Project Summary

The Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation award will be used to create, expand, and consolidate a network of community-based marine protected areas in the Western Solomon Islands. This program also seeks to develop a regional protocol for researching sea tenure and indigenous ecological knowledge in order to facilitate the implementation of marine conservation in the Pacific Islands.

See Pew announcement here and press release.

Project Objectives

The specific objective, which is built upon 12 years of research, conservation, development, and educational activities in the Solomons, is to create a regional network of MPAs for marine conservation and fisheries management. These "no-take" MPAs will protect critical habitats and species in the Western Solomons. In particular, the prime habitats of flagship species will be targeted for conservation, including sites in which vulnerable or endangered bumphead parrotfish, Maori wrasse, coconut crabs, green and hawksbill turtles, and dugongs are found. Specifically the program will:

- Establish and expand MPAs across the Western Solomon Islands to protect the marine and riparian environment and prime habitat for vulnerable and/or endangered species

- Consolidate all of the MPAs through various informal and formal strategies

- Foster environmental education locally and internationally

- Develop a regional protocol for researching sea tenure and indigenous ecological knowledge to facilitate the design and implementation of marine conservation in the Western Pacific.