1 st SPC Heads of Fisheries Meeting 9-13 th August 1999

Transcription

1 1 st SPC Heads of Fisheries Meeting 9-13 th August 1999 FILE : CONF 2/9/27 DATE : 19 th July 1999 TO: HOF1 meeting contacts 2 nd Announcement This notice is to briefly update you about arrangements for the SPC Heads of Fisheries (HOF) Meeting, and associated events, and is an informal followup to the formal notice that went out to all SPC official contacts in April (SPC Meeting Notice 99/5). Back-to-back meetings For those of you who are not already aware, the SPC HOF1 meeting from 9-13 th August will be preceded by several meetings run by the Forum Fisheries Agency and hosted by SPC in Nouméa over the period 2-7 th August. The full list of meetings is now: - PNA group meeting - Monday 2 -Tuesday 3 August (FFA - attendance restricted to representatives of national Parties to the Nauru Agreement and authorised observers) - ADB-sponsored tuna management workshop - Wednesday 4th (FFA) - 40th Forum Fisheries Committee - Thursday 5th to Saturday 7th (likely to be a considerable number of closed sessions for FFA member countries only) - 1st SPC Heads of Fisheries - Monday 9 to Friday 13th August (SPC - open meeting) - (sometime during the two weeks we will also hold the annual colloquium between SPC and FFA staff, to co-ordinate joint activities) For those member country representatives whose attendance at HOF1 is being paid for by SPC (1 government nominee from each SPC island member country or territory), and who are representing Forum island countries, we will be arranging their tickets to arrive one week earlier in Nouméa so they can also attend the FFA meetings. We understand that FFA will make arrangements to cover their accommodation and living expenses for this extra week. Thus between us we will cover the attendance of 2 people from each member country at the FFA meetings during the first week. Unfortunately SPC does not have the funds to reciprocate the arrangement and to extend the stay of the FFA-funded meeting participants so that two fully-funded national representatives can also attend the SPC HOF meeting in the second week, but we would be happy to assist anyone who wishes to make their own arrangements, in negotiating tickets extension etc. Agenda There are no changes to the order of the main items on the provisional agenda that was distributed with the first meeting notice on 14 th April (and available on the SPC website at However, there has been considerable interest from observers in making presentations, and some discussions may need to be taken outside the meeting into special evening sessions if the agenda proves too constraining. The proposed agenda is roughly as follows:- Monday 9 th August Introduction (SPC Executive) Meeting Procedures (Secretariat)

2 Assumption of Chair (Marshall Islands takes over from Kiribati) Adoption of Agenda Overview of SPC Marine Resources Division (Director of Marine Resources) Maritime issues relating to fishing (SPC Maritime Programme) Discussion/Workshop Session: Safety at Sea (Fisheries Training & Masterfishermen) Discussion/Workshop Session: Aquaculture (ICLARM, USP, FAO SPADP, FSPI, FMC, Secretariat) - Seaweed Farming - Continuation of regional support for national aquaculture development - Review of status of aquaculture in the region (this discussion may need to continue as an evening breakout session) Tuesday 10 th August SPC member country and territory issues/statements (meeting delegates). Approx 15 minutes per member - any remaining time for general discussion. - Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Northern Marianas, Palau, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, - American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis & Futuna, Australia, France, New Zealand, UK & Pitcairn, USA. Evening: Cocktail party at SPC Wednesday 11 th August Coastal Fisheries Programme - CFP overview (Capture, Community Fisheries, Information, Reef Fishery Assessment & Management, Training Sections) - Future directions for the Capture Section - Fisheries implementation of new SPC training policy Statements/Presentations by observers and others - Approx 15 mins each. - Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Forum Secretariat, FAO South Pacific Office, C-SPODP 2, University of the South Pacific Postharvest project, Pacific Islands Marine Resources Information System, Fisheries Management Services, South Pacific Project Facility, Australian Maritime College, Forum Fisheries Agency, The Nature Conservancy, Nelson School of Fisheries. (If anyone has been mistakenly included or omitted from this list please let me know - tima@spc.org.nc) Thursday 12 th August Oceanic Fisheries Programme - OFP overview - Report on Standing Committee on Tuna and Billfish - Future role of OFP Discussion/Workshop Session: Gamefishing (OFP, Paul Mead) Discussion/Workshop Session: Research and Management issues (World Bank, World Resources Institute & International Marinelife Alliance, Andaman Sea Fisheries Development Center Evening: The Famous Fisheries Barbecue Friday 13 th August

3 Discussion session to bring out any important issues arising from the meeting and to agree a short, formal, clearly-worded meeting output statement. Informal session to discuss with members and other potential collaborators the SPC/EU SPRCARF (South Pacific Regional Comparative Assessment of Reef Fisheries Project) proposal. Clear record of discussion Meeting report As this is an official SPC Programme Technical Meeting, there will be a formal meeting report including an agreed record of discussion produced by the meeting itself. The main decisions, or recommendations of the meeting, for the guidance either of SPC itself or as a guide for decisions in other fora, will be additionally output as a short, formal statement. Presentations poster and other (e.g. computer-mediated) presentations are welcome and we will do our best to accommodate them on boards outside the entrance to the main meeting room and in the smaller meeting rooms. For verbal presentations in plenary there will be a computerdriven LCD projector in use, and we can accommodate more conventional slides and overheads as necessary. The meeting room is designed more for round-table discussion than for presentations, but we have evolved ways to cope. Social events These will not be too onerous. We are planning a reception to be hosted by the SPC Director General. There will be two informal social events, the first a Pacific Island Night run by the SPC Social Club on Friday 6 th, and the second being the famous Fisheries Barbecue on Thursday 12 th. For the more strenuously-inclined (and less devout) there will be a walk (or scramble) to the summit of Mont Dore the peak 15km to the south of Nouméa on Sunday 8 th where a cache of champagne awaits. There will be the usual informal opportunities for enjoying oneself, including the SPC tennis court, pool table and of course the occasional largesse of boat-owning members of staff. The bar will be open every evening from 5-9 except Sunday. The SPC bar, although it lacks the unique ambience of the Tamarind tree at the old headquarters, which was commended more than once in Islands Business, is still a decent spot. Visa arrangements Just to remind you that New Caledonia is not quite so easy to enter as most other Pacific Islands, and we have heard that recent amendments to the procedures, at least at some diplomatic posts, have not made it easier to obtain a visa. Visas are not needed by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand (and all New Zealand passport holders), USA (and all US passport holders), and European Union countries. For everyone else, New Caledonia immigration rules require you to obtain a visa from the French Embassy in your own country. French Embassies/Consulates are situated in Australia (Sydney and Canberra), Fiji (Suva), New Zealand (Auckland and Wellington), Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby), Samoa (Apia) and Vanuatu (Port Vila). However, if your country does not have a French embassy we can arrange for a visa to be issued on arrival, provided we are notified at least 2 weeks prior to arrival. Sorry for the inconvenience. Airport transport To avoid the confusion that occurred at the last SPC fisheries meeting in Nouméa, the fisheries programme staff will be present en masse to ferry people (at least those we have names and arrival times for) from the airport to Nouméa in their private cars, wherever possible. After you clear customs please turn right and leave by the non-resident doors. This is where the SPC staff will be waiting to pick you up. If all fails and you do not get picked up, then we advise that you do not take a taxi it costs up to US$90 but ask one of the minibus operators, or Arc en Ciel the "rainbow" bus company, who are usually waiting

4 on the right as you come out of the terminal, and whose price is a more reasonable 2000 cfp (US$20) or so. Meeting papers These will be pigeonholed at the meeting itself. There have been no country statements yet submitted and we expect most of the written submissions to arrive along with their presenters. The photocopiers are being overhauled as I speak. The last-minute submission of papers means that the opportunities for preliminary translation of French-language texts into English, and vice-versa, are limited and there will be more burden on the interpreters during the actual presentations. However, the low number of papers presented in advance is not a particular handicap to what has always been intended as a discussion-oriented round-table meeting. To further boost the material available for the discussion of member issues, problems and priorities on Tuesday, and the subsequent compilation of regional overviews, we would be extremely grateful if national representatives could bring along with them any departmental annual reports, recent sectoral plans or policy changes, and relevant updates of legislation. We are particularly interested in benchmarking the state of aquaculture for the regional overview that we have been asked to present at the NACA Aquaculture 2000 conference next year, but there is a constant regional need for keeping all kinds of material on member countries updated. And just a reminder that the first meeting circular (and other papers as they are finalised) is available on the SPC website at reports/rtmf27/index.htm Distribution: 1. SPC member representatives: Representative of (American Samoa, dmwr@samoatelco.com), Jeremy Guthrie, Geoff Williams (Australia, Jeremy_Guthrie@ausaid.gov.au, geoff.williams@brs.gov.au), Ben Ponia (Cook Islands: Rar@mmr.gov.ck, MoMarine@oyster.net.ck), Maciu Lagibalavu & Esaroma Ledua (Fiji: maciu@is.com.fj, c/o tuwai_il@hotmail.com), Francis Itimai (Federated States of Micronesia, fsmrd@mail.fm), Representative of (France, JPGaltier@spc.org.nc), Terii Vallaur & Stephen Yen (French Polynesia, srm@mail.pf), Representative of (Guam, , harrisd@ns.gu, boba@ns.gu), Johnny Kirata (Kiribati, , c/o blackpearl@tskl.net.ki), Danny Wase (Marshall Islands, mimra@ntamar.com), Anton Jimwereiy (Nauru, , nrvms@cenpac.net.nr), Representative of (New Caledonia, etaix-bonnin@territoire.nc), Representative of (New Zealand, t.murray@niwa.cri.nz), Brendon Pasisi (Niue, fisheries@mail.gov.nu, sionel@gov.nu), Richard Seman (Northern Marianas, rbsdfw@itecnmi.com), Theofanes Isamu (Palau, theodmr@palaunet.com), Joel Opnai (Papua New Guinea, ljopnai@datec.com.pg), Ueta Faasili (Samoa, , c/o mking@samoa.net.ws), Sylvester Diake (Solomon Islands, sbfish@ffa.int), Mose Pelasio (Tokelau, ), 'Akau'ola & Tevita Latu (Tonga, mofish01@kalianet.to), Malaki Tihala (Tuvalu, ), Representative of (Pitcairn & UK, j- creighton@dfid.gtnet.gov.uk), Holly Koehler, Charles Karnella, Kitty Simonds, Paul Dalzell (USA, hrkoehler@hotmail.com, charles.karnella@noaa.gov, kitty.simonds@noaa.gov, paul.dalzell@noaa.gov), Moses Amos (Vanuatu, fishery@vanuatu.com.vu), Daniel Tahimily (Wallis & Futuna, , ecoru@wallis.co.nc) 2. Other participants: Erick Ask (Marine Colloids, Erick_Ask@fmc.com), Charles Barber (World Resources Institute, cvbarber@ibm.net), Sofia Bettencourt (World Bank, sbettencourt@worldbank.org), Christian Blanchard (Ecole des Métiers de la Mer, emm@offratel.nc), Ian Cartwright (Forum Fisheries Agency, Ian.Cartwright@ffa.int), Tony Chamberlain (University of the South Pacific

5 (USP), Tim Francis (Fisheries Management Services, René Grandperrin (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Hideyuki Tanaka (FAO, Gilles Hosch (FAO, Masanami Izumi (FAO, Michel Kulbicki (IRD, Paul Lokani (The Nature Conservancy (TNC), John Low (Forum Secretariat, Kenneth MacKay (C-SPODP, Paolo Montaldi (Andaman Sea Fisheries Development Center, Philipp Muller Peter Philipson (South Pacific Project Facility, Tim Pickering (USP, Vaughan Pratt (International Marinelife Alliance, Garry Preston (Gillett, Preston & Associates (GPA), Ganeshan Rao (USP, Steve Roberts (GPA, Alistair Robertson (Nelson School of Fisheries, Angus Scotland (SPC Maritime Programme, Peter Heathcote (SPC Maritime Programme, Shigeru Shimura (Japan International Cooperation Agency, Andrew Smith (TNC, Barney Smith (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Jacqueline Thomas (IRD, Steve Why (Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific, Marc Wilson (Australian Maritime College, Peter Young Apologies if there are any mistakes in the list above. If you intend to be present, and are not included on the list (or vice-versa) then please write and remind us! Lists get rapidly out of control. Tim Adams Director, Marine Resources Division Helene Lecomte Meeting Secretary Fax