FIJI COUNTRY PROGRAM 2015

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FROM THE DIRECTOR <strong>2015</strong> has been a busy but fulfilling year for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Fiji Country Program, as we launched a number of fisheries initiatives including a Women in Fisheries Programme to support the economic empowerment of rural fisherwomen in Fiji. Our management team has assisted the remaining districts in Bua Province come to the near completion of their ecosystembased management plans, and the communities of Koro and Ovalau commence their islandbased plans. WCS is now working closely with the Provincial office and district representatives to synthesize district plans into a single integrated coastal management plan for Bua Province building on the three pillars of environment, people and development. In partnership with the Department of Fisheries, our science team developed new survey and analytical skills to understand the value chains of key invertebrate fisheries in Fiji. We also applied a new analytical framework called the Social-Ecological Systems Meta-Analysis Database to assess the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of locally managed marine areas and tabu areas in Fiji. Dr. Stacy Jupiter continued to lead complementary work to look at the impacts of periodic harvests from tabu areas which will be developed into guidance for best practice management that can be shared all across Fiji. WCS continued to play a strong role on the Protected Areas Committee in <strong>2015</strong>, and has been invited to join the BIOFIN Committee under the Department of Environment, and Fisheries Offshore Marine Reserve Committee under the Department of Fisheries. In the upcoming months, we will evaluate our conservation work to date and will formulate a new 5 year strategy for WCS-Fiji for launch in 2016, that feeds into a larger Melanesia Strategy. We will continue our commitments to integrated coastal management, ecosystem-based management at district and islands-scale, providing high-quality, scientifically-sound guidance on protected area management and policy, and fostering the enabling conditions for sustainable coastal fisheries management in 2016, while expanding our work on payments for ecosystem services. On behalf of the WCS Fiji team, we look forward to continuing and strengthening our partnerships in country and the region, while exploring new opportunities for collaboration. We thank everyone for their support and look forward to a productive and inspiring 2016. Sangeeta Mangubhai WCS Fiji Director Page | 1
THE WCS TEAM Sangeeta Mangubhai, Director – Fiji Program Dr. Sangeeta Mangubhai joined WCS-Fiji in 2014 as the Deputy Director, and was promoted in December to the Director’s position. She has worked on marine science and conservation in Australia, East Africa, Indonesia and the South Pacific. She completed her Ph.D. in 2007 through Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia, looking at reproduction and recruitment of corals in Kenya. Since then she has been working on designing marine protected areas, marine spatial planning, coral reef and invertebrate fisheries, environmental policy, and climate change. She is a specialist in designing monitoring programs to understand impacts of disturbances on coral reef communities, and the return of investment of conservation strategies. She is currently the Co- Chair for the Executive Committee for the Women in Fisheries Network-Fiji, a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, editor for the journal Pacific Conservation Biology, and an adjunct scientist with the New England Aquarium. Stacy Jupiter, Director – Melanesia Program Dr. Stacy Jupiter has been working with WCS since 2008, first as the Fiji Country Director and more recently as the Melanesia Director. After completing a Bachelor degree in biology at Harvard University, she worked as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon. Her Ph.D. research through the University of California, Santa Cruz focused on linkages between land use and downstream impacts to water quality and nearshore coral reefs, topics which she continued to develop as a postdoctoral fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia. With the WCS Fiji team, Stacy has been working on assessing the effectiveness of marine protected areas to increase the abundance and size of food fish of importance to local communities. In addition, she is trying to integrate connectivity science into development of a national system of protected areas for Fiji to preserve ecosystem services, livelihoods and human health. She will continue to integrate these topics across the Melanesia, while initiating new WCS programs in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Nischal Narain, Finance Manager Nischal Narain joined WCS-Fiji in 2008 as Finance Manager. He holds a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) with University of the South Pacific. He previously worked with Pacific Theological College as Director of Finance and Administration and WWF South Pacific as Finance Manager. Nischal specializes in budget preparation, financial monitoring and reporting, cash flow, and cash forecasting. He looks after the after information technology and also involved in local corporate funding. He also helps to oversee the operations of the WCS-Fiji office. Page | 2
Page 1: WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY FIJI
Page 5 and 6: Sirilo Dulunaqio, Community Liaison
Page 7 and 8: COLLABORATING STUDENTS WITH WCS-FIJ
Page 9 and 10: TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR
Page 11 and 12: • supported local communities and
Page 13 and 14: • What are the appropriate indica
Page 15 and 16: Investigating links between environ
Page 17 and 18: • Assessment of typhoid susceptib
Page 19 and 20: fishing effort, species and pattern
Page 21 and 22: We applied a new analytical framewo
Page 23 and 24: Monitoring the impact of the MacArt
Page 25 and 26: Sixth Expedition to the Phoenix Isl
Page 27 and 28: HIGHLIGHTS: Three districts have co
Page 29 and 30: LINKS TO NATIONAL PRIORITIES: NBSAP
Page 31 and 32: Improving Effectiveness of Inshore
Page 33 and 34: fish wardens; (iii) discuss enforce
Page 35 and 36: Supporting livelihoods and income g
Page 37 and 38: Offshore Marine Managed Areas: camp
Page 39 and 40: Kilaka Forest Conservation Area STA
Page 41 and 42: environmental issues that are relev
Page 43 and 44: FIJI RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS AND RESO

FIJI COUNTRY PROGRAM 2015

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