The coastal section of the Tuvalu Fisheries Department has successfully completed the final metronome trip for 2017 to the northern islands of Niutao, Nanumea and Nanumaga. This completes an important activity under the TFD Annual work plan 2017. The metronome trips, carried out 4 times per year, are an important and on-going part of our outreach to the outer islands. During the trips we work together with the island Kaupules to identify and address fisheries issues. The primary aim of the latest mission was to consult with people, carry out discussions and present status reports on the progress of our work on each island.
The trip was carried out by five officers from the Coastal Section and an officer from the Administration Section for media purposes. The trip was run between the dates of 24th September to the 15th of October 2017. The main activities completed were:
- A two day refresher workshop on creel surveys for Outer Island Data Collectors (OIDCs) and Ridge to Reef (R2R) Officers;
- Creel surveys for increasing sample size of TFD’s creel programme and for comparison with OIDC’s samples for quality control;
- On-going collection of ciguatera fish poisoning cases on each island;
- Collect fisheries related information for developing fisheries island profiles;
- Consultations with each Kaupule to discuss and review progress on implementation of agreed fisheries management actions; and
- Awareness workshops with the communities and primary schools on ciguatera fish poisoning, marine pollution, the differences between LMMAs and MPAs, and awareness for the fisheries library (including information on what sort of information are kept, who the main users are and services provided.
The three visited northern islands contributed perspectives on their issues relating to fisheries, and made recommendations for managing and re-building their coastal reef fisheries productivity. They also requested copies of reports on the previous surveys made on their islands.
Next year, the Metronome trips will begin again in March.
| 2018 Metronome trips: | |||
| Metro 8 Central (Talamoana) | Nui, Nukufetau, Vaitupu | 1/3/18 | 30/3/18 |
| Metro 9 South (Talamoana) | Nukulaelae, Niulakita | 15/5/18 | 31/5/18 |
| Metro 10 North (Talamoana) | Nanumea, Nanumaga, Niutao | 1/8/18 | 30/8/18 |
| Metro 11 Central (Talamoana) | Nui, Nukufetau, Vaitupu | 22/9/18 | 21/10/18 |