This is not a simple task, given the resource and expertise constraints that continue to affect developments in this area.

To assist member countries, SPC's Economic Development Division (EDD) organised a workshop on maritime policy and legislative drafting from 1-4 November 2010 in Suva, Fiji, using the expertise of the Pacific International Maritime Law Association (PIMLA).

The workshop was attended by 16 maritime lawyers from the region, including the solicitor generals of Cook Islands and Kiribati, all of whom are members of PIMLA.

The lead facilitator for the workshop was Ms Teleiai Lalotoa Mulitalo, a legislative drafting consultant and member of PIMLA. Other regional experts included Mr Clark Peteru, Environment Legal Adviser for SPREP, who gave a presentation on adapting international environmental conventions to the Pacific context and the various methods of adoption by Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs).

The theme of the workshop was: legal pluralism - our realities. Legal pluralism is a new legal theory used in legislative drafting. It recognises the realities of having customary laws as well as introduced western laws, as is the case in PICTs.

In his opening speech, Mr Tufuga Fagaloa Tufuga, Regional Maritime Legal Adviser at SPC EDD, emphasised the importance of taking legal pluralism into consideration when drafting legislation.
'The challenge for maritime lawyers in the region is how best they can incorporate this theory into practice, given the existence of two or more legal systems in a society,' said Mr Tufuga.