We were commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) to undertake a strategic evaluation of the New Zealand Aid Programme’s support for Pacific fisheries. The purpose of the evaluation was to provide:

• A retrospective evaluation of the New Zealand Aid Programme’s fisheries spending and Activities in the Pacific that were undertaken from 2003-2010, in particular an assessment of the impacts of the sector programme and whether it achieved its stated objectives.

• Advice and recommendations on what has worked well and what hasn’t, including critical success factors, and lessons for the focus of future support, to assist the ongoing and future New Zealand Aid Programme’s support for Pacific fisheries Activities.

The Activities in scope of this evaluation were:

• New Zealand’s support for the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the fisheries-related work of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). This included looking at project-specific efforts (the observer programme and the SPC tuna tagging work).

• Solomon Islands institutional strengthening (IS) through the Solomon Islands Marine Resources Organisational Strategy (SIMROS), MekemStrong Solomon Islands Fisheries (MSSIF) programmes, plus the WorldFish rural livelihoods development Activity.

• Cook Islands Marine Resources Institutional Strengthening (CIMRIS).