60 years on - Fiji Times Online
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...