Taking the Initiative...

Youth for Christ President,
Moses Nokar with brother.

The day started out early for a group of students from The College of Micronesia-Chuuk Campus. On the morning of November 4, 2011 they gathered outside the Bank of Guam-Chuuk branch in town to start the first COM-FSM Chuuk Campus trash-a-thon. The day was hot, but this did not deter the students from setting out to do the job.

It's not everyday you see a couple of young people gather and talk about doing something to help their island, but this is exactly what they did. They took the initiative in doing something that our leaders have not done. They noticed the build up of solid waste around Weno and thought of ways to at least lessen this problem. In doing this, they opened the eyes of the public to what is really needed to be done. They asked the Student Activity Coordinator, Ms. Lucille Sain and the Micronesia Challenge intern for their help. They did almost all the planning and decision making on where to start and where to end, and we came in with the trash bags, gloves, and support. The students started from down town and worked their way all the way up to their campus. After lunch, they once again got into groups of two and cleaned their campus, as well as areas outside of the campus. The day ended filled with laughter, fun, but at the same time exhaustion from the heat and a job well done!  /s/ Kriz

SBA Secretary, Renee Ezra with Lance Jacky
taking a short water break.

Jeff, Sports Manager picking something up
for his trash bag.

Camera break after a long walk.

The boys getting ready to head to the dump site
with filled trash bags.

Girls heading up from town after delivering trash
bags to the truck.

                      

MPA: My Point of Aspiration

Community based MPA has been "My Point of Aspiration"! My current involvement with my community in the Nimpal Channel MCA has given me the sense of duty to protect marine life within my community waters and all around Yap.   Without a system in place that provides for the overall management of natural resources as was practiced in the past by our forefathers, our fishing grounds would hold less if not any life necessary to the livelihood of local communities for sustenance. I see the imperative need to take drastic actions to preserve what little we have left. I do my part and watch over the fishing ground in my village with other youth in my community.

Patrol Unit - Nimpal Channel MCA

Heading to Post (Chingiygog Surveillance Platform)

Scanning all sectors

All zones clear

Logging activity status of MPA and all fishing areas

/s/ Jonathan

How it all started...

I was browsing through youtube and saw this. It totally caught my attention and I just couldn't wait to share with you all. So here it goes, Enjoy!



/s/ Kris

Changes over the years concerning fishing methods

A lot of the attitude we show and the practices we do comes through the way we were taught as we grew and matured over years. Here, in Chuuk, fishing was one of the many activities done by both men and women. It was and still is part of the Chuukese culture. Though this may be true, we have come to the realization that the methods have become drastically different. Below is a picture of a group of women out fishing. Whether it was for festivities or just for the family, long ago they used to do it in groups. Which made it easier for the people, and didn't cause harm to the resources there because it is fair to say that in the past it was all about subsistence. Today, it is a totally different story. Nowadays it's subsistence plus commercial compounded by the population increases that has now put fish in more demand causing the drastic measures to fishing methods. We have now started using a very different approach to fishing. We now have boats, enabling us to go out further and other fishing tools which makes it easier and faster to catch as many fish as we want and maybe even more. In the end we end up overfishing and put so much of our resources in danger. It is the difference in fishing methods along with the rapid population growth and commercial demand that has now put pressure to the present resources. The challenge today is on how do we maintain the resources we have in order for our future generation to continue the use of them?

Before, fishing method with more people and smaller nets

Today, bigger nets (sometimes up to 100ft long) less people easier to do.

The future generation depends on the resources we need  as well.

/s/ Kris

Nimpal Channel MCA New Platform Launch

The Nimpal Channel Marine Conservation Area held ceremony on Tuesday, August 16th 2011 launching its new surveillance platform. It was named "Chingiygog" after the evening star. Members of the two villages Okaw and Kaday came together to officially christen the newly completed platform.

Chingiygog - the local name for the evening star, first setting star on the Western horizon

The surveillance platform will be towed out and moored at its post just outside the boundary of the "no-take" zone. Community surveillance teams keep watch every evening till morning aboard the platform.

Guests that were on hand to witness the event included government officials such as the Governor and Lt. Governor of Yap State, Speaker of Yap State Legislature and a few Senators. Government agencies such as Yap EPA and Marine Resources, along with Yap's NGO - Yap Community Action Program, Yap Institute of Natural Science, as well as the TNC Asia/Pacific Marine Program were also present. Members of the private sector dive operators and other community MPA representatives also graced the event with their presence.

Chief John Pong (standing), Weloy Muncipality chief, welcoming guests and partners.

TNC Asia/Pacific Program members in foreground observing community event.

In addition to the launching of the new surveillance platform was the signing of the Nimpal Channel MCA 3-year Management Plan. I am proud to be a part of this project that two villages have come together to start and manage and hope that from here we move on to better take better care of our natural resources, our environment, and our future.

(From left to right) 

Kaday village signatories: Stan Fillmed and Anselm Filmed. 

Okaw village signatories: James Manguon and John Pong.

/s/ Jonathan

Trochus and MPA's in Yap

Yap's 2011 Trochus Open Season on Yap's main island was closed on August 8th, 12 noon local time. Total gathered trochus on Yap mainland was 98 tons, which is short of the 150 ton quota. A first for Yap to have closed trochus harvesting short of the quota and also a first for Yap to have set its quota so high. The proclamation for Yap's 2011 Trochus Open Season started on July 11, 6 a.m. local time and was extended twice till August 8th, due to shortfall in reaching quota. An interview with Marine Resources acting Division Chief, Mike Hasurmai, on the matter of why Yap failed to meet the quota suggests that the new conditions of the trochus proclamation, that advised all fisherman to refrain from any harvesting activities within the "No-Take" zones of concerned MPAs or LMMAs, may have been a major factor in why Yap didn't meet its quota. This gave the local communities a sense of control over their fishing grounds. Mike explained to me a difference in this year's Trochus Open Season where those who were harvesting had to ask permission from local community members to harvest trochus in their fishing grounds in contrast to the previous trochus open seasons where anyone could harvest trochus anywhere on Yap's fishing grounds without the consent of the resource owners.

Though we did not meet the amount we set at first, I feel that Yap has taken a step towards the right direction. Having the government recognize the MPAs and LMMAs on Yap is a first of many accomplishments for the State of Yap. I hope that from here on out, the government and the local communities who are involved in environmental conservancy projects will continue to work together. Who knows maybe sometimes in the future, if they plan and execute right, we might even be able to surpass this year's 150 ton quota for trochus and still have plenty to keep Yap's Marine biodiversity at an all time high along with many other projects that help manage our natural resources and still have an abundance to commercially export.

/s/ Jonathan

Check this out

I loved them, and so I thought...Why not share'em

A test

I think I get the hang of this, but right now this one is a test..

My nephew Kimahni

I see a lot of fisherman here in Yap catching turtles on a daily basis.

There are no research being done on turtle population in our region.
This concerns me, with recent issues on turtle extinction due to overfishing,
shouldn't we Yapese take the initiative and better understand the situation we
are in regarding turtle hunting and whether or not we should do something about
it before it is too late?

Here is a trailer for a video on Hawksbill turtle preservation.



/s/ Jonathan

My Short Term Goal

I want to produce a Yapese language video about the importance of MPAs on Yap.
Here's an example of one in Chuukese for MPAs in Guam.




/s/ Jonathan

Underwater Shots

  

Here are a few pictures of me underwater.
If we take MPAs more seriously these images
could still be possible in the near future!

Westside Waves

Hanging out at the outer reef

Diving down for Trochus

Looking for trochus

I need air

Resting after looking for trochus

Shirt-load of trochus

/s/ Jonathan