‘O’ua takes the lead with the establishment
of
Tong
a
’s
First Community Special Management Area
The small, volcanic island of ‘O’ua in the Ha’apai Group will go down in history for having
the very first Community Special Management Area in the Kingdom. This
historical event was marked and officially opened by the Minister for
Agriculture and Food, Forests and Fisheries, Hon. Sione Peauafi Haukinima on the 1st of November, 2006.
Under the Fisheries Management
Act 2002, the Minister may designate any local community in Tonga to be a
coastal community for the purposes of community based management and may then
allocate a special management area to such coastal community ‘for the purposes
of coastal community management, application of certain conservation and
management measures, subsistence fishing operations or other specified
purpose’.
The reef system of ‘O’ua, due to its richness in fish resources has been subject to intense
fishing by the people of ‘O’ua, neighboring islands and small commercial
vessels from Tongatapu. This has led to the damage of coral reef and
other habitats in the area and the serious depletion of fish resources. . So much so, that it threatens the people of ‘O’ua’s future food security and development prospects. Recognising this the ‘O’ua community made a request of the Department of
Fisheries in March 2005 to assist them in establishing a Special Management
Area as a means to help ensure that there will be enough fish for their
families today and for their children in the future. The ‘O’ua Community
assisted by the Department of Fisheries developed a Coastal Community
Management Plan which describes the past and current status of the resources
and habitat of the area and the management measures the community intends to
take through the ‘O’ua Coastal Community Management
Committee (‘O’ua CCMC) to ensure the sustainable use
of the area. The Coastal Community Management Plan and the Community SMA were
officially approved by Cabinet in the middle of the year.
The official opening ceremony
initiated with an opening prayer, followed by a opening speech by a matapule from the village and member of the CCMC, ‘Osai Heitonga to welcome the Honorable Minister and his party. Manase Tu’alau, Chair of the ‘O’ua CCMC, introduced the objectives of their Management
Plan and brief summary of the community’s action plan for their Special
Management Area. Marc Wilson, Team Leader of the Tonga Fisheries Project
emphasized the significance of a successful implementation of their Special
Management Area and encouraged the people of ‘O’ua to
stay strong in their resolve over the future years so that they could get the
benefit of their commitment to the management of their SMA. The Hon. Minister
also delivered a speech to officially hand over the community SMA management
rights and custodianship to ‘O’ua and highlighted
that it was important to make their Special Management Area work successfully
as a benefit for themselves and at the same time set a good example to the rest
of the communities in Tonga who may wish to follow ‘O’ua’s footsteps. The ‘O’ua Acting Town Officer responded and assured the Hon. Minister and the Secretary
of Fisheries Dr. Sione. V. Matoto that they will be committed in managing the
SMA, and were willing and able to take on the responsibility. In turn Dr Matoto committed the Department to
the ongoing support of the ‘O’ua community’s
implementation of their management plan.
It was indeed a very cheerful and
inspiring occasion where the people of ‘O’ua openly
expressed their pride, commitment, excitement and joy of the event in this
important step towards the community insuring that there will be fish for their childrens’ children. The development of the ‘O’ua SMA had been facilitated by the Department of
Fisheries assisted by the Australian Government funded Tonga Fisheries Project.
