Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2000
Vanuatu
Traditional custom ownership still prevails in many parts of Vanuatu.
• Fisheries Act 1982 - development and management of fisheries including provisions
to prohibit the use of explosives, poisons and noxious substances for fishing;
• The Environmental and Resource Management Bill 1999 - provides for the
establishment of a Coastal Management Committee to initiate and develop a
coastal resource inventory at the local, island, provincial and national level.
Despite this array of legislation, there are numerous problems with compliance and
enforcement. Foremost, is that fisheries legislation affecting people in remote areas, is often
developed in urban centres, and a lack of community support can render such legislation
ineffective. Legislation must be enforced to be effective, and the most important aspect of
enforcement is education and awareness. Resource users need to be made familiar with
legislation and why it is imposed before they will support the legislation, and apply peer
and community pressure to deter those breaking the law.
Penalties and prosecution should be the last resort, however, legislation which is not
enforced, either due to insufficient enforcement staff, or overly complex and impractical
rules, will fail leading to more destruction of reef resources. Therefore it may be better to
have less direct legislation that is cheaper and easier to police, than ideal laws. The
imposition of traditional punishments must be considered as a deterrent to offenders,
provided that these do not contravene constitutional laws or human rights provisions.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Capacity building is a high priority for the region to set up coral reef monitoring
in a series of long-term monitoring sites and this should be addressed at all
levels, including stakeholders, NGOs, governments and the private sector;
• More attention needs to be focussed on the most highly stressed coral reefs
areas in the region, particularly around urban and coastal areas where
anthropogenic stresses are concentrated;
• There is an urgent need to establish community based marine protected areas
throughout the region;
• The development of appropriate national coastal zone management plans and
policies is required for all countries in the region;
• All countries should incorporate coral reef issues into national climate change
strategies under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);
• There is an urgent need to document the biodiversity of coral reefs in all
countries, which will require training of marine taxonomists and strengthening of
the marine Biodiversity Centre at the University of the South Pacific e.g. the
biology of the important reef food fishes is poorly known, which impedes the
introduction of sound sustainable fisheries management;
• Regional and national strategies for the preservation of intellectual property rights
on marine biodiversity must be developed;
• Legislation and regulations for the management of coral reefs need urgent
upgrading, especially the incorporation of integrated coastal management, and
sustainable fisheries;
178