Waitabu Marine Park Blog

  The district of Kubulau is taking the lead in managing its marine resources, by putting together a management plan administered by a management committee selected by the communities and trained by NGO’s who are conducting work in the district. This was heard at the St Agnes Parish Community Hall in Samabula East on Friday evening as representatives from environmental NGO’s involved in projects in Kubulau presented to the people of Kubulau living in Suva an update of what was happening back home. The open–forum, which for the first time saw the chiefs from the district coming down to Suva as part of this contingent, proved to be an eye opener for many Kubulau natives living in the Central and Southern division of Viti Levu. The Namena Marine Protected Areas and other MPA’s around Kubulau is today been used as a model for other qoliqoli owners from other districts around Fiji. NGOs who are currently based and conducting projects in Kubulau now for a number of years include th

Thoroughly enjoyed my time at Waitabu. We arrived at 9am and spent a couple of hours snorkeling in the marine park at Waitabu with local guides who knew their stuff. We were poled up to the park in a handmade Fijian bamboo raft, a Bilibili. The local guides had a good knowledge of the area and were cool to relax afterward on the beach in a new open sided bure with tea and music. Very laid back and true eco-tourism in it's purest sense. One thing is that is is a tidal activity, and can only be done a few hours on either side of high tide. You can't just rock up and go, it must be arranged by phone first so you know what time would be good. Great snorkelling trip and village visit - Review of Waitabu Marine Park, Taveuni Island, Fiji - TripAdvisor

What is an MPA? “A MPA is an area of ocean or coastal water recognised by both government and society as having specific conservation value. Measures are put in place to preserve the quality of marine life including restricted access for fishing, diving and other potentially harmful activities.” Fiji's commitment to establish a Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network covering 30 per cent of the country's in-shore fisheries by 2020 could be realised earlier than expected. This commitment made in January 2005 by the Government has resulted in more than 200 marine protected areas within Fiji's 410 customary fishing grounds, known as i qoliqoli. That's more than 50 per cent of the total target accomplished within just three years. Conservationists are excited about the increase in the number of MPA's or fishing grounds that have been declared tabu by traditional owners. And they are targeting

Villagers were in for a surprise when a delicacy they only heard of from their elders suddenly appeared in their fishing ground after 60 years. The long lost "ita" (kuita) or octopus' reemergence is the result of the setting aside of a tabu (prohibited fishing) area in their i qoliqoli. Not only did they find a few but as many as three to four for each person a day to take home, said Korolevu Yaubula chairman Apolosi Silaca with a big smile on his face. The vanua o Korolevu is in the district of Navatu, Cakaudrove, Vanua Levu. "This lasted for four days and we were all excited because we had never seen them in our i qoliqoli before. Many of us did not even know how to catch them and would not even recognise them because they had never been caught in our qoliqoli," he said. Mosese Joji, 74, who used to reminisce the good old days when their mothers used to bring in octopus has been able to taste one from his qoliqoli after 60 years. He thought he would neve