Pacific island nations do not always have the financial and human resources needed to develop
methods for mariculture and other forms of inshore fisheries management (Adams, 1998). The
ICLARM-ACIAR partnership was established to work with National Fisheries agencies, coastal
villagers and Australian Advanced Research Institutions (ARIs) to develop the required methods for
restocking, aquaculture and inshore fisheries management on behalf of the Pacific region (Lawrence,
1999).
To harness the potential of their inshore fisheries, island nations must restore stocks to the carrying
capacity of the habitat and then harvest them in the optimal, sustainable way. The fastest way to
rebuild coastal fisheries is through restocking programs (Bell, 1999). The other way to increase
productivity of inshore marine resources in the Pacific is by breeding additional juveniles and raising
them on farms, commonly known as aquaculture (Bell and Gervis, 1999).
The objectives of the ICLARM-ACIAR partnership are to provide the people of the tropical Pacific
with the tools and knowledge they need to increase the productivity of their inshore marine resources
on a sustainable basis. This need arises because many Pacific island nations have few opportunities to
earn income, apart from fisheries for tuna within their 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zones,
and the harvest of valuable inshore species. Unfortunately, the coastal resources are already overexploited
in many countries. In some cases, the coral reefs which support the inshore fisheries have
also been degraded through poor land use and destructive harvesting methods.