For OFMP’s Lisa Buchanan, OFMP’s Chief Technical Advisor, the greatest progress this year in the long-running project which is now in its third phase, is the extent to which tackling climate change has been embedded into its entire work programme.

While the four key tuna fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean region are sustainable and deemed by scientists to be neither overfished nor subject to overfishing, climate change will increasingly put pressure on these precious fish species. 

“Scientific analysis shows that the distribution of fish stocks will change as the climate warms, which will impact Pacific island nations who rely on these fish stocks for food and economic security,” says Buchanan, who will soon celebrate two years in the role running OFMP3.

That’s why OFMP3 has continued to work so hard with its partners and members over the last two years to focus on climate change adaptation and to influence policy settings across the Pacific. A major breakthrough came in August last year when the Forum Fisheries Agency’s (FFA) Climate Change Strategy was endorsed by the FFA governance body, the Forum Fisheries Committee.

Climate adaptation - from strategy to implementation

That was followed up in May with the Implementation Plan for the strategy endorsed at the 133rd Forum Fisheries Committee Annual Officials Meeting (FFC133) that took place in Nauru. OFMP3 advice helped inform the Implementation Plan, which spans scientific research, fisheries management, and climate change adaptation.

“Through this work, we hope to set a course towards sustainable, climate-resilient fisheries that will continue to provide for Pacific Island communities and protect oceans for generations to come,” Buchanan says.

Part of the effort involves pushing for broader climate action and giving partners, members and international bodies high-quality scientific data on which to base their decision-making.

To that end, OFMP3 supports the work of scientists in the Pacific, including ecosystem sampling and data collection to better understand climate change impacts on stock movement in the WCPO, this year resulted in eight peer-reviewed publications supported by OFMP3, with a combined reach of 22 citations and 1,602 reads on Researchgate.net alone.

SPC, along with FFA and with advice from OFMP3, has also transformed the way members can access important data, with a complete revamp of the Country Web Pages SPC maintains offering data relevant to each member nation.

“It means that ministerial officials have complete access to the information they need to brief ministers and other senior decision-makers about country-specific fisheries management issues,” says Buchanan.

Alternative livelihoods and food security

Depleted fish stocks lead to loss of income and food security. One way to combat this is to empower Pacific communities to support themselves and find alternative income generation throughout the fisheries value chain.

“Women and youth are typically most involved in the value chain through post-harvesting and marketing, so we are looking at opportunities to support this work through women’s groups and NGOs,” Buchanan says.

One area of focus is promoting sustainable use of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). A successful workshop held in November brought together 57 participants from 14 Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to share knowledge on improving the effectiveness of nearshore FADs across the Pacific.

“The very strong message was that FADs really help to aggregate fish so it is easier to catch them and bring them back to communities,” says Buchanan.“As a result of that feedback, we are in the planning stages with FAO and SPC of sub-regional ‘train the trainers’ events to improve capability in FAD planning, deployment and maintenance.”

Looking ahead: Climate change and sustainable fisheries

OFMP3 will continue to prioritise climate change response across all areas of its work. Key initiatives in the region include supporting FFA members in their roles as delegates to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

Climate change has been a permanent agenda for WCPFC and subsidiary meetings since 2022. The Climate Change Work Plan development is co-led by the Republic of Marshall Islands and the United States and is supported by OFMP3.

Says Buchanan: “We have some very exciting national projects that we will be working on with our members in the next 6 months, including collaborating with Solomon Islands to support the Noro Port’s “e-port” efforts and Papua New Guinea’s development of its national tuna management and development plan.” 

About the OFMP3 Project

The Oceanic Fisheries Management Project III (OFMP3) was designed to assist Pacific Small Island Developing States in implementing strategies and activities in support of sustainable tuna fisheries management. This project builds on and enhances previous oceanic fisheries management projects and other similar initiatives that have had great success in the past. 

Since its inception in 2022, the project has been working closely with our 14 Member Countries to do three things: 1) implement strategies and activities in support of sustainable oceanic fisheries management, 2) prevent, deter, and eliminate Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and 3) mitigate the impacts of climate change on the oceanic fisheries of the Western and Central Pacific.

Through this work, the OFMP3 Project is committed to safeguarding the livelihoods and prosperity of coastal people in the Central and Western Pacific Region through the continued implementation of sustainable concepts and practices.

OFMP3 is a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project, managed and executed under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as its GEF implementing agency. The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agencies is the regional implementing partner together with The Pacific Community (SPC), Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Pacific Island Tuna Industry Association (PITIA) valued partners in this work.

For more information on the OFMP3 Project, please contact the Project Manager, Lisa Buchanan (lisa.buchanan@ffa.int), or visit the project website.