2013
The work with integrated coastal management (ICM) continues in Ra and Kadavu provinces with the development and implementation of action plans to address coastal management issues. In 2014, it is hoped that a Framework for a provincial coastal management plan can be developed and completed for at least one province.
2011
IAS also continued to play a key role in furthering integrated coastal management in Fiji, a concept it helped introduce via a national workshop in 2002. The government of Fiji has mandated in its Environment Management Act (2005) that a national ICM Plan be developed. In 2011 a framework for such a plan was developed by Ms Patrina Dumaru, a part-time IAS staff member also doing her PhD on climate change adaptation. The framework calls for provincial-level ICM plans to be developed first in key provinces and this work will be undertaken in 2012.
2009:
Integrated Coastal Management:
The Environment Unit besides the consultancies already mentioned continued with a number of project related to community-based inshore fishery management and integrated coastal management (ICM). The ICM work has lead to a national ICM committee being written into national law; the first task of this committee will be to develop a framework for a national coastal management plan in Fiji.
Associated with the community work are several research projects to better understand the effects of the marine management on the fishery. One is a “catch per unit effort” initiative in which fishermen record data on types, sizes and location of fish caught and fishing gear used. These data are currently being analysed. An interesting early find is that 70% of fish caught in a Fijian village are sold