Transcript
HUGH GOVAN: The Pacific Islands have hundreds, if not thousands, of years of experience in living with their coastal resources, indeed their ocean resources, and in the run up to this conference, focussed on the ocean, it seems appropriate that the experience of the Pacific Islanders should receive a lot of prominence, given that they are kind of stewards of the world's biggest ocean and have huge amounts of experience for a small population comparative to other countries. What I am in a good position to say now after 17 years working with this network, and 30 years working with Pacific Islands communities, there is much the Pacific Islands communities have to offer the world in terms of showing ways forward, where people can be actively part of managing the coastal, and, indeed, the oceanic resources. I think this is something that the world should be pricking its ears up to.
DW: So in that time that you have been involved with these coastal communities around the Pacific how much harder has it become for them to feed themselves with fish?
HG: I think it is fair to say, particularly in Melanesia, the more populated countries that it has become considerably harder. This is partly to do with the large increase in population in these countries, but also the increased access to markets which of course would be able to provide much needed cash for these remote communities, and so certain species, particularly the valuable ones, are critically overfished. Like Beche de Mer - the most valuable of the coastal species is actually closed - the fishery is closed in much of the Pacific - just can't handle the pressure.
DW: So in terms of management, what is it that you think needs to happen to ensure that these people are able to feed themselves for a long time to come?
HG: Well for feeding purposes, in other words for coastal food, the communities are able to manage their resources following more or less the same traditions that they always have. That is based on their right to be able to determine what happens inside those coastal areas. So there was a sort of customary right. In other word the communities are able to exclude industrial fishing or foreign fishers from the coastal areas on the basis of those rights. That gives them the very strong ability to decide what happens there. Securing those rights, keeping those rights will probably be enough for food purposes but if you are trying to feed urban populations or a little export of fish overseas then you end up with a much more dollar oriented or commercial pressure. And that one isn't quite so easy to handle, because there you have the local need for money which can only really be provided from a small variety of sources, competing against wide, long-term management.
DW: The Oceans Conference is going to consider this Ocean Policy Framework and you have been involved in preparing Fiji's part of this.
HG: Yeah Fiji has spent a large part of this year drafting an Ocean Policy Framework - essentially consulting all the stakeholders, whether in government, private sector, or civil society and this will be one of the more widely consulted oceans' policies that Fiji has produced, ever. And hopefully we will also be able to show the world that involving the main stakeholders is the best way forward. From civil society point of view of course, a lot of the inputs have been around the work of coastal communities and what they need to be able to manage their resources better. And that, as I mentioned, revolves around ensuring that the basic rights to be able to carry out their guardianship are preserved or promoted.
DW: Through the work that you have been doing, and as you say, you have working across the Pacific, but there are situations, when you look at the world as a whole, it is far worse isn't it? In terms of the access to fish that coastal communities in other places have, and there needs to be work to protect them and this is incorporated into the work that you and Fiji have been working on?
HG: Yes that's right. Well the LMMA Network facilitates exchanges between communities in the Pacific and elsewhere in the world, and from that perspective we realise how fortunate the South Pacific is, also how much it would be desirable for foreign governments in the rest of the world to acknowledge more rights to their coastal communities. Coastal communities in Africa, South America and so on quite often have to deal, not only with their internal pressures but also the depredations of industrial and commercial fleets and without any legal basis to regulate their access in inshore waters the communities will be put out of business and put out of their livelihoods. And the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organisation] and the Sustainable Development Goal Number 14, which this conference is about, do provide for the protection and recognition of coastal community rights. But it is certainly not a done deal. It seems to be any area that many governments are reluctant to accept in precisely the wording that is formulated under these goals and we will be keeping a very close eye on whether these governments are on the side of communities or not.
