Nearshore deterioration of water quality in Pacific coastal waters is a growing problem, associated with increasing urban and industrial sewage discharges, and agricultural runoff. Published water quality studies in the Pacific region are limited in both number and scope, making it difficult to resolve the extent of the issue or quantify the variability of water quality across Pacific islands and countries. This study collected water quality measurements over three years in the coastal waters around the Island of Efate (Vanuatu) with majority of work carried out in Port Vila, its capital. Port Vila is the key urban centre for Vanuatu where the increasing population and pollution inputs are placing substantial pressure on the coastal environment. Highest concentrations of dissolved nutrients and suspended sediments were measured adjacent or near the urban drains that enter the coastal areas along the capital's seafront, highlighting many of the issues around anthropogenic inputs are linked to the increasing urbanisation in Port Vila Bay. We provide baseline data that explores variability of coastal water quality and these types of datasets for Pacific islands are a first step towards facilitating development of long-term monitoring programmes and informing coastal zone management decision making.Pacific countries and their marine waters have high environmental and human value, with vast areas of marine habitats, coastal waters, vulnerable ecosystems and biota (Tsamenyi and Jit, 2011). A large proportion of the Pacific community live close to the sea or are highly dependent on their association with it (Bell et al., 2011;Donnelly et al., 2012;Muckle et al., 2015) with human wellbeing being intrinsically linked to the health of the marine oceanscape. Whilst there are several ongoing research programs in the Pacific that target climate change, water quality and habitat loss, it is difficult to adequately report on the 40 million km 2 area of the Pacific oceanscape (Tsamenyi and Jit, 2011). There is an urgent need for accessible water quality data and improved understanding of the impacts of pollution to ensure good environmental health and human wellbeing and to support sustainable fishing and tourism (Komugabe-Dixson et al., 2019;Mcleod et al., 2019).The Commonwealth Marine Economies (CME) Programme was initiated in the Pacific in 2016 with funding from the United Kingdom government (McManus et al., 2019). The aim of the programme was to provide Commonwealth Small Island Developing States (SIDS) with improved hydrographic and scientific data relating to their marine environments. This approach to the collection and dissemination of scientific data aligns well with the objectives laid out in Salpin et al. (2018), who identified that the opportunity for Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) to undertake and benefit from marine science, including accessing appropriate technology, represents a significant contribution to their sustainable development aspirations. Many components of ecological measurements in Pa...
