Waitabu Marine Park Blog

Vote for us in Ocean Action Project 2013 Help us get the financial support we need to run the next Great Fiji Shark Count! Voting is on for the Ocean Action Project 2013 and  we need your vote for  The Great Fiji Shark Count ! Projects will be chosen by the Project AWARE community through a voting system via Facebook. Now we need our supporters and community cast their  vote for The Great Fiji Shark Count this November . The search is on. Project AWARE Foundation is looking for innovative and results-driven projects to address two key focus areas: tackling marine debris problems and protecting critical shark and ray species. With increasing threats facing our ocean planet, working globally and acting locally has never been so important. To empower ocean communities to take local conservation actions to a whole new level of change, Project AWARE’s Ocean Action Project 2013 is now open for voting. The Ocean Action Project supports local ocean c...

From Washington, DC in the US and says she's from "a big, blended, modern family". Juliane Diamond with the Tui Kubulau, Ratu Apenisa Vuki, when she went to visit Kubulau on her recent two-week trip to Fiji.  Juliane Diamond, a program manager with Coral Reef Alliance, an NGO based in San Francisco with projects in Fiji describes her family of nine by saying: "My biological mother was a bookstore manager, my biological father is a tax lawyer, my step mother is a vice president of development at a development firm, and my stepfather is a Presbyterian minister." Juli says she was born in the US capital and lived just outside of Washington, DC until the age of 11. Full article here  Diamond of the reef

+ Enlarge this image Semesa Lase of Namara, Tailevu, signing a pledge not to fish, buy or eat the two types of fish, kawakawa and donu, at the SeaWeb's Pledge To Save The Kawakawa campaign in Suva yesterday. Picture: ELIKI NUKUTABU A CAMPAIGN was launched yesterday to boost fish stocks, specifically that of the kawakawa and donu. The campaign, which is known as the "4FJ Campaign", involves members of the public refrain from fishing them during their breeding season, which is between June and September every year. SeaWeb program associate Alumeci Nakeke said they were delicacies as well as commercially valuable fish for Fiji's coastal communities. "The campaign is ultimately about empowering people in Fiji to create change for a better future," Ms Nakeke said. "What makes the group particularly vulnerable to overfishing is the way the fish reproduce … through a suite of outreach activities at national and grassroots level, the campaign aims to decrease...

ACCORDING to survey results carried out by the Marine Ecology Fiji last year, marine life has really improved in the Waitabu Marine Park . The organisation's official website recorded the following information: Sea Cucumber (Bech-de-mer): Despite the challenges of poaching over the last few months, which has now been addressed by the local police, sea cucumbers have doubled in quantity from last year to 107 in the taboo area this year. * Bula (crown-of-thorns): Again in the protected area, the crown-of-thorns has almost increased ten-fold from five last year to 43 this year. With consent from the Waitabu Marine Park Committee, the group responded directly by clearing 100 of these starfish in just one hour. * Cawaki (Urchin): Numbers of cawaki are increasing in the allowed area in front of Waitabu Village while none were spotted in the protected area just metres away. This demonstrates how the lack of certain species can help with understanding the state of the reef. In this ...

CONSERVATION efforts initiated by the World Conservation Society throughout the Wailevu coast in Cakaudrove have been labelled a success. According to the vanua liaison officer of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Sirilo Dulunaqio, the Reef to Ridge Sustainable Project had been widely accepted by chiefs within the district of Wailevu. Mr Dulunaqio said the Reef to Ridge concept was inclusive of all the factors that affected marine life, beginning from the mountains right down to the sea. Full article here:  Group hails district's effort - Fiji Times Online

There is an urgent need for the villagers to learn about the management of their land and marine resources says the Ministry of Fisheries. At a Fisheries Biodiversity and Fish Wardens workshop last week, villagers from the district of Verata in the province of Tailevu were taken through the protection of their respective fishing areas and sustainable fishing. Fisheries officer Jope Kavua said the four day workshop provided a learning experience for more than thirty participants from the villagers of Ucunivanua, Sawa, Kumi, Uluiloli, Naivuruvuru, Naloto and Naigani attended the workshop. Full article here:   VILLAGERS MUST MANAGE LAND AND MARINE RESOURCES

The LMMA network is composed of government, NGO, academic and private sector organizations that all assist local communities to better manage their coastal fisheries, while sharing knowledge and best practice. Currently there are over 400 participating communities in the Fiji LMMA network that have informally established 415 no-take fisheries closures across 257 traditional fisheries management areas (qoliqoi). Full article here:  Local Management to the ‘Reef’ Rescue Science Without Borders®

POLICE officers in Fiji still lag in terms of enforcing the laws that protect fishing boundaries, including poaching issues, says World Wildlife Fund for Nature policy officer Alfred Ralifo. Speaking at a recent workshop in Labasa, he said police were still not sure of fisheries laws and failed to observe the legal processes required resulting in cases being dropped from court. "Police need more training on this issue and its provisions so that they can fully enforce it to prevent illegal fishing activities taking place in the North," Mr Ralifo said. Responding to the statement by Mr Ralifo, police chief operations officer Assistant Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu said they were aware of the problem and they would deal with it by providing more training to their police officers. "We are training police officers in ensuring that our officers are well versed with the Fisheries Act and the powers that they have under the Act to prosecute offenders especially for ille...

Waitabu Marine Park has long since been a pioneering example of a successful locally managed Marine Protected Area (MPA).  Waitabu is a very traditional village, reliant on farming and subsistence fishing. In 1998 Waitabu Village requested assistance to initiate a marine Protected Area for tourism, to conserve marine resources for future generations "Inspiring people in Fiji and abroad to make positive changes throughout their lives by introducing them to sustainable environmental projects and eco adventures with sensitivity to local values and traditions." Waitabu Marine Park

Great article by Kirsty in this week's Fiji Times! + Enlarge this image Reef check team enters the tabu tara area. Picture: Supplied A MARINE park in Waitabu, Taveuni, has recorded a significant increase in fish and marine species.  The development comes after the communities of Waitabu, Lavena, Wai, Vurevure and Bouma expressed interest in finding out how the new, seven-month-old tabu tara area directly outside their villages was affecting fish numbers and coral growth.  A group of dedicated marine lovers came together to take part in their annual marine survey.  Host and Island Spirit director Kirsty Barnby said more marine species were sighted compared to last year's survey.  For beche-de-mer (sea cucumber), she said a healthy increase from 107 to 176 were recorded in the tabu tara area this year.  "Baby beche-de-mer are breeding in the tabu tara area and as a result, juveniles are being seen in the tabu tara for the first time — 156 were recorded in the ta...

Waitabu Marine Park , in the Vanua Bouma of Taveuni Island, is one of the original community-based marine managed areas in Fiji. Started in 1998, Waitabu’s no-take, or “Tabu Vakdua” area, was one of the founder members of the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas (FLMMA)network in 2001. Protected for 15 years, the Tabu Vakadua area is now rich in fish, coral and invertebrate life, and the community has recently started a new project; a temporary closure known as a “Tabu Tara”. The concept of the Tabu Tara is to close an area of reef neighbouring the long-term Tabu Vakadua, allow marine life to increase in the newly closed area, and then to open it for short term specific harvests. In this way it is hoped to create a form of sustainable “farming” of marine resources, with regular cropping. Sea Cucumbers SeaCucumbers have been a trade item in Fiji for 200 years. Unfortunately, in recent times, advancing technology such as SCUBA and Hookah underwater breathing equipment has allo...