Sasalu Tawamudu Fiji - Sustainable Reef Resources
Adopt A Reef in Fiji - Join in Conserving a Global Resource
Fijian coastal villagers have lived for generations in harmony with their terrestrial and marine environment. In Fiji, villagers own in perpetuity their native lands and the adjacent foreshores, reefs, lagoon, and seabed. In Fijian, this marine part of the village is called the qoliqoli, and is seen as an everlasting source of nutrition to the villagers.
But global forces threaten the sustainability of the qoliqolis of coastal Fiji. Poaching and unfettered fishing from international fleets have seriously restricted the range of Fijian villages for harvesting the sea. There are simply fewer and fewer and smaller and smaller non-reef fish for the villagers to catch from their small boats beyond their fringing reefs. Today, the villagers no longer spend their days fishing beyond the reef, and no longer bring back the bounty of the sea to their families. This has placed tremendous pressure on the villages’ fringing reefs, for the reef fish, octopi, and clams are relatively safe from global fishing fleets. This resulted in increased harvesting of the reefs, particularly of the large herbivorous fish, such as parrotfish.
Scientific research conducted by Georgia Tech marine biologists has demonstrated that one of the greatest threats to coral reefs, and perhaps the single greatest threat, is the loss of large reef herbivores.
Fijians instinctively understand that when the large reef herbivores are absent from the reef, there is something wrong, very wrong. They have voluntarily decided to take drastic steps, setting up Marine Protected Areas (“taboo” areas) that are off-limits to line or spear fishing. This is the only way to insure the return of the large reef herbivores, as well as the magnificent giant clam.
It is a significant sacrifice for the Fijians to place taboo or protected status on significant portions of their qoliqolis. The reefs they are protecting are a global resource, and we ask you to participate in their protection. Today, some 30% of Fijian qoliqolis have established Marine Protected Areas. It takes training and surveying and education to establish each Marine Protected Area, and that takes money.
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