Blog

Official Launch of PacMAN monitoring activities

PacMAN monitoring activities were officially launched on the morning of 24.11 at 10 am (FJT, UTC+12).  This launch was the first step to begin research activities at the harbor site as part of the project’s commitment to establishing a marine invasive species monitoring plan and a desktop decision support tool for the management of marine alien invasive species. Major stakeholders in Fiji were present at the launch, including the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Read more…

By Saara Suominen, ago

PacMAN team visits BAF qPCR laboratory

The PacMAN team from the Institute of Applied Sciences visited the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji’s technical and laboratory facility based in Koronivia, Nausori.  The visit was scheduled following the official signing of an Operational Arrangement Agreement between IAS-USP and BAF on the 10th of November 2021. The IAS team consisted of the local PacMAN Project Manager Mr. Joape Ginigini, Mrs. Paayal Kumar (Project Assistant-IAS) and Ms. Miriama Vuiyasawa (Laboratory Technician-IAS) and the visit was facilitated Read more…

By Saara Suominen, ago

BAF and USP partner under PacMAN activities

An operational arrangement between the University of the South Pacific’s Institute of Applied Science (IAS) and the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji (BAF) was made to enable activities under the PacMAN project. This will strengthen Fiji’s capability in detecting marine invasions and enhancing marine environment by monitoring high-risk marine invasive alien species (MIAS). The two institutions signed the Pacific Islands Marine Bioinvasions Alert Network (PACMAN) Project Operational Arrangement Agreement on November 10 (2021) at USP’s Marine Read more…

By Saara Suominen, ago

Final report of the PacMAN advisory board meeting available

On the 14th of September 2021, PacMAN held the full advisory board meeting. The full report is available here. This first session of the IODE steering group for PacMAN (i.e. PacMAN advisory board) brought together the PacMAN coordinating team with major local stakeholders, representatives of the donor (Flanders Government) and international scientific experts, to adopt the monitoring plan, and discuss the development of the project across the next two years. During the two hour online Read more…

By Saara Suominen, ago

PacMAN monitoring plan v. 1.0 now available online

The PacMAN coordination team is pleased to announce that the PacMAN marine invasive species monitoring plan was endorsed by the advisory board at the meeting on the 14.9.2021. The first version of the monitoring plan is now available online. The monitoring plan outlines the plans for the PacMAN team for the next two years. To ensure both a comprehensive base of information as well as the possibility for rapid detections, PacMAN will be using three Read more…

By Saara Suominen, ago

PacMAN advisory board meeting to be held in September 2021

The full PacMAN advisory board will come together on the 14.9.2021 to adopt the PacMAN monitoring plan for the next two years. This includes local stakeholders as well as international scientific experts and the Flanders UNESCO Science Trust Fund (FUST). This meeting will mark the start of the trial sampling phase and further development of the monitoring program. Details of the meeting program and participants can be found in OceanExpert.

By Saara Suominen, ago

Report of the scientific workshop now online

The scientific workshop of PacMAN was an online event, fostering discussions between 10 scientists who are experts in environmental DNA, marine biosecurity and data management, as well as the PacMAN project team. The online format allowed participation from several different continents, across multiple timezones. Due to a lack of previous studies and incomplete reference databases in Fiji, the importance of baseline biodiversity surveys was highlighted. In addition, challenges in integrating genetic data to biosecurity management Read more…

By Saara Suominen, ago

First PacMAN scientific workshop [ONLINE]

After short delays this year, we are excited to get started with the scientific development of the PacMAN project. The external scientific committee will meet with the coordinating team to discuss the current best practices in invasive species monitoring. The issues around sampling, molecular work, data analysis and data management will all be discussed. This meeting will provide the baseline methods for developing the monitoring plan together with the main stakeholders in Fiji early next Read more…

By Saara Suominen, ago

PacMAN?

The project will develop a national invasive species monitoring system as well as an early-warning decision-support tool for Pacific SIDS, offering a user-friendly dashboard indicating the potential presence of invasive species (including pathogens and pest species) or risk of invasions to support local management. The project will achieve this goal through a work plan that includes (i) needs assessment and review of current best practices in detecting invasive species; (ii) training of local scientists in Read more…

By Ward Appeltans, ago