Initial conservation outcomes of the Tetepare Island Protected Area

Abstract

Tetepare Island, the largest uninhabited island in the south Pacific Ocean, is an icon of Solomon Islands biodiversity and conservation management. In response to destructive logging threats, displaced landowners formed the Tetepare Descendants’ Association with the core objective of conserving natural resources for the use of future generations. Local rangers enforce marine and terrestrial protected areas and monitor the response of key resource species. Within the first few years of protection, Coconut Crab Birgus latro and Trochus Trochus niloticus tended to be larger at protected sites than at sites where traditional artisanal, or subsistence-based, harvesting continued. Because larger crabs and gastropods are known to deposit more eggs than smaller conspecifics, these data confirmed to resource owners the value of prohibiting harvesting from regions to improve productivity of adjacent harvested regions. Tetepare Island is a valuable research location equipped with a field station, ecolodge, trained guides, and supported by regular environmental monitoring that can assist in the interpretation of monitoring results and fine-tuning of management.