The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of the Pacific food system to externalities and has had farreaching impacts, despite the small number of COVID-19 cases recorded thus far. Measures adopted to mitigate risk from the pandemic have had severe impacts on tourism, remittances, and international trade, among other aspects of the political economy of the region, and are thus impacting on food systems, food security and livelihoods. Of particular concern will be the interplay between loss of incomes and the availability and affordability of local and imported foods. In this paper, we examine some of the key pathways of impact on food systems, and identify opportunities to strengthen Pacific food systems during these challenging times. The great diversity among Pacific Island Countries and Territories in their economies, societies, and agricultural potential will be an important guide to planning interventions and developing scenarios of alternative futures. Bolstering regional production and intraregional trade in a currently import-dependent region could strengthen the regional economy, and provide the health benefits of consuming locally produced and harvested fresh foodsas well as decreasing reliance on global supply chains. However, significant production, processing, and storage challenges remain and would need to be consistently overcome to influence a move away from shelf-stable foods, particularly during periods when human movement is restricted and during post-disaster recovery.

Identifying rates of change in the abundance of sea cucumbers under differing management regimes is fundamental to estimating commercial yields, identifying ecological interactions and facilitating management. Here, we review the status of sea cucumber stocks from a range of Pacific Island countries (Samoa, Tonga, Palau, Fiji and Papua New Guinea), some of which have had a moratorium on exports for up to a decade. We use a time-series approach to look at variation in sea cucumber presence, coverage and density from survey and re-survey data. Results give an appreciation of variation between 'high' status (less impacted) and depleted stocks. Survey data show marked declines in coverage and abundance as a result of artisanal fishing activity, and although species groups were not lost at a country level, local extirpation and range restriction was noted. Resilience and 'recovery' following cessation of fishing varied greatly, both among locations and among the species targeted. Worryingly, even after extended periods of moratorium, the density of some species was markedly low. In many cases, the densities were too low for commercial fishing, and may be at a level where the effective population size is constrained due to 'Allee' affects. From these results, we suggest that management regimes presently employed are generally not well aligned with the level of response to fishing mortality that can be expected from sea cucumber stocks. New adaptive, precautionary approaches to management are suggested, which would allow more timely interventions to be made, while refined information on stock dynamics is sought.Extinction, extirpation and range restriction 85 Depletion by village-scale fishing activity 87Recovery of sea cucumber species after fishing was stopped 89Implications of these results for management 89Outlook 90Acknowledgements 90

[1] To endure, coral reefs must accumulate CaCO 3 at a rate greater or equal than the sum of mechanically, biologically, and chemically mediated erosion rates. We investigated the potential role of holothurians on the CaCO 3 balance of a coral reef. These deposit feeders process carbonate sand and rubble through their digestive tract and dissolve CaCO 3 as part of their digestive process. In aquarium incubations with Stichopus herrmanni and Holothuria leucospilota total alkalinity increased by 97 AE 13 and 47 AE 7 mmol kg À1 , respectively. This increase was due to CaCO 3 dissolution, 81 AE 13 and 34 AE 6 mmol kg À1 and ammonia secretion, 16 AE 2 and 14 AE 2mmol kg À1, respectively, for these species. Surveys conducted at a long-term monitoring site of community calcification (DK13) on One Tree Reef indicated that the density of sea cucumbers was approximately 1 individual m À2. We used these data and data from surveys at Shark Alley to estimate the dissolution of CaCO 3 by the sea cucumbers at both sites. At DK13 the sea cucumber population was estimated to be responsible for nearly 50% of the nighttime CaCO 3 dissolution, while in Shark Alley for most of the nighttime dissolution. Thus, in a healthy reef, bioeroders dissolution of CaCO 3 sediment appears to be an important component of the natural CaCO 3 turnover and a substantial source of alkalinity as well. This additional alkalinity could partially buffer changes in seawater pH associated with increasing atmospheric CO 2 locally, thus reducing the impact of ocean acidification on coral growth.