methods that are now increasingly becoming available, like climate adaptation handbooks and seasonal forecasting tools.

She stressed that these are important not only in planning when is the best time to fish, but also to look after the fishes and communities themselves.

“In northern Australia, for example, we try to provide a heads up of when it might be too hot to go fishing, both because it’s harmful to the fishes as well as to handle the actual products and it would lose value if they fished at the wrong times.”

She furthered that these are the sort of gaps which she thinks science is being done at the moment on a case study basis, however, they are starting to pull that together and will be able to support the community.

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BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

Stakeholders participating in the weeklong Oil Spill Response Training Workshop engaged in an oil spill response exercise yesterday at Aola Police maritime base in Honiara.

The oil spill response training workshop was made possible under the Ocean Country Partnership programme through Ambipar Response and SPREP.

The exercise aims to enhance the participating stakeholders’ response to oil spills with the resources available.

The workshop, set to end today, includes participants from the Solomon Islands Maritime Authority, South Pacific Oil, National Fisheries Development, Ministry of Health & Medical Services, RSIPF Maritime, and other organisations dealing with emergency responses.

“Part of the activity is to look at what equipment was available and how if there was a spill associated with, say the patrol vessel, how you might use that equipment like the boom to be able to ensure that the oil stays where it is and can be cleaned up,’’ said Paul Irving.

He said that the exercise is useful for people to understand that it’s not straightforward.

“It’s quite difficult to put the boom out; it takes some time, you need to figure out how it’s going to work properly, and you need to be aware of the other things going on,’’ he said.

He said that people who are involved in oil spill response need to learn through practice to experience them.

“After that, we went to South Pacific Oil, and South Pacific Oil very generously put their equipment out for us to see,’’ he said.

At the SPO at the Point Crus Jetty, participants were introduced to different types of booms and other equipment that can be used for oil spill response.

“There were three types of booms. There was a land sea boom, a harbour boom, a zoom boom, and brush skimmer and other equipment. So yeah, very interesting to be able to see the equipment that South Pacific Oil has available,’’ said Irving.

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By Loretta B Manele

Robust scientific outputs have proved to be essential for fisheries management.

Rhea Moss-Christian, executive director for WCPFC (Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission) assured this whilst speaking at the recent Honiara Summit’s Session 4: “Supporting fisheries sustainability through science” last month.

She said in almost three decades of experience at the WCPFC, they have seen that robust scientific outputs have been essential in guiding fisheries management.

“We also know, for those who have been involved in negotiating conservation and management measures, that when our decisions are built on reliable and well-analysed data, we see tangible benefits.”

Moss-Christian stated that they have seen healthier fish populations, more resilient ecosystems and communities that continue to thrive.

She explained that these assessments conducted through rigorous data collection and advanced modelling techniques, have allowed fisheries managers to adjust conservation and management measures dynamically.

Moss-Christian said the ability to adapt to new data in real-time have proven invaluable, particularly in face-to-face uncertainties that we’re facing by climate variability and changing ocean conditions.

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By Loretta B Manele

To be able to thrive in the marine ecosystem, healthy fish need healthy oceans.

Dr Eva Plaganyi, Senior principal research scientist and research group leader based at CSIRO Environment, Australia stressed on the sentiment when contributing to a session at the Honiara Summit late last month.

She voiced that healthy fish will need healthy oceans to sustain and this is related to addressing plastic pollution in the ocean and ensuring a healthy habitat so fish can be conserved and sustained.

Plaganyi said one of the programmes they are rolling out is on the amount of plastic pollution there is in the ocean.

“My organisation is particularly passionate about trying to help with managing, assisting, as well as reducing some of that plastic pollution.”

Plaganyi stated that if we don’t look after the habitat for the fish, we won’t be able to specifically conserve them.

She said this on a broader scope, applies to habitat conservation including things like river inputs and estuaries where a number of fish rely on estuaries for their life cycle and to keep generating those sustainable yields.

Moreover, in this case, Plaganyi stated that we’re increasingly getting squeezed in the marine space by conflict between different sectors.

She said this is because of the need for water for different industries whether it is agriculture or mining.

“We need to improve the way in which we holistically look at how can we manage healthy fish stocks in conjunction with some of these other industries.”

She also stated that there needs to be transformation in our food systems so that collectively, we’re optimising the food security benefits and reducing the carbon footprint and the ecological footprint of those food production systems.

Plaganyi pointed out that this is an area where science can help with reducing the waste and helping ensure we’re protecting the habitats for fish species.

“There’s been a big move to ecosystem approaches to fisheries, which considers multi-species components, as well as ecosystem-based fisheries management, which more broadly considers interactions with other sectors.

Those considerations to frame our fisheries management are also really important, given, as I mentioned, the growing blue economy and the need to balance between conservation and sustainable utilisation.

That’s also an area where our scientific models are able to integrate some of the complexity of all of these different interactions and help make transparent what are the trade-offs in different management strategies, which is really important for us to proactively plan how we go ahead into the future.”

Plaganyi pointed out that to support sustainable fisheries going forward, we need to look after the industries and fisheries themselves and with extreme events increasingly impacting fisheries around the world, we don’t yet have mature marine insurance such as parametric methods that can help support those industries and communities to continue focusing into the future.

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