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This guide assists PICs to build on existing laws and institutions to protect their environments, economies and societies from plastic pollution, improve waste management and recovery, and find alternative and practical solutions to avoidable plastic use.

Strandings of Oceania Database Protocols for data users

Complete form and send, along with other photos, to Karen Baird at SPREP, karenb@sprep.org

Survey of echinoderm diversity in Nauru. 18 species of echinoderms, most of them new records for the island. A total of 24 species of echinoderms are now known from Nauru. Six holothuroids (sea cucumbers), five echinoids (sea urchins), five asteroids (sea stars), five ophiuroids (brittle stars) and three crinoids (feather stars)

Coral reefs in the Southwest Pacific are generally in good condition. There was extensive
coral bleaching during 2000-2002. Since then coral reefs have shown highly variable recovery
with some reefs recovering fully to pre-bleaching levels of live coral cover, whereas others
have shown virtually no recovery. Nauru experienced coral bleaching and mass fish kills in
October-December 2003, possibly due to unusually high sea surface temperatures. The greatest
threats to coral reefs of the region continue to be human activities and cyclones, with reefs

Synthesis of the state of marine resources in Nauru, specifically coral reef biodiversity, fauna and flora and the threat to these resources.

Six survey methods were applied to suit the different coastal habitats of Nauru. These were reef benthos
transects, reef front timed walks at night, manta tow, reef front timed swims in the daytime, lobster night
searches (reef front timed swims at night) and deep-water timed scuba searches. Where possible, information
from this assessment was compared with that collected during the PROCFish survey in 2005, to explore
changes in resource status over time.

The environmental issue of greatest concern to the people of Nauru is the degradation of the mined phosphate lands. In all of the series of consultations that were carried out between the people of Nauru and the various teams of technical experts to ascertain the feasibility of rehabilitating the island, it was constantly emphasised that the total degradation of topside, including localized inland, water shortages and coastal erosions are problems that need to be addressed for sustainable development.

Proposed Project Objective: Enhanced use of data for decision making in the environment sector throughout the Pacific region. Building on the tools and momentum the Inform project established, this scaled up project will expand the user base and fill significant gaps including in situ monitoring, increased partnerships between the environment ministries and other ministries, increase use of spatial tools, and the establishment of standardise environmental standards and key indicators for key resources.