Pacific Magazine > Magazine > October 26, 2007

Environment

All Eyes On Fiji

Marine Program Sets World Standards

By Ricardo Morris, SUVA

The size of kaikoso is measured as part of ongoing research and monitoring at the Ucunivanua marine area. PHOTO: ALIFERETI TAWAKE/USP

A decade after Fiji’s flagship marine management program in Ucunivanua Village in Tailevu Province drew accolades from around the world and spawned the concept of locally-managed marine areas, 35 marine conservationists gathered in Suva in late August to review their work and map a way forward for marine conservation.

The three-day workshop also attracted three conservationists from Hawaii, keen to learn from Fiji’s experiences and translate the country’s success to communities in the American state.

“It’s one of the first meetings to focus on the questions of monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of marine managed areas (MMAs),” says Alifereti Tawake, a founding member of the Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area and University of the South Pacific  staff member who, along with his colleagues, has won international awards for his work.

“The whole world is looking to Fiji. It’s setting an example in marine conservation.”

“Fiji has been a world leader in its community-based marine conservation efforts with its commitment to effectively manage 30 percent of its marine area (by 2020),” says John Parks, a scientist with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States.

“The story of Verata is really the story of the Pacific people who depend on reefs and the sea for fish and food. But not all in the Pacific have followed the path of the people of Verata. Verata is the shining light.”

In the mid-1990s, the villagers of Ucunivanua noticed a drastic decline in the numbers and sizes of kaikoso shellfish (cockles/Anadara antiquata), the village’s totem animal. These villagers are renowned for their kaikoso, which is sold along highways and in the public markets of Nausori and Suva.

A young chief, Ratu Pio Radikedike, who at the time was studying land management at USP, approached his lecturers to help address the problem. After two years of consultation, training and initial surveys, the Ucunivanua locally-managed area was put into force in 1997.

No-take zones based on breeding areas – tabu (or moratorium) – and age-old local customs were modified and restored to boost marine life. The seas around their village soon began to thrive, not only with kaikoso, but other marine species.

Initially the tabu was to have lasted three years, but seeing the dramatic results, the villagers imposed the tabu indefinitely.

Professor Bill Aalbersberg, director of USP’s Institute of Applied Science (IAS), attributes the dramatic success of the project to its emphasis on community involvement.

“It’s unlikely to be successful if you don’t involve the community,” says Aalbersberg.

He says in some areas of Verata about 20 times more kaikoso are being counted than there were 10 years ago. In northern Verata, there have been large increases in mana (mangrove mud lobsters) as well.

The “spill-over” effect has also meant that populations of marine species just outside no-take areas also increased.

And a survey conducted by four international conservation groups earlier this year in Fiji found that household income had more than doubled in villages that had set up a locally-managed marine areas (MMAs), compared with those villages that hadn’t.

Since the Verata conservation plan was established, the concept has spread around Fiji – there are now about 70 marine managed areas – and has been emulated by other countries in Asia-Pacific including the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

A transect is marked and measured as part of ongoing research and monitoring at the Ucunivanua marine area.  PHOTO: ALIFERETI TAWAKE/USP

 “We’re eager to hear the stories of success in Fiji while also bringing new thinking and opportunities,” says Parks, who was accompanied Jason Philibotte, another Hawaii-based NOAA scientist.

Philibotte of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, says he is encouraged by the perseverance of the stakeholders involved in Fiji’s marine managed areas despite impressive achievements.

“I think with the success Fiji’s had it’s too easy to rest on your laurels but the commitment we’ve seen is great,” says Philibotte. “I’m going to return home with a message of hope. Now communities (in Hawaii) can allow change to occur.”

Luna Kekoa of Community Conservation Network in Honolulu says there are many similarities between communities in Hawaii and Fiji.

“They face the same problems in Hawaii that they do here but in Fiji they’re far ahead in their efforts,” Kekoa told Pacific Magazine. “So when communities come to us with a problem we can look to see how they’re dealing with it in Fiji. In that way Fiji is building a path to conservation.”

The workshop participants agreed on eight priority areas for marine area monitoring and evaluation in Fiji and developed an action plan to carry it out.

While most of the priorities dealt with the technicalities involved in measuring the success of an MPA, it also included ways to develop these policies.

One of the priorities included moving forward on Fiji’s commitment to designate 30 percent of its marine area as conservations and extending this commitment to the high seas.

The participants agreed to improve the Fiji-wide networking of MMAs and to scale up their work in a “coordinated and systematic way.”

MMAs will also become more sophisticated with a mix of no-take zones (tabu areas) and temporary closures and zoning.

“There are a lot of scientific questions that the communities want to know the answers to,” says USP’s Aalbersberg. “We will be ramping up our scientific work and to some extent trying to answer the socio-economic questions that need to be answered.”