Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Samoa hosted a regional fisheries monitoring workshop from 31 August to 9 September, bringing together fisheries staff from Tokelau, American Samoa and Samoa with facilitation from the Pacific Community (SPC). Representatives from Conservation International Samoa were also part of the training.

The workshop was delivered in two sessions, focusing on Ikasavea app and biological sampling of reef and oceanic fish species.

1. Ikasavea app

Ikasavea is a fisheries data management system developed by SPC to collect, store, manage and analyze any type of fisheries survey and monitoring data and is currently use by Samoa to collect market landing, creel census, socio-economic etc. It helps fisheries staff maintains accurate, consistent and accessible data to support fisheries assessment, monitoring and informed management decisions. Participants also shared experiences from their respective national fisheries monitoring programs, including monitoring objectives, sampling designs, data uses, challenges and best practices, while identifying opportunities for improvement.

2. Biological Sampling of Coastal and Oceanic fish species

The biological sampling sessions covered fish dissections, gonad extraction and staging, otolith extraction and genetic sampling. Fish biological sampling is important because it provides information on species composition; size, age, growth, and reproduction and population health, helping our local fisheries staff understand the status of fish stocks. This information supports accurate fisheries assessments, sustainable management and informed decision-making.

A big fa'afetai tele lava to SPC for sharing their expertise, providing the monitoring tools and supporting stronger fisheries monitoring capacity amongst Tokelau, American Samoa and Samoa.

Better data, better decisions, and stronger fisheries for our future.