Fisheries Newsletter No 132 (May-August 2010)

SPC’s Fisheries Newsletter is almost 30 years old. It was first published in April 1971, under the name of South Pacific Islands Newsletter. Since then, the newsletter has undergone several changes in format. We recently felt that it was once again time for a subtle facelift. SPC’s Layout Artist, Carla Appel, has developed the new layout format of this issue. I hope you will appreciate the elegant changes she made.

In the editorial of issue #1, the author stated that he hoped the newsletter would provide “a review of the initiation and progress of action programmes in all fields of fisheries relevant to the reefs and lagoons, their conservation and exploitation”. If we add oceanic waters, our goals are comparable. We still find it important to report on the activities of SPC fisheries programmes, particularly on expected or achieved results. In the world of development, positive results are often a long time in coming; several articles in this issue show that dedicated people continue to work hard to make these changes happen.

Shark populations are reported to be dwindling in most of the world’s oceans, but data to evaluate their status in the western and central Pacific are very scarce. Shelley Clarke reports on a three-year research plan that will evaluate the status of eight key shark species. She explains why this plan will be “a major step toward addressing concerns about shark populations” in our region. We close the issue with an article by Geoff McPherson and Tom Nishida on toothed whale depredation mitigation. As you will find out, making noise underwater is a promising avenue that is being explored by very inventive researchers.

Aymeric Desurmont

Fisheries Information Officer