Tuvalu PROCFish/C - Socio-Economic survey 2004

The coastal component of the EU-funded Pacific Regional Oceanic and Coastal Fisheries Development Programme (PROCFish/C) conducted fieldwork in four Tuvalu sites between October – November 2004 and March – April 2005. Tuvalu is one of 17 Pacific Island countries and territories being surveyed over a 5–6 year period by PROCFish/C or its associated programme CoFish (Pacific Regional Coastal Fisheries Development Programme).

The aim of the survey work was to provide baseline information on the status of reef fisheries, and to help fill the massive information gap that hinders the effective management of reef fisheries.

Programme outputs include: • Implementation of the first comprehensive, multi-country comparative assessment of reef fisheries (including resource and human use components), ever undertaken in the Pacific Islands region using identical methodologies at each site; • dissemination of country reports that comprise a set of ‘reef fisheries profiles’ for the sites in each country, in order to provide information for coastal fisheries development and management planning; • development of a set of indicators (or reference points to indicate fishery status) to provide guidance when developing local and national reef fishery management plans and monitoring programmes; and • development of data and information management systems, including regional and national databases.

Survey work in Tuvalu covered three disciplines (finfish, invertebrates and socioeconomics), with the work undertaken in two visits, each by a team of five programme scientists and several local attachments from the Tuvalu government fisheries department. The team also helped to build local capacity by training local counterparts in survey methodologies, data collection, and data entry.

The four PROCFish/C study sites selected in Tuvalu were the atolls of Funafuti and Nukufetau, and the islands of Vaitupu in the central group and Niutao in the northern group. These sites were selected after a visit to Tuvalu by SPC staff, which included meetings and discussions with key government agencies, the Funafuti Island Government and local fishmarket owners.

Version 01: This is the final, clean, labelled and anonymized version of the Master file.

-HOUSEHOLD: Household size and composition; Ranked sources of income and average household expenditure level; Average household consumption patterns and sources; Average number of fishers and boats per household.
-INDIVIDUAL: Education level of adult members of the household; When, how often and during which months of the year fishers go out to particulat habitats; Average catch size; Catch composition; Fishing techniques; Proportion of the catch targeted for subsistence, gift and sale, and preservation; How finfish and invertebrates are preserved; Community's fishing grounds; Management rules; Major problems relating to the use/management of the community's marine resources; Quantities by species or groups marketed; Quality and processing level of species marketed; Price in local currency/USD; Client groups; Quantitative and qualitative changes in marketing perceived over a period of time.

• Collection start: 2004
• Collection end: 2005