Open Call for New PI-TOA Steering Committee Members

The PI-TOA Steering Committee (SC) would like to announce an open call for new members to join! Steering committee members are elected for three year terms and are expected to fulfill the duties outlined in the PI-TOA Steering Committee Roles and Requirements Document linked below. All interested ocean professionals within the Pacific Islands and Territories are welcomed to apply. We particularly welcome nominations from Pacific Island government agencies and countries not already represented on our SC and early career members, to increase our impact within the Pacific Islands! If you would like to nominate yourself, or a colleague, please send a CV and short letter of interest outlining how your (or your colleague's) experience will contribute to PI-TOA SC. Please submit your nomination to secretariat@goa-on.org by 30 November 2024. We look forward to hearing from you and gaining new PI-TOA SC members!

Raising Ocean Science Awareness Among Fiji's Youth

The inaugural Veivueti Kids Ocean Conference took place on June 12th at the International School in Suva, Fiji. The event aimed to ignite a passion for ocean conservation among students, empowering them to take meaningful action as stewards of marine ecosystems. Students were given the opportunity to select an Ocean Decade Challenge and develop solutions to address these challenges, beginning at the local level.

Solomon Team Update

During Summer 2023, the OA Solomon Team composed of Dr Lindon Havimana and Dr Wycliff Tupiti plus a teaching staff member, Fiona Meke, and two research assistant students, Miriam Sulu and Jasmin Rahii, from the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) made a first visit to a proposed OA monitoring deployment site, located west of Honiara. The Team met with the local landowning group, increasing awareness of OA, with plans to present to local villagers before monitoring activities, and ultimately gaining permission to conduct OA monitoring along the coastline and reef areas. The Team snorkeled around the proposed reef site, located within the barrier reef, where stony corals and seagrasses are abundant with high diversity of colorful reef fish, making this an ideal site for OA monitoring. Stay tuned for news about our next site visit!

OA in the Pacific Islands

A recent news article features PI-TOA Scientist Dr. Katy Soapi and her OA research in the highly vulnerable and undersampled Pacific Islands. Dr. Soapi is a pioneer of OA research in the Pacific Islands and the coordinator of the Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science, one of the leading organizations within the Pacific Island Ocean Acidificiation Centre (PIOAC). PIOAC has been training dozens of ocean scientists from Pacific nations, including Azaria Pickering, who is taking the lead on the trial site near Suva, Fiji, where they are testing OA monitoring instruments that they received through GOA-ON in a Box Kits. Read the full article on the link below.

Recruiting PI-TOA Steering Committee Members

PI-TOA GOA-ON Regional Hub is currently recruiting new steering committee members since four current members' terms are up at the end of 2023. Steering committee members are elected for three year terms and are expected to fulfill the duties outlined in the PI-TOA Steering Committee Roles and Requirements Document linked below. All interested ocean professionals within the Pacific Islands and Territories are welcomed to apply and early career ocean professionals are particularly encouraged to submit applications to increase cross collaboration between the early career ICONEC Community and PI-TOA. To submit an application, please send an email by 6 October 2023 to the GOA-ON Secretariat (secretariat@goa-on.org) with a statement of interest, explanation of relevant experience, and a CV. Please spread this notice widely and reach out to the GOA-ON Secretariat with any questions.

Apply Now: GOA-ON in a Box Kits in the Pacific Islands

An application for institutions in eligible Pacific Island countries and territories to receive a GOA-ON in a Box ocean acidification equipment kit, a training grant, and research stipend is now open! Applications will be accepted via the linked form until 2 August, 2023. With the support of many partners, The Ocean Foundation (TOF) has distributed 22 GOA-ON in a Box kits to research teams around the globe, including 12 in the Pacific Islands. This kit, valued at around $25,000 USD, supports high-quality measurements of carbonate chemistry and comprises everything that is needed--down to the specialized rubber bands--to collect samples for laboratory analysis and conduct field research following established best practices. Selected kit recipients will also receive a travel grant to obtain hands-on training at the Pacific Islands Ocean Acidification Centre (PIOAC) in Suva, Fiji and payments to help support research activities over two years.

Ocean Acidification Activities in the Pacific

The Pacific Islands and Territories Ocean Acidification (PI-TOA) Regional Hub has created a map which captures the countries and locations where ocean acidification (OA) activities are happening. This map highlights the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network Kit (GOA-ON) recipients, equipment, and methodologies used. Prepared by the Pacific Islands Ocean Acidification Centre (PIOAC) the map provides a preliminary view of the OA landscape in the PI-TOA region of GOA-ON. This map is an excellent resource for scientists, policymakers, and anyone interested in learning more about OA activities in the Pacific Islands.

PI-TOA Supports OA Monitoring Capacity Building

GOA-ON Regional Hub PI-TOA engaged in a capacity building training in Suva, Fiji, 30 January to 3 February 2023. This training, organised by The Ocean Foundation (TOF) with support from NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), U.S. Department of State (DOS), and Oceans and Fisheries Canada (DFO), took place at the Pacific Island Ocean Acidification Centre (PIOAC) and brought together 21 trainees from 10 Pacific Islands and Territories who will receive GOA-ON in a Box kits. The Centre was established in 2021 with funding from the DOS and is hosted jointly by The Pacific Community (SPC) and the University of the South Pacific, with technical support provided by the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the University of Otago. The participants learned how to make ocean acidification measurements, including field sampling and laboratory analysis to aim for weather-quality data to establish regional OA monitoring programs and use sustained results to inform local policy, aquaculture, conservation, and management decisions. Data will also be submitted to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.3.1 Data Portal.