Responsible local reef management in Fiji

[thrillreefer]

I recently returned from my honeymoon to the Fiji Islands and I had an experience related to responsible reefing that I had to relate. We stayed for 4 nights at Oarsman's Bay Lodge on Nacula Island (had an excellent time) and met the owner of the resort who is also the tribal chief of the entire Nacula Island where the resort is located. It's in the Yasawa group, but is a decent sized island (approx. 10 km long and 6 km wide) for the group.

Upon meeting the chief, we discovered that the reefs on fully half of the island are protected by his enforcement of a taboo on any fishing or collecting activities. This includes all fish, coral, live rock, inverts, etc. for any purposes. And the taboo is working: we saw here by far the healthiest corals (at least 95% were devoid of any bleaching, much better than other areas we visited), healthy stocks of fish including predatory fish, sharks and stingrays. According to him and others on the island, the taboo has been overwhelmingly adhered to and successful.

The taboo was enacted 7 years ago voluntarily and was initially fairly unpopular because it drastically reduced the fishing grounds for 4 local villages on the islands. But local support has grown for the taboo due to increased tourism, probably through word-of-mouth about the health and beauty of the reefs of the island. I was wondering if such progressive local reef management has been noticed elsewhere by other travelers, or if this is a fairly unique occurrence in tropical island countries?

Just wanted to share the experience, and support Nacula Island and Oarsman's Bay resort for their responsible reef management...

 

[greenbean36191]

Yep, this approach has been used effectively in many parts of the Pacific in places like Samoa and the Philippines. It's one of the preferred methods of regulation because it's actually enforceable, whereas laws passed by governments often aren't due to the remoteness of the reefs and the lack of funding for enforcement.

Unfortunately, it's not as widespread yet as it could be, and it's not a workable solution in all areas.

 

[thrillreefer]

It's great to hear that this is somewhat commonplace, since it seemed to be working well where I saw it in effect. Even in a quite poor country where fishing is a basic necessity for sustenance. I'd love to hear about experiences with, or knowledge of, similar arrangements in other countries.

 

[greenbean36191]

The concept is known as "community based fisheries management" (though that's an umbrella term). There are tons of publications on the subject, so plugging that into Google should give you plenty to read.

This is also a good place to start (though notice it's from 1994, so pretty outdated):
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/t3233e/t3233e00.HTM