Stories From the Field

Fiji: Fishing Village's Qoliqoli Threatened by City Waste

by Semisi Meo and Toni Parras
Photos by Toni Parras
May 2004

In a quiet cove tucked away beside a mangrove forest, one woman gleans for sea urchins while another snorkels for Trochus, a type of mollusk. Up on the hillside sits the charming Navukavu community, comprised of four villages: Muaivusu, Nabaka, Waiqanake and Namakala, which share customary rights to the Navukavu qoliqoli , or traditional fishing ground. Within this community, homes are surrounded by flowering plants, fruit trees and cassava, a root crop that supplements residents' diet of seafood.

Nearby, this picturesque scene is marred by trash littering the shoreline, washed up from the capital city of Suva, which lies less than 10 kilometers southwest. "Ships anchored in the harbor throw everything overboard," says resident Raijeli Marama. "The city has a fine on the spot of $50 Fijian dollars (roughly US $22) for littering, but they don't do anything to the big ships." The community has not had to pay any fines, since they burn all their trash themselves, as well as conduct coastal cleanups to keep garbage under control.

Further out near the reef break is an old, rusting ship lying on its side, it's corrosion turning the water brown and poisoning the surrounding reefs and marine life – including the sea urchins, sea cucumbers, trochas, octopus, giant clams and snappers that fishers depend on for their food and livelihood. Many other defunct ships dot the coastline near the capital, having been sunk in deep water outside the reef break by the Maritime Ports Authority of Fiji and then washed up by storms into shallow water. The community has petitioned the city to either remove the wreck - which is sitting within their fishing ground - or compensate them for marine resources lost.

"It's very hard," says Semisi Meo, LMMA project site manager, referring to getting the government to respond about the shipwrecks. "We write to the city and don't hear anything back. We're going to have to attempt any opportunity that comes our way and we will continue." Recently the villages were successful in having the city agree to relocate a garbage dump from the shore - where wastes and toxins are seeping into their waters - to an inland landfill.

Being near a populated city has other drawbacks. Poachers easily enter Navukavu's qoliqoli to fish illegally. Honorary fish warden Saimone Ratukadreu recently confiscated scuba gear (which is prohibited) from several fishers intruding on Navukavu's qoliqoli. Though wardens have government backing giving the legal right to arrest people, not all patrolling is successful. Working as volunteers and using their own boats, wardens use a non-confrontational approach (they do not have weapons) and are sometimes threatened. "When poachers shine a torch in your face and aim a speargun at your head, we say 'take whatever you want'" says Joave Naimila, Namakala village elder. The villages requested a patrol boat from the government, but are still waiting. In the meantime, they make do using their own resources.

In an effort to move away from such heavy reliance on marine resources, the community is exploring other potential sources of income, such as eco-tourism and other activities. A village women's group was created to come up with alternate livelihood projects. One member, Raijeli Marama, hopes to get funding from the International Oceans Institute (IOI), through their Women’s in Fisheries Project Grant. "We submitted a request for $1,000 Fijian dollars (roughly US $437) to buy two sewing machines, which would serve two purposes: not only could we fix children's school uniforms and things like that, we could also make items to sell in market." She explains how reliance on marine resources is steep. "If the weather is bad and we can't fish, we have to send the kids to Suva to sell cassava (which is grown mainly for local consumption) so we can buy some fish to eat. Otherwise, we will have only rice and cassava and tea. Sewing would give us something else to sell so we could buy fish in bad weather."

Several workshops have been held in Navukavu on conservation, community-based marine resource management, and biological and socio-economic monitoring, conducted by the University of the South Pacific's Institute of Applied Science (USP-IA) and/or the Fiji country level branch of the Locally-Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network. The LMMA's approach integrates local stakeholders of marine resources in the processes of decision-making, management and monitoring of their qoliqoli.

When he first heard about the concept of using a locally-managed marine area, Joave Naimila said he was skeptical. What changed his mind? "Seeing the video about marine conservation," he says. "It really opened my eyes to see the importance of an LMMA." After that, he was convinced to move forward with it, and has not regretted it since. He still has big challenges to tackle, like the pollution and shipwrecks from Suva, but success with his village's LMMA has given him and his people the confidence to face them.