Evolving approaches to sovereignty in the French Pacific

This contribution explores notions of sovereignty in the three French territories of the South Pacific: French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna. It also analyses the key nuances and challenges of the transition from aspirations of 'independence' to those of 'shared sovereignty'. From protectorates or colonies to overseas territories (Territoires d'Outre-Mer), these three territories have experienced specific and customised statuses with various degrees of autonomy, all underscoring a fine line between autonomy and sovereignty. Indeed, 'sovereignty' has today become much more synonymous with the concept of 'self-government' or 'large autonomy', as the current situation in French Polynesia demonstrates. Meanwhile, New Caledonia is one step closer to 'full sovereignty', since its actual status includes provisions for a referendum on self-determination between 2014 and 2018. The claim for independence, a characteristic of Kanak and Maohi movements, has become more pragmatically focused, to the extent that considering sovereignty 'in free-association' with France is now a perfectly conceivable option. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Data compilation on the biological response to ocean acidification: environmental and experimental context of data sets and related literature

The exponential growth of studies on the biological response to ocean acidification over the last few decades has generated a large amount of data. To facilitate data comparison, a data compilation hosted at the data publisher PANGAEA was initiated in 2008 and is updated on a regular basis (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.149999). By January 2015, a total of 581 data sets (over 4 000 000 data points) from 539 papers had been archived. Here we present the developments of this data compilation five years since its first description by Nisumaa et al. (2010). Most of study sites from which data archived are still in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of archived data from studies from the Southern Hemisphere and polar oceans are still relatively low. Data from 60 studies that investigated the response of a mix of organisms or natural communities were all added after 2010, indicating a welcomed shift from the study of individual organisms to communities and ecosystems. The initial imbalance of considerably more data archived on calcification and primary production than on other processes has improved. There is also a clear tendency towards more data archived from multifactorial studies after 2010. For easier and more effective access to ocean acidification data, the ocean acidification community is strongly encouraged to contribute to the data archiving effort, and help develop standard vocabularies describing the variables and define best practices for archiving ocean acidification data.

Seawater carbonate chemistry and calcification during tropical reef studies at Younge reef (Great Barrier Reef), 1996

Community metabolism was investigated using a Lagrangian flow respirometry technique on 2 reef flats at Moorea (French Polynesia) during austral winter and Yonge Reef (Great Barrier Reef) during austral summer. The data were used to estimate related air-sea CO2 disequilibrium. A sine function did not satisfactorily model the diel light curves and overestimated the metabolic parameters. The ranges of community gross primary production and respiration (Pg and R; 9 to 15 g C m-2 d-1) were within the range previously reported for reef flats, and community net calcification (G; 19 to 25 g CaCO3 m-2 d-1) was higher than the 'standard' range. The molar ratio of organic to inorganic carbon uptake was 6:1 for both sites. The reef flat at Moorea displayed a higher rate of organic production and a lower rate of calcification compared to previous measurements carried out during austral summer. The approximate uncertainty of the daily metabolic parameters was estimated using a procedure based on a Monte Carlo simulation. The standard errors of Pg,R and Pg/R expressed as a percentage of the mean are lower than 3% but are comparatively larger for E, the excess production (6 to 78%). The daily air-sea CO2 flux (FCO2) was positive throughout the field experiments, indicating that the reef flats at Moorea and Yonge Reef released CO2 to the atmosphere at the time of measurement. FCO2 decreased as a function of increasing daily irradiance.

Interactive effects of ocean acidification and neighboring corals on the growth of Pocillopora verrucosa

The physical and chemical environment around corals, as well as their physiology, can be affected by interactions with neighboring corals. This study employed small colonies (4 cm diameter) of Pocillopora verrucosa and Acropora hyacinthus configured in spatial arrays at 7 cm/s flow speed to test the hypothesis that ocean acidification (OA) alters interactions among them. Interaction effects were quantified for P. verrucosa using three measures of growth: calcification (i.e., weight), horizontal growth, and vertical growth. The study was carried out in May-June 2014 using corals from 10 m depth on the outer reef of Moorea, French Polynesia. Colonies of P. verrucosa were placed next to conspecifics or heterospecifics (A. hyacinthus) in arrangements of two or four colonies (pairs and aggregates) that were incubated at ambient and high pCO2 (1000 µatm) for 28 days. There was an effect of pCO2, and arrangement type on multivariate growth (utilizing the three measures of growth), but no interaction between the main effects. Conversely, arrangement and pCO2 had an interactive effect on calcification, with an overall 23 % depression at high pCO2 versus ambient pCO2 (i.e., pooled among arrangements). Within arrangements, there was a 34-45 % decrease in calcification for solitary and paired conspecifics, but no effect in conspecific aggregates, heterospecific pairs, or heterospecific aggregates. Horizontal growth was negatively affected by pCO2 and arrangement type, while vertical growth was positively affected by arrangement type. Together, our results show that conspecific aggregations can mitigate the negative effects of OA on calcification of colonies within an aggregation.

Is sustainable development a motor or a constraint for the professionalization of the pearl oyster industry in tahiti?

This article reports the results of a survey of the pearl oyster industry in French Polynesia territory. Its purpose is to examine the perceptions of the priorities for the development of this industry towards sustainable development. These perceptions were apprehended by a survey of pearl oyster farmers and other stakeholders of the sector (management authorities, scientists). After describing the methodological protocol of these investigations, it comes to confront the priorities chosen by professionals (i.e. pearl farmers) concerning sustainable development, with the perceptions of others stakeholders in the sector. Secondly it comes to build a typology of the priorities of pearl farmers concerning sustainable development. This analysis enables the assessment of the degree of convergence within the sector, which is the base material for defining a shared action plan at the territory scale. This is the first study compiling data of surveys of various professionals and stakeholders of the pearl farming industry in such a large area in French Polynesia.

Labroidaes dimidiatus (Valenciennes, 1839)

Labroides dimidiatus, is one of several species of cleaner wrasses found on coral reefs from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to French Polynesia, for the first time from Iran (Persian Gulf, Kish Island). Like other cleaner wrasses, it eats parasites and dead tissue off larger fishes’ skin in a mutualistic relationship that provides food and protection for the wrasse, and considerable health benefits for the other fishes. Some fish mimic cleaner wrasses. For example, a species of blenny called Aspidontus taeniatus has evolved the same behavior to tear small pieces of flesh from bigger fish. Cleaner wrasses are usually found at cleaning stations. Cleaning stations are occupied by different units of cleaner wrasses, such as a group of youths, a pair of adults, or a group of females accompanied by a dominant male. When visitors come near the cleaning stations, the cleaner wrasses greet the visitors by performing a dance-like motion in which they move their rear up and down. The visitors are referred to as "clients". Blue streak cleaner wrasses clean to consume ectoparasites on client fish for food. The bigger fish recognise them as cleaner fish because they have a lateral stripe along the length of their bodies and by their movement patterns.

Polynesian pearls

Black-lip pearl oyster culture in French Polynesia is still based on natural spat collection from wild stocks, but new developments in hatchery technology and selective breeding are bringing substantive change to the sector.

International workshop on "Different survey methods for coral reef fish, including methods based on underwater video"

In September 2013, staff from the University of the South Pacific (USP) Honiara campus, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and IFREMER (UR LEADNC, AMBIO project) in New Caledonia, and the French Institute for Pacific Coral Reefs (IRCP) in Moorea, French Polynesia, co-facilitated a workshop entitled “Different survey methods of coral reef fish, including the methods based on underwater video”. The workshop was attended by students from USP, NGO and fisheries officers. They were trained to several underwater visual census techniques and to the STAVIRO video-based technique, including both field work and data analysis.

The French Polynesian experience

French Polyncsia is currently the world's largest producer of cultured black pearls with exports worth US$150 millions annually. The activity has become of prime socio-economic importance the archipelagos with strong support and control of the government. In the mid-1980s, mass mortality of the black-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, has occurred in several atolls and challenged the development of pearl farming activity. Consequent Studies and surveys have described severa! pathologica! conditions. None of those is considered to pose significant threat to the industry. However, they are monitored by a surveillance program in order to prevent and control emerging diseases. The governmemt of French Polynesia has developed efforts to maintain high quality of the pearls and sustain demand of the markets. This paper reviews a successful model of development based on proactive policy and cooperation among stakeholders.

Worldwide trends in diabetes since 1980: a pooled analysis of 751 population-based studies with 4·4 million participants

Background: One of the global targets for non-communicable diseases is to halt, by 2025, the rise in the age-standardised adult prevalence of diabetes at its 2010 levels. We aimed to estimate worldwide trends in diabetes, how likely it is for countries to achieve the global target, and how changes in prevalence, together with population growth and ageing, are affecting the number of adults with diabetes. Methods: We pooled data from population-based studies that had collected data on diabetes through measurement of its biomarkers. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in diabetes prevalence - defined as fasting plasma glucose of 7·0 mmol/L or higher, or history of diagnosis with diabetes, or use of insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs - in 200 countries and territories in 21 regions, by sex and from 1980 to 2014. We also calculated the posterior probability of meeting the global diabetes target if post-2000 trends continue. Findings: We used data from 751 studies including 4 372 000 adults from 146 of the 200 countries we make estimates for Global age-standardised diabetes prevalence increased from 4·3% (95% credible interval 2·4-7·0) in 1980 to 9·0% (7·2-11·1) in 2014 in men, and from 5·0% (2·9-7·9) to 7·9% (6·4-9·7) in women. The number of adults with diabetes in the world increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 (28·5% due to the rise in prevalence, 39·7% due to population growth and ageing, and 31·8% due to interaction of these two factors). Age-standardised adult diabetes prevalence in 2014 was lowest in northwestern Europe, and highest in Polynesia and Micronesia, at nearly 25%, followed by Melanesia and the Middle East and north Africa. Between 1980 and 2014 there was little change in age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adult women in continental western Europe, although crude prevalence rose because of ageing of the population. By contrast, age-standardised adult prevalence rose by 15 percentage points in men and women in Polynesia and Micronesia. In 2014, American Samoa had the highest national prevalence of diabetes (>30% in both sexes), with age-standardised adult prevalence also higher than 25% in some other islands in Polynesia and Micronesia. If post-2000 trends continue, the probability of meeting the global target of halting the rise in the prevalence of diabetes by 2025 at the 2010 level worldwide is lower than 1% for men and is 1% for women. Only nine countries for men and 29 countries for women, mostly in western Europe, have a 50% or higher probability of meeting the global target. Interpretation Since 1980, age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adults has increased, or at best remained unchanged, in every country. Together with population growth and ageing, this rise has led to a near quadrupling of the number of adults with diabetes worldwide. The burden of diabetes, both in terms of prevalence and number of adults aff ected, has increased faster in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.