Fisheries are an important source of food, income and cultural identity for Pacific Island nations. The people of Pacific Island nations consume two to three times the global average of fish per capita per year. 

Fish accounts for 50 to 90 percent of animal protein in coastal populations’ diets and is mostly derived from coastal fisheries (e.g., reef fish and small pelagic species). Fisheries are crucial for generating income in coastal communities and have significant cultural value. 

However, production did not increase significantly from 1999–2014, despite indications of increasing fishing pressure at national levels. This suggests that the fish resources that support coastal fisheries in the region are fully or over exploited. The impacts of climate change have exasperated this situation in coastal areas with the Pacific projected to experience higher-than-average impacts. 

To maintain the current consumption levels of marine resources, Pacific Island nations will need to improve the fisheries management of nearshore resources, which are adapting to fill the gap in marine resources that will emerge in the coming years. Greater efforts are needed to support small-scale fisheries in food security and nutrition while enhancing the socio-ecological resilience of fishing communities in Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

This project works with seven different countries in the Pacific Islands, each in a different development stage in their nearshore FAD fisheries. The participating countries are Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

FAO will directly implement this project, while  working with Japanese institutions that have played a key role in developing the fisheries sector in the Pacific and involved countries. In addition, the project will make use of South-South cooperation arrangements, as some of the project’s partner countries can contribute knowledge sharing and technical assistance on topics that include the design and deployment of nearshore FAD.