OFMP II Project Design Workshop, 7 May 2010
DOCUMENT 5
PROJECT DESIGN WORKSHOP OFMP II
Honiara, Solomon Islands
7 May 2010
PROJECT IDENTIFICATION FORM (PIF)
1
PROJECT IDENTIFICATION FORM (PIF)
PROJECT TYPE: Full-sized Project
THE GEF TRUST FUND
Submission Date:
PART I: PROJECT IDENTIFICATION
INDICATIVE CALENDAR
GEF PROJECT ID:
PROJECT DURATION:60 months
Milestones Expected
Dates
GEF AGENCY PROJECT ID:
mm/dd/yyyy
COUNTRY(IES): Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji,
Work Program (for FSP)
11/31/2010
Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea,
CEO Endorsement/Approval
12/31/2010
Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
Agency Approval Date
01/31/2011
PROJECT TITLE: Implementation of Regional and Global Oceanic
Implementation Start
04/01/2011
Fisheries Conventions in the Pacific Islands.)
Mid-term Evaluation
09/30/2013
GEF AGENCY: UNDP,
Project Closing Date
03/31/2016
OTHER EXECUTING PARTNER(S): FFA, SPC, Other (TBD)
GEF FOCAL AREA (S): International Waters
GEF-5 STRATEGIC PROGRAM(s): IW-SO1, SO3, SO4
NAME OF PARENT PROGRAM/UMBRELLA PROJECT (if applicable): N/A
A.
PROJECT FRAMEWORK
Project Objective: to achieve global environmental benefits and strengthen the contribution of oceanic fisheries to Pacific SIDS' sustainable development by
enhanced collective conservation and management of transboundary oceanic fishery resources in the Pacific Islands region and the protection of the biodiversity of
the Western Tropical Pacific Warm Pool Large Marine Ecosystem through the implementation of global and regional fishery conservation and management
instruments, particularly the implementation of practical stress reduction measures adopted by the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
Indicate
Indicative GEF Indicative Co-
whether
Expected Outcomes
Expected Outputs
Financing
Financing
Project Components
Total
Investment,
($m)
TA, or STA
($m)
%
($m)
%
1. Governance:
TA & STA A comprehensive set of1.1. Proposals from Pacific SIDS for
Strengthening of legal
conservation and managementCommission CMMs & supporting legal
and policy frameworks
measures reflecting & contributing toarrangements & compliance mechanisms,
& performance,
global best practice in tuna RFMOsincluding provisions relating to non-Parties,
including deterring IUU
adopted by the WCPFC formonitoring of implementation & sanctions for
fishing
col ective eco-system basednon-compliance
management of target stocks,1.2 Amendments to SIDS laws, regulations &
protection of non-target stocks &license conditions & associated policy
mitigation of impacts on the marinereforms & institutional strengthening to
environment of the WTPWPLME,implement WCPFC CMMs & other relevant $4.2m 30.9% $54.7m 66.9% $59.0m
including the high seas, withinternational legal instruments;
substantial involvement by Pacific1.3 . Enhanced contribution by Pacific SIDS
SIDS; capacities to implementto formulation, compliance & enforcement of
CMMs developed in all Pacific SIDS;WCPFC CMMs, including on the high seas
these CMMs & other applicable1.4. Capacity building, including training of
global & regional instruments being1000-1500 Pacific SIDS legal ,policy &
effectively implemented by Pacificfisheries management & protection
SIDS.
personnel in the implementation of WCPFC
CMMs & other relevant international legal
instruments
2. Information for
TA & STA Improved information & methods for 2.1 Effective monitoring of national fisheries
Management:
determining stock-specific &
through regionally-coordinated training &
Providing info for
ecosystem impacts of fishing & for operational support for observers, port
formulation,
designing innovative & best-practice samplers &national coordinators (estimated
implementation &
management responses that
300 personnel trained over 5 years).
monitoring the
account for uncertainty; capacities 2.2 Data management systems based on
effectiveness of
developed in fishery & ecosystem regional standards installed in 15 SIDS
$5.3m 38.3% $20.8m 25.4% $26.0m
fisheries & ecosystem
monitoring & science at the regional leading to effective management, reporting &
conservation &
& national level; these
regional integration of observer, port
management
enhancements improving the quality sampling, logsheet & unloading data
measures, including
& credibility of advice & decision-
2.3 Scientific support for national &
improving
making both nationally & at the
coordinated regional ecosystem-based
understanding of the
Commission, & for monitoring
management of oceanic fisheries by SIDS
impact of climate
compliance with national laws &
through the provision of analytical &
2
change.
WCPFC measures; with improved model ing services & associated capacity
understanding of the impact of
building
climate change on conservation and 2.4 Estimates of climate change impacts on
management of oceanic fisheries & oceanic fisheries & the associated
the Warm Pool LME.
uncertainties through the 21st century
3. Knowledge
TA & STA Increased understanding &
5.1. .Knowledge management & information
Management:
awareness of, & participation in
systems including websites, publications,
Increasing
oceanic fisheries resource &
promotional material, media relations &
understanding &
ecosystems management, the
participation in GEF events & information
awareness across
project & the work of the WCPFC exchanges (IWLEARN etc),
broad sectors of
and other relevant regional oceanic 5.2. Broader stakeholder (ENGO, INGO, civil
society through greater
fisheries management bodies
society) awareness through workshops &
$1.5m 11.2% $2.3m 2.8% $3.8m
stakeholder
strengthened stakeholder participation in
participation, including
oceanic fisheries management, including the
in the WCPFC;
WCPFC
5.3. Strategy for long term strategic capacity
building in oceanic fisheries management
and oceanic biodiversity
4. Project management
$2.7m 19.7% $4.0m 4.9% $6.7m
Total project costs
$13.7m
$81.8m
$95.5m
a List the $ by project components. The percentage is the share of GEF and Co-financing respectively of the total amount for the
component.
B. INDICATIVE CO-FINANCING FOR THE PROJECT BY SOURCE and by NAME (in parenthesis) if
available, ($)
Sources of Co-financing
Type of Co-financing
Project
Project Government Contribution
Cash/In-kind 5,000,000
GEF Agency(ies)
(select)
Bilateral Aid Agency(ies)
(select)
Multilateral Agency(ies)
(select)
Private Sector
(select)
NGO
Cash/In-kind 200,000
Others:Regional organizations Cash/In-kind 76,620,075
Total Co-financing
81,820,075
C. INDICATIVE FINANCING PLAN SUMMARY FOR THE PROJECT ($)
Previous Project
Project
Total
Agency Fee
Preparation Amount
GEF financing
Nil
13,723,350
13,723,350
Co-financing
Nil
81,820,075
81,820,075
Total
Nil
95,543,425
95,543,425
D. GEF RESOURCES REQUESTED BY AGENCY (IES), FOCAL AREA(S) AND COUNTRY(IES)1
Country Name/
(in $)
GEF Agency
Focal Area
Global
Project (a)
Agency Fee (b)
Total c=a+b
UNDP International
Multi-country:
N/A
N/A
N/A
Waters
Total GEF Resources
N/A
N/A
N/A
1 No need to provide information for this table if it is a single focal area, single country and single GEF Agency project.
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PART II: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
A. STATE THE ISSUE, HOW THE PROJECT SEEKS TO ADDRESS IT, AND THE
EXPECTED GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS TO BE DELIVERED: The objective
of the proposed OFMPII Project is to achieve global environmental benefits and strengthen the
contribution of oceanic fisheries to Pacific SIDS' sustainable development by enhanced
conservation and management of transboundary oceanic fishery resources in the Pacific Islands
region and (protection of the biodiversity/maintenance of the ecosystem services) of the Western
Tropical Pacific Warm Pool Large Marine Ecosystem (WTPWPLME) through the implementation
of global and regional fishery conservation and management instruments, particularly the
implementation of conservation and management measures (CMMs) adopted by the Western &
Central Pacific Fisheries (WCPF) Commission.
The waters of the Pacific Islands region cover an area of around 40 million square kilometres, or
over 10 per cent of the Earth's surface and equivalent to about one third of the area of the Earth's
land surfaces, with most of this area falling within the national jurisdiction of 15 Pacific SIDS.
These international waters hold the world's largest stocks of tuna and related pelagic species, and
also contain globally important stocks of sharks, billfish and other large pelagic species, whales and
other marine mammals and turtles.
The defining physical feature of the body of international water shared by Pacific Island
communities is the Western Tropical Pacific Warm Pool Large Marine Ecosystem. The Warm Pool
comprises a huge body of water, lying to the west of the strong divergent equatorial upwelling in
the central equatorial Pacific known as the "cold tongue" and between the sub-tropical gyres in the
North and South Pacific. It provides approximately 90% of the catch of tunas and other pelagic
species in the WCPF Convention Area. The health of the International Waters of the Warm Pool
LME is critical to the communities and economies of the Pacific Islands. Almost all of the land
area of the Pacific SIDS is coastal in character and almost all of the people of the region live and
work in ways that are dependent on healthy International Waters.
The1997 SAP identified the ultimate root cause underlying the concerns about, and threats to,
International Waters in the region as deficiencies in management and grouped the deficiencies into
two linked subsets (i) governance; and (ii) lack of understanding.
The weaknesses in governance of oceanic fisheries management occur at two levels regional and
national. At the regional level, the critical weakness was identified as the lack of a legally binding
institutional arrangement governing cooperation in the management of the region's commercial
oceanic fisheries. At the national level, critical weaknesses were identified as the lack of
compatible management arrangements between zones, a lack of political commitment to taking the
necessary decisions to limit fishing and catches in both Pacific SIDS and fishing states, and the lack
of national capacity. The lack of understanding was as recognised as having two dimensions.
Firstly, there are information gaps, especially at the ecosystem level. Secondly, while there has
long been a high level of basic awareness of issues related to oceanic fisheries in the region, there
has not been an adequate understanding of the kinds of measures that need to be taken and the legal,
policy and institutional reforms that were necessary to ensure sustainability.
Against this background, and consistent with the GEF policy framework and operational strategy,
GEF financing for the International Waters (IW) South Pacific Strategic Action Programme (SAP)
Project from 2000 included a pilot phase of support for the successful efforts to conclude and bring
into force the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries (WCPF) Convention, establishing a Western
and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). Then, the GEF agreed to support Pacific
SIDS efforts through the Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management Project (OFMP) as they
participated in the setting up and initial period of operation of the new Commission, and as they
reformed, realigned, restructured and strengthened their national fisheries laws, policies, institutions
and programmes to take up the new opportunities which the WCPF Convention created and
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discharge the new responsibilities which the Convention bestowed. Now, the proposed OFMPII
Project seeks to provide support to Pacific SIDS as they undertake the transition from
institutional development and reform to implementing practical stress reduction conservation
and management measures to reduce fishing mortality on key target and non-target oceanic
species, including sharks, seabirds and sea turtles and protect the marine environment, and to
improve understanding and take account of broader ecosystem issues and impacts, including
the effects of climate change.
There is a sound institutional basis for the transition to implementation. After four years, exactly as
anticipated in the alternative scenario for the first phase there is a working Commission with most
of the administrative, personnel, financial, scientific and technical institutional elements in place.
The WCPFC staff is larger and the budget for 2009 is more than double the levels projected in the
2004 OFMP Project Document, indicating broad support for the progress in establishing the
WCPFC from all major participants in the Commission. The WCPFC now finances core scientific
work undertaken by SPC, including most target species stock assessments previously funded by
GEF and other donors with a formula for contributions that transfers most of the burden to those
who fish. Within the next 5 years, the WCPFC will become the second largest Regional Fisheries
Management Organisation (RFMO) in the world in terms of budget size. Progress on conservation
and management measures exceeds the targets set in the Project document for the first phase.
Preliminary CMMs have been adopted to limit fishing mortality for most target species that are
under fishing pressure and for the mitigation of impacts on key non-target species, including sharks,
seabirds, and sea turtles, often with staged implementation. These CMMs are in general at least as
rigorous as those in other place in other oceanic fisheries RFMOs. They are seen by Pacific SIDS
as initial steps falling short of meeting the scientific advice in many respects and requiring refining
and tightening, but they already pose substantial implementation challenges for Pacific SIDS.
Consistent also with the alternative scenario for the first phase, most key elements of the
Commission's compliance framework have been agreed upon but are in the early stages of
implementation, including the first high seas boarding and inspection scheme in the world to be
established under the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, the world's largest onboard observer programme
and the first satellite-based high seas remote tracking Vessel Monitoring System to require direct
reporting to an RFMO. Other elements remain to be agreed including the application of sanctions
for non-compliance, and from its last session in December 2009, the focus of the Commission has
shifted from institutional development and the adoption of a framework of stock management and
bycatch mitigation CMMs to refining and tightening the current measures and implementation,
monitoring and compliance.
Pacific SIDS have contributed fully to these outcomes. Most of the WCPFC's CMMs are either
based on proposals from FFA Members or have been prepared in collaborative processes within the
WCPFC in which Pacific SIDS have fully contributed. Some of the WCPFC's key programmes are
built on FFA programmes focused in the Pacific Islands region the Commission's VMS is
operated through the same facility as the FFA VMS and based largely on FFA standards, and the
start-up of the Commission's observer programme is based largely on Pacific SIDS existing
national programmes.
It has taken a massive effort by Pacific SIDS to participate effectively in these early stages of the
Commission's work. In the period 2005-9, there were 19 separate sessions of meetings of the
Commission and its subsidiary bodies involving Pacific SIDS, and another 31 legal, scientific and
technical consultations related to the WCPFC (many of them GEF-supported), as well as a large
number of sub-regional, multilateral and bilateral consultations in which there has been a high level
of participation by Pacific SIDS. At the national level, most Pacific SIDS have reformed laws and
regulations, undertaken risk-assessment based analyses of the application of an Ecosystem
Approach to Fisheries Management, reviewed management plans and strengthened institutions and
programmes, especially monitoring programmes, in some cases through systematic donor-supported
long-term Institutional Strengthening Projects.
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Throughout this work, Pacific SIDS have had to collaborate and negotiate at the Commission with
some of the largest and most powerful nations in a situation where even the most well-intentioned
developed flag states have sometimes found it difficult to agree to measures that would adversely
affect their vessels or set precedents that might be applied in other Commissions. The strategy of
FFA Members in addressing these responses of the fishing states has been to push through measures
that have allowed staged implementation over time, and flexibility in application of CCMs to areas
north of 20 North where the domestic fleets of the larger fishing states operate, while still insisting
on the application of the principles of the WCPFC Convention and the UN Fish Stocks Agreement
throughout the Convention Area. For the key tropical fisheries, after the Commission had failed for
two years to adopt adequate measures, a group of Pacific SIDS adopted a package of measures for
their EEZs; then used the provisions of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the leverage of access to
their waters to have the Commission adopt a compatible package of measures for the high seas,
including a closure of two heavily fished high seas pockets to purse seine fishing, which has been
described by one NGO as the "the most effective measures in any ocean where tuna is fished."
Effective implementation of the Commission's conservation and management measures as practical
stress reduction measures in the high seas and national waters over the next 5-7 years will require
the commitment of the same scale of effort from Pacific SIDS to secure the potential national,
regional and global economic and environmental benefits as the previous establishment and
institutional development phase. The OFMPII Project will play a catalytic role in mobilising a
partnership of Pacific SIDS and other FFA Members, working collaboratively with other coastal
states and fishing states, as well as other donor agencies and NGOs for the implementation phase.
The global importance of these efforts in the implementation phase will be greater than previously
anticipated because of the importance of the precedents and best practice standards for tropical
oceanic fisheries conservation and management being established in the world's largest tropical
oceanic fisheries.
The key outcomes of the implementation phase are planned to be:
· Improved information and methods for determining stock-specific and ecosystem impacts of
fishing and for designing innovative and best-practice management responses that account for
uncertainty; capacities development in fishery and ecosystem monitoring and science at the
regional and national level; these enhancements improving the quality and credibility of advice
and decision-making both nationally and at the Commission, and for monitoring compliance
with national laws and WCPFC measures
· A comprehensive set of CMMs reflecting and contributing to global best practice in tuna
RFMOs adopted by the WCPFC for collective eco-system-based management of target stocks,
protection of non-target stocks and mitigation of impacts on the marine environment of the
WTPWPLME, including the high seas, with substantial involvement by Pacific SIDS;
capacities to implement CMMs developed in all Pacific SIDS; these CMMs and other
applicable global and regional instruments being effectively implemented by Pacific SIDS
· Implementation of WCPFC compliance programmes and development of SIDS compliance
capacities reducing the risk that WCPFC CMMs are undermined by IUU fishing
· Increased understanding and awareness of, and participation in oceanic fisheries resource and
ecosystems management, the project and the work of the WCPFC and other relevant regional
oceanic fisheries management bodies
The Project will be implemented by UNDP and executed by a partnership of regional organisations
and non-governmental organisations. FFA will be the lead executing agency and will host the
Project Coordination Unit. FFA will execute the national and regional institutional, policy and
legal reform component and the IUU deterrence components. SPC will execute the fishery and
ecosystem scientific and monitoring, and climate change components. FFA and SPC will jointly
execute the target stock conservation and biodiversity protection components with support, and
6
work with training institutions on long term capacity building and with NGOs, including WWF and
industry stakeholders on building awareness, knowledge management and experience sharing to
replicate best practices.
B. DESCRIBE THE CONSISTENCY OF THE PROJECT WITH NATIONAL/REGIONAL
PRIORITIES/PLANS: In adopting the Pacific Plan in 2006, Pacific Leaders reaffirmed the
importance of fisheries to the economies of all Pacific Forum countries; and identified as a key
priority for the region
Maximise sustainable returns from fisheries by development of an ecosystem-based fishery
management planning framework; encouragement of effective fisheries development,
including value-adding activities; and collaboration to ensure legislation and access
frameworks are harmonised.
The importance of regional fisheries was confirmed by the Leaders in their adoption of the 2007
Vava'u Declaration on Pacific Fisheries Resources in which they committed to"strengthen their
engagement in sustainable fisheries and to maximise the flow on benefits from both domestic fisheries
and foreign fishing operations in the region" and also to "fully implementing without delay the
conservation and management measures developed and endorsed by the Western and Central Pacific
Fisheries Commission".
At the national level, plans for responsible and sustainable development of oceanic fisheries are a
key element in the planning for sustainable development of all Pacific SIDS. Across the region,
fish and fishing are, as a recent Asian Development Bank report said "tremendously important to
the people of the Pacific Islands. Much of the nutrition, culture and welfare, recreation,
government revenue and employment in the region are based on its living marine resources"; and
over 90 per cent of the fish taken is from oceanic fisheries, most of that being tuna. Looking ahead
the same report projected that "tuna will inevitably assume a much larger profile in the Pacific
Islands in the medium and long term future. Tuna is likely to increase in a number of sectors, two
of which are especially critical: (1) as a foundation for future economic growth; and (2) for food
security."
C. DESCRIBE THE CONSISTENCY OF THE PROJECT WITH GEF STRATEGIES AND
STRATEGIC PROGRAMS: The proposed OFMPII project is fully consistent with the GEF5
goal for the International Waters focal area, which is the promotion of collective management of
transboundary water systems and implementation of the full range of policy, legal, and
institutional reforms and investments contributing to sustainable use and maintenance of
ecosystem services.
It fits IW GEF5 Objective One: Build foundational capacity for collective, multi-state
management of transboundary surface, groundwater and marine water systems. The OFMPII
Project is a clear demonstration of the IW approach of building commitment to collective, multi-
state action on transboundary concerns around a SAP, building a sustainable regional institution for
collective action (the WCPFC) implementing global environmental conventions (in this case the
UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the Convention on Biodiversity) and undertaking associated
national legal, policy and institutional reforms; then moving on as now proposed through the
OFMPII Project to practical stress reduction measures.
It addresses IW GEF5 Objective Three: Catalyze integrated, ecosystem-based approaches to
improved management of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and their coasts while taking
account of climatic variability and change, continuing support to Pacific SIDS as they contribute
to the development of an institution that will become the world's largest regional oceanic fisheries
management organization, ensuring an ecosystem based-approach to the work of that organization
focused on the WTPWPLME, and catalyzing and leveraging broad-based governmental, non-
7
governmental, private sector and community participation in enhanced conservation of the oceanic
fisheries resources and protection of biodiversity of the WTPWPLME.
It will represent a significant contribution to achievement of IW GEF5 Objective Four: Support
improved management of Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, applying to previously
unregulated fishing by fleets of over 6,000 fishing vessels fishing in an area beyond national
jurisdiction of over ... million square kilometers an ecosystem-based regulatory framework which
traces directly from the call in Chapter 17, programme area C (Sustainable use and conservation of
marine living resources of the high seas), of Agenda 21, through the resulting UN Conference on
stocks occurring in the high seas and its output, the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, and the WCPFC
Convention.
And it contributes to the GEF commitment to supporting SIDS through funding regionally focused
programmatic approaches aimed at specific regional groups of SIDS to achieve global environment
benefits, particularly through supporting SIDS located in LMEs with continental states, as part of
the GEF LME interventions as well as in possible interventions in areas of high seas. The project
will enhance the GEF contribution to the achievement of a range of MDG targets through direct
contributions to MDG 1 (Eradicate Extreme Poverty & Hunger) and MDG7 (Ensure Environmental
Sustainability).
D. JUSTIFY THE TYPE OF FINANCING SUPPORT PROVIDED WITH THE GEF RESOURCES: GEF
resources will be used to provide grant financing consistent with the status of Pacific SIDS and with
financial commitments being made by Pacific SIDS, other Commission Members and other donors.
E. OUTLINE THE COORDINATION WITH OTHER RELATED INITIATIVES: The project will be
coordinated with relevant regional activities in other sectors through the Pacific Plan Action
Committee,, including the environment and regional trade programmes of other regional agencies,
particularly the Forum Secretariat, the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the
Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission and projects they execute including the GEF
Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change , Implementing Sustainable Integrated Water Resource and
Wastewater Management in the Pacific Island Countries and Coastal and Marine Resources
Management in the Coral Triangle of the Pacific projects. In addition, SPREP will be invited to be
a member of the OFMPII Regional Steering Committee .
Regional fisheries activities are coordinated through the Ministerial and Officials sessions of the
Forum Fisheries Committee in which the other regional organisations and NGOs participate as
observers, and the annual FFA-SPC Colloquium. Execution of the project through FFA and SPC
ensures the closest possible coordination of project and co-financed activities with other FFA and
SPC fisheries work programmes, including the national EAFM and Management Plan initiatives.
Project activities are included in the FFA and SPC work programmes and scrutinised by the FFA
and SPC members including all Pacific SIDS to avoid duplication, overlaps and underlaps. The
scientific aspects of the project will be coordinated and peer reviewed through the processes of the
WCPFC Scientific Committee, particularly through its Ecosystem & Bycatch, Methods, Statistics,
and Stock Assessment Specialist Working Groups.
F. DISCUSS THE VALUE-ADDED OF GEF INVOLVEMENT IN THE PROJECT DEMONSTRATED
THROUGH INCREMENTAL REASONING : In the baseline scenario, Pacific SIDS would have
continued to manage the transboundary oceanic fish stocks in their waters, essentially
independently, although within a framework of cooperation between themselves at the regional
level, executed through FFA for economic, legal and compliance aspects and through SPC for
fisheries data collection and management, biological and ecosystem research and stock assessment.
There would have been relatively little cooperation, particularly in non-scientific areas, between
Pacific SIDS and other states in the region. Pacific SIDS would have maintained capable national
licensing authorities to address their national economic needs and continued to strengthen their
compliance functions through stronger sea and air patrols and the use of VMS, but national oceanic
8
fisheries management functions would have continued to remain relatively poorly resourced. Some
Pacific SIDS would have begun to apply limits to fishing within their waters but the effectiveness
of these efforts would have been undermined by the lack of any coherent regional framework for
those limits and by the knowledge that vessels limited from fishing in national waters could operate
freely in the high seas without limits or other controls. Pacific SIDS would have encouraged large
fishing states to cooperate on a voluntary basis in providing information and controlling vessels
operating on the high seas, but response to this approach would have been mixed with some
states responding well, others declining to cooperate with voluntary measures including data
provision on the high seas. High seas fishing would have remained unregulated and largely
unreported. Vessels operating from the high seas would have continued to make illegal incursions
into national waters, undermining national efforts at conservation and management. Lacking
detailed comprehensive data especially on catches and effort from the high seas and Indonesia and
Philippines, substantial uncertainty in stock assessment results and about the levels of bycatches
and incidental mortalities would have weakened the basis for management action as key stocks are
threatened by over-exploitation and harmful impacts on sharks, billfish, turtles, marine mammals
and other associated species increased. Lack of a legally-binding mechanism applying to all
participants in the fisheries would also have substantially weakened the scope for effective
conservation and management measures. Essential regional science and monitoring programmes
would have remained funded on an ad hoc basis by donors instead of being funded by those
benefiting from fishing on the stocks. There would have been no systematic progress in ecosystem
analysis.
The alternative scenario is based on the implementation of the SAP and the WCPF Convention with
GEF support. The institution-building phase of the alternative scenario has been largely
accomplished, with Pacific SIDS joined by all key fishing states as Parties to the Convention; the
Commission beginning to operate, and financial sustainability of the Secretariat apparently ensured
based on the principle that those who benefit from fishing should pay the costs of management ; key
Commission technical programmes are established in science and compliance; advice on the status
of key stocks is being provided to the Commission; national laws and programs have been reformed
and strengthened in association with ratification of the Convention; and preliminary conservation
and management measures have been adopted for most of the key target stocks; but these have yet
to be broadly implemented, and there has been no real changes yet in fishing patterns and behavior
on the water.
In the implementation phase of the alternative scenario, Pacific SIDS and other Commission
Members apply a comprehensive, ecosystem-based set of measures in the high seas and in national
waters that conserve the globally important oceanic fisheries resources and mitigate the impacts of
fishing on non-target species (particularly seabirds, sharks and marine turtles) and and the
environment of the Warm Pool LME more generally; setting global standards for application of the
UN Fish Stocks Agreement, and contributing to global initiatives to improve the conservation and
management of oceanic fisheries, especially in the high seas.
G. INDICATE RISKS, INCLUDING CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS, THAT MIGHT PREVENT THE
PROJECT OBJECTIVE(S) FROM BEING ACHIEVED, AND IF POSSIBLE INCLUDING R ISK
MITIGATION MEASURES THAT WILL BE TAKEN:
This project will be geographically, politically, technically and economically complex, with
features that have led to mixed results in other regional environmental projects in the Pacific
Islands. A key to managing and mitigating the overall risks associated with this complexity is to
use the existing politically and technically strong institutional capacities of FFA and SPC, adding
value to the broader programmes of these organizations through infusing them with GEF values and
strategies including knowledge management and adoption of best practices, and teaming them with
NGOs to broaden and sharpen their roles. Some of the specific key risks in the project are
identified in the table below.
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Risk Rating
Response
SIDS capacity limits Medium
This is the key factor that will set the limit of what can be achieved within the 5 year
timeframe of the project. Project design will emphasise capacity development, especially
for the smaller Pacific SIDS, but will also have to recognise the limits to the absorptive
capacity of smaller Pacific SIDS, and the importance of a longer time horizon to fully
achieve objectives.
Gridlock in the Low -
In the face of the systematic shortfalls in performance of other oceanic fisheries RFMOs,
Commission
Medium
there is a risk that the objectives will be less than fully achieved. A key element of this risk
is the conflict between developed fishing states with large existing fleets & the developing
countries in whose waters the stocks largely occur. The project will seek innovative
responses to overcome this conflict, and support Pacific SIDS in their efforts to leverage the
Commission to adopt effective measures through the adoption of high management
standards in their own EEZs. The project will also support participation by Pacific SIDS in
international processes to review and strengthen the effectiveness of RFMOs.
Financial
Low
The project aims to increase the value of the resources to Commission Members and
Sustainability of the
heighten appreciation of the value of the Commission's work to its Members, especially
Commission
Pacific SIDS
Climate Change
Low
Climate change could substantially affect the Warm Pool LME and its vulnerability,
affects the fisheries
requiring a major restructuring of the Commission's approach to conservation and
and the effectiveness
management and maintaining ecosystem health, and affecting some Pacific SIDS climate
of measures
change adaptation. The project will undertake the first analysis of the effects of climate
change on the Warm Pool and the oceanic fisheries of the region
IUU fishing
Low
The project aims to strengthen Commission high seas monitoring and compliance
undermines the
programmes and the capacities of Pacific SIDS to deter IUU fishing in their EEZs
effectiveness of
WCPFC measures
H. DESCRIBE, IF POSSIBLE, THE EXPECTED COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROJECT: in essence,
the Project seeks to achieve a wide range of sustained changes in fishing levels, patterns and
techniques for global environmental purposes focused on fishing operations spread over 21 million
square kilometres in the Pacific Islands region, with a catch value from that area of over $2 billion
at first landing and double that when processed, but also affecting fishing more across the broader
WCPO Convention Area of over 50 million sq kilometres; working through 15 Pacific SIDS and
the 29 WCPFC Members more generally; and with a project budget of $13.7 million of GEF
resources or $2.74m annually for 5 years. The cost-effectiveness of this relatively slim input
depends on two main factors:
a) It will bring to bear a well-developed framework of global and regional instruments for
responsible and sustainable fisheries in which the global and regional community, including
GEF have made large investments in the past; and
b) It will deliver innovative, best-practice-based ideas, improved knowledge and understanding,
and enhanced capacities through an existing successful framework of regional intergovernmental
institutions, enhanced by NGO support; and through the WCPFC, newly created with GEF
support.
I. JUSTIFY THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE OF GEF AGENCY: The project will be implemented
by UNDP. UNDP has four major comparative advantages which will benefit the project
objectives:
a) UNDP has been identified by the GEF Council as having a comparative advantage in the design
and delivery of GEF Capacity Building/ Technical Assistance Projects;
b) UNDP has a strong country and regional presence and linkages between the project activities and
the UNDP country assistance strategies including the United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (2008-2012). This is critically important to the effective delivery to the 15 widely
dispersed, mostly small and in some ways very different, Pacific SIDS. The Project will be
administered by the UNDP Fiji Office, which has a regional focus and capability with a cadre of
national Project managers with professional experience in the region, who are characterised by the
OFMP Mid-Term Evaluation as having "displayed a high degree of personal interest and
commitment to the (OFM) Project";
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c) there is a good fit without overlap or duplication between the project design, implementation and
monitoring capabilities of UNDP and the technical capacities of FFA and SPC; and
d) UNDP has a good record of effective delivery of regional environmental projects, including
GEF-financed projects, working with regional agencies including SPREP and SOPAC, as well as
SPC and FFA.
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