Fish from the Arnavon Island Marine Reserve, Solomon Islands

by The Nature Conservancy

What's at Stake?

The Arnavon Islands lie midway between Santa Isabel and Choiseul of the Solomon Islands. Amidst a paradisiacal setting of white beaches, lagoons and coral reefs lives an extraordinary diversity of marine animals. The Arnavon Islands are one of the most important rookeries in the western Pacific for the endangered hawksbill turtle. They also support commercially prized animals such as beche-de-mer (sea cucumbers), trochus, black and gold lip pearl oysters, and giant clams.

The area's cash economy has traditionally relied on harvesting these organisms. Three villages, Kia, Posarae and Waghena, use the Arnavons' resources. Harvesting activities were traditionally carried out on an "open access" basis, but in the 1980's when prices for shellfish went way up, so did the temptation to overharvest them. In classic boom and bust style the stocks were depleted, one by one.

In order to stop this, and to try to allow shellfish populations to recover, the project established the Arnavon Islands Community Marine Conservation Area (CMCA) -- a legal ëno take' zone. The project involves implementing a management plan for the area and a sustainable deep-water finfish enterprise to provide the communities with food and income while taking the pressure off the marine invertebrates. Six community conservation officers (CCO's) -- two from each village -- monitor the project.

This conservation area marks the first time that a community of the Solomon Islands has created a marine sanctuary, as well as the country's first cooperatively managed marine conservation area. If successful, it will demonstrate the economic and ecological benefits of a community-based approach to resource conservation -- both to other communities of the Solomon Islands and to the national government.

The initial three year closure opened up a unique opportunity for us to investigate the utility of marine conservation areas as a fisheries management tool, by scientifically testing the assumption that closure of an area will enhance the rehabilitation of depleted stocks and the recruitment of new stocks to areas outside the closed area. With the support and involvement of the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority we have been able to establish a scientifically robust monitoring program which will test these assumptions for the first time in a tropical Pacific island environment.

	1997 Update
Successes and Challenges
"OK...So What?"

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