Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Food

Coastal fisheries are essential to Pacific Island communities, providing vital nutrition, livelihoods, and cultural value, yet microplastic (MP) contamination poses a growing threat to both ecosystem and human health. This study presents a regional assessment of microplastic contamination in coastal fish across four Pacific Island Countries and Territories (Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu), based on the compilation of four methodologically standardized datasets, enabling us to evaluate whether regional patterns of contamination are linked to the ecological traits of fish. A total of 878 fish from 138 species were analysed to reveal widespread ingestion (32.7% prevalence; 0.76 ± 0.05 MPs/individual), with Fiji exhibiting the highest contamination (74.5% frequency). Reef-associated invertivores such as Lethrinus harak showed elevated risks (80% contaminated in Fiji), driven by fiber-dominated particles (65–95%), while ecological traits (benthic feeding, reef habitats) increased exposure compared to nearshore pelagic species. Disparities emerged between nations, with Fiji’s sites exceeding global averages despite remoteness, whereas Vanuatu’s low fish contamination suggests restricted dispersal, successful waste management influences, or differential bioaccumulation pathways. Polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and nylon were the dominant (~11–43%) polymer types across all countries. The findings highlight the essential need to incorporate the Pacific Island data into global pollution assessments to better represent tropical Pacific marine ecosystems. This work establishes a standardized baseline for microplastics in the Pacific coastal fish, providing a framework to guide future research on ecological impacts while highlighting the need to integrate these data into regional and global plastics negotiations. The study underscores the importance of expanding monitoring to underrepresented PICTs to better understand contamination drivers in island ecosystems.

The way tropical community fisheries are managed locally is shaped by various social, economic, environmental, and political influences. Understanding what these are and how they affect management interventions by communities is critical to ensure broader national and international initiatives positively contribute to enhancing local collective action. Across the Pacific Islands region community-based fisheries management (CBFM) has emerged as a widely applied approach for managing coastal fisheries resources. This review systematically examines how CBFM is framed in Pacific coastal fisheries literature. Five thematic interest drivers are used to guide the analysis: (i) human rights, empowerment, and inclusion; (ii) fisheries/resource management; (iii) conservation and protection; (iv) rural development; and (v) culture and traditional knowledge. The review explores how these framings relate to different stakeholder groups and in turn influence the broader proliferation of CBFM across the region. It further discusses implications for key areas of CBFM implementation, such as the interplay between prevailing interest drivers, and balancing competing objectives and priorities in CBFM. While Pacific Island countries and territories face complex challenges in implementing CBFM, the literature frames it as a vehicle for integrating diverse objectives, supporting sustainable development, and enhancing community well-being. Much of the literature emphasizes the importance CBFM places on context-specific holistic approaches as prerequisite to effective management practices. • Five interest drivers are considered in clarifying what influences the Pacific framing CBFM. • ‘Pacific CBFM’ is framed as a means to integrate competing objectives, and support sustainable development and resilience. • Intersections in representation of interest drivers reflects holistic socio-ecological principles behind ‘Pacific CBFM’. • Diversity of CBFM stakeholders complicates balancing priorities and influences broader CBFM proliferation in the Pacific. • ‘Pacific CBFM’ implemented as government and BINGO-driven initiatives shapes representation of interests.

Climate change is impacting Pacific Island food systems, reducing household food security, resilience and economic stability. This study examines climate change impacts on taro food loss in Upolu, Samoa, and Tongatapu, Tonga, focusing on postharvest handling and strategies to improve food security. It compares taro farmer climate change perceptions, postharvest handling and losses to highlight similarities and differences in taro farming practices in Samoa and Tonga. Data for this study were collected through farmer interviews and taro shelf-life analysis. Seventy farmers were surveyed, and eight were shadowed from harvest to sale. The study findings reveal that climate change factors including shifting rainfall patterns and extreme weather events exacerbate postharvest losses. Non-climatic factors such as labor shortages, poor handling, limited transportation, and poor storage practices are primary factors also contributing to the affordability and availability of taro. Farmers have adopted strategies such as the use of early warning systems, prompt harvesting and soil protection practices to mitigate climate change induced losses. By linking climate change, food security, and food loss along the taro value chain, the study enhances understanding of the postharvest handling procedures of taro in Samoa and Tonga and identifies strategies for policies that can provide support for infrastructure development for fostering sustainable, climate-resilient taro farming systems in the Pacific Islands.

Abstract The movement history of boulders is crucial for the reconstruction of paleo‐tsunamis. We report findings from viscous remanent magnetization studies of the boulders on Tongatapu Island, aiming to reconstruct their reworkings. Two boulders exhibited viscous remanence, whereas two larger boulders lacked viscous components but exhibited stable remanence. Both the viscous and stable components deviated from the geomagnetic field direction. These observations indicate that: (a) the boulders with a viscous component were reworked before the latest event, which could have reworked all boulders, and (b) the magnitude of the latest event was larger than that of an earlier event. The reworked timing indicated that the event occurred between 3,000 years ago and the fifteenth century. The difference in the wave height required to move boulders on the eastern and western coasts suggests that the source of the earlier tsunami was likely an eruption due to volcanoes along the Tonga Ridge.

Low volcanic explosivity index (VEI) eruptions are common occurrences in the Southwest Pacific but, as demonstrated by the 2021/2022 eruption of Hunga Volcano, submerged calderas in the region are also capable of producing much larger and more hazardous eruptions. As such, characterising smaller events from potentially hazardous systems is essential. The 2019 eruption of Volcano-F, a submerged caldera, would likely have gone totally undetected had it not produced a pumice raft that inundated beaches in Fiji and eventually washed up in Australia. New data, acquired 5 months after the eruption, reveal the development of a new vent and the accumulation of at least 3.1*107 m3 bulk volume (dense rock equivalent of 5.6*106 m3) of material on the seafloor. Between 30 and 70% of erupted material entered the raft, while the rest remained near to or was dispersed down-current of the vent. This previously unaccounted for material increases the volume estimate for the eruption, confirming it as a VEI 3 event and highlights the importance of considering not just the floating component of a pumice raft forming eruption for VEI estimation. Geochemical analysis reveals the eruption comprised a homogenous batch of dacitic magma, with compositional characteristics similar to that erupted from the same volcano in 2001, and an until-now-unidentified pumice raft in the Coral Sea in 1964. Volcano-F therefore appears to have had at least three explosive eruptions in the last 60 years, indicating it is significantly at unrest. Repeated eruptions of similar composition and low crystal content magma over decadal to centennial scales indicate the existence of a melt-dominant magma body beneath the volcano. Submerged calderas, like Volcano-F, are common in the wider Southwest Pacific region, with many such calderas producing regular eruptions, implicating active magmatic recharge. Our findings motivate a need to carefully monitor and characterise even apparently small eruptions at this volcano, and others along the Tonga-Kermadec Arc. This is because such eruptions have the potential to subsequently prime or trigger more explosive eruptions and provide critical geochemical evidence about the plumbing system and evolution of the volcano, essential for understanding the diverse hazards they pose.

Food choice is complex and is heavily influenced by the environment one lives in(1). Pacific Island food environments, including those in Tonga, have changed considerably in recent years, making healthier food choice more challenging(2). A widespread nutrition transition across the region has contributed to an increase in the availability of, and accessibility to, highly-processed foods, and high rates of diet-related non-communicable diseases(3). While system change is needed to support the availability, accessibility and affordability of healthy foods, nutrition education plays an important role in supporting individuals, communities, and populations to navigate their rapidly changing food environments, and to encourage healthy food choice and behaviour change. Approaches to nutrition education in the Pacific Islands region vary and do not always consider the socio-cultural aspects of the food environment, especially when focusing on fruit and vegetable consumption. This work was driven by an intent to develop contextually appropriate nutrition education plans using a structured process, Design Online(4). However, to develop a nutrition education plan a critical analysis of the current motivators and facilitators for the behaviour are required. When reviewing the scientific literature there is limited information on determinants of food choice within Tonga, and more broadly within the Pacific Islands context. Therefore, the aim of this cohort study was to qualitatively explore and document the motivating and facilitating determinants of fruit and vegetable consumption in Tonga. Data collection took place during August and September 2023 on the main island of Tongatapu. Semi-structured interviews (n = 5 men, 3 women) and a focus group (n = 4 women) based on the most appropriate method of engaging with participants, were conducted in Tongan. Guiding questions were derived from Design Online and proposed within the following categories: motivating determinants and facilitating determinants. Interview responses were qualitatively analysed using an inductive content analysis model. Key categories for motivating determinants included health and nutrition knowledge, normal consumption patterns, availability and access, production, financial considerations and preferences, perceptions and practices. Key categories for facilitating determinants included education, community engagement, environmental factors, food preference, finance, and accessibility. While this work has explored motivating and facilitating determinants for fruit and vegetable consumption in Tonga with a small sample, it makes an important contribution to the limited literature. The findings of this study can be used to underpin activities, such as the design of nutrition education plans. The findings also provide a foundation for further exploration of determinants of food choice. This study was undertaken on the main island of Tongatapu, but it is of interest to explore determinants with communities who live in the outer islands, and at different time points during the year to reflect seasonality.

On 15 January 2022, Hunga volcano erupted, creating an extensive and high-reaching umbrella cloud over the open ocean, hindering traditional isopach mapping and fallout volume estimation. In MODIS satellite imagery, ocean surface water was discolored around Hunga following the eruption, which we attribute to ash fallout from the umbrella cloud. By relating intensity of ocean discoloration to fall deposit thicknesses in the Kingdom of Tonga, we develop a methodology for estimating airfall volume over the open ocean. Ash thickness measurements from 41 locations are used to fit a linear relationship between ash thickness and ocean reflectance. This produces a minimum airfall volume estimate of 1.8-0.4+0.3\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${1.8}_{-0.4}^{+0.3}$$\\end{document} km3. The whole eruption produced > 6.3 km3 of uncompacted pyroclastic material on the seafloor and a caldera volume change of 6 km3 DRE. Our fall estimates are consistent with the interpretation that most of the seafloor deposits were emplaced by gravity currents rather than fall deposits. Our proposed method does not account for the largest grain sizes, so is thus a minimum estimate. However, this new ocean-discoloration method provides an airfall volume estimate consistent with other independent measures of the plume and is thus effective for rapidly estimating fallout volumes in future volcanic eruptions over oceans.

Indonesia merupakan negara produsen dan pengekspor biji dan fuli pala terbesar dunia, dengan pangsa pasar dunia sebesar 75 persen. Produksi pala di Papua Barat pada tahun 2021 yaitu 1,857 ton. Hal ini meningkat dari tahun sebelumnya, pada tahun 2020 produksi pala yaitu 1,658 ton.produk olahan pala merupakan salah satu bentuk untuk peningkatan perekonomian masyrakat dengan memanfaatkan sumber daya daging pala yang melimpah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan usaha Business Model Canva pada UMKM Kembang Empat di Kabupaten Fakfak. Metode analisis data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan business model canvas. Pengambilan sampel daerah penelitian dilakukan secara sengaja ( purposive sampling). Lokasi yang dipilih adalah UMKM Kembang Empat di Kabupaten Fakfak. Hasil penelitian ini adalah UMKM Kembang Empat menerapkan business model canvas belum maksimal, dan adanya tambahan yang perlu diperhatikan kembali seperti key activities memberi brosur umkm kembang empat bagi pengunjung tempat produksi, cost structur biaya pemasaran dan biaya lainnya, customer relationships memberikan gift/bonus kepada pelanggan ataupun reseller, channel online (Shopee, Bukalapak, Tokopedia, Lazada) dan offline (brosur). Selain itu, strategi bisnis yang tepat untuk diterapkan oleh UMKM Kembang Empat berdasarkan analisis SWOT yaitu strategi SO (strenght opportunities) atau disebut strategi agresif adalah dengan meningkatkan kualitas produk dan menjadikan produk tersebut sebagai ole-ole khas fakfak. Sehingga penting bagi UMKM kembang empat memperhatikan kedua hal jika ingin berhasil mengembangkan usahanya.