The 5th Regional Steering Committee of the Oceanic Fisheries Management Project of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency convened on 7 November 2009. This meeting was the final steering committee meeting for the project which concludes its first phase in December 2010. Discussions on a potential second phase of the Oceanic Fisheries Management Project agreed, inter alia: that the contribution of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) towards assisting Pacific SIDS in oceanic fisheries management was invaluable; and that the concept for a further phase of the project support by GEF needed to be prepared soon to minimise the impacts of the gap between the current project and the next phase.
On 9 November 2009, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme launched the Pacific Islands Regional Plan of Action (PI-RPOA) on Sharks. The PI-RPOA Sharks is the first regional plan on sharks and is primarily funded under the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement. [Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency press release, 10 November 2009] [Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency press release, 9 November 2009]