CANADIAN-FUNDED PROJECT HELPS SOLOMON ISLANDS WOMEN MANAGE MARINE RESOURCES

A Canadian-funded project is helping Solomon Island women to implement a plan for the management and sustainable use of marine resources in their region. The proejct will use the shell money production by women in Langalanga Lagoon as a case study.

Sidney, BC (PRWEB) August 15, 2003 -- Amidst the deepening crisis in the Solomon Islands, a Canadian-funded project is helping Solomon Island women to implement a plan for the management and sustainable use of marine resources in their region.

The Solomon Islands Women in Fisheries Project, which will focus on the issues facing women in subsistence fishing, as well as specific case study work in one village, is all the more important right now because ongoing strife and economic drain is leading to over-harvesting of marine resources as more people turn to the ocean for food and income.

The project is being carried out by ECANSI, the Environmental Concerns Action Network of Solomon Islands, and is co-ordinated by the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP) based in Samoa. Funding comes from the Canadian government through the Canada-South Pacific Ocean Development Program (C-SPODP).

ECANSI project officer Kristina Fidali says the case study work will focus on shell money production in Langalanga in the Central Malaitan Province. The villagers in Langalanga Lagoon make most of their income from producing shell money and jewelry from shell mollusks obtained in the lagoon.

Shell money production is a monetary-driven activity widely practiced by the women in the area, and it has led to intense pressure on the resource. We hope to focus on the issues faced by the women in Langalanga and also gather some baseline information that can help us incorporate traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary management and conservation strategies," Fidali says.

SPREP Coastal Management Advisor Mary Power says the goal of the project is to provide an opportunity to understand the important issues of sustainable management, conservation, and development of marine resources currently faced by the women.

The data collected in Langalanga will be analyzed and presented as part of a national workshop on Women in Fisheries in September, and we hope that community trainers and fisherwomen from all nine provinces will be able to take information back to their communities and implement a simple strategy for management and control of their marine resources," Power says. The development of a national network on women in fisheries is also one of the longer term goals.

Shell money in the Solomons and other Pacific nations has an interesting history. It was the traditional currency and is still used today in some parts of the islands for ceremonial occasions. The strings of shell disks or beads are accepted as currency in the Solomons and have held their value even when government currencies have not. The making of shell money is traditionally done by women, as is most of the inshore fishing, and women play a major role in subsistence fishing.

Kenneth MacKay, who co-ordinates C-SPODP activities in the South Pacific on behalf of LGL Limited, a Sidney-based environmental research company, says the project is one of several in the Pacific which targets the role of women in fisheries management and conservation. He believes the involvement of women at the grassroots level in workshops or gathering data is essential to make progress in marine resource management and conservation in the Pacific.

C-SPODP is Canada's major regional commitment to the Pacific islands, worth more than $28 million over 14 years. The program reflects the Canadian and Pacific belief that ocean development is a key priority and funds projects designed to ensure equity and balanced benefits for all Pacific islanders.

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For more information contact:
Dr. Kenneth MacKay
Director, International Development, LGL Limited
9768 Second St. Sidney, BC, Canada V8L 3Y8
Tel: (250) 656-0127 x217 Fax: (250) 655-4761
Email: kmackay@lgl.com

www.cspodp.org