"If you see this place, you would consider yourself the luckiest person on Earth." - Divester

That’s what marine biologist Aaron Jenkins says about Fiji’s Great Sea Reef. And it’s only getting better. That’s because Fiji is at the forefront of nations establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) in her territorial waters. By the year 2020, in fact, Fiji plans to have 30% of her waters under protection, which will make that island nation the largest system of underwater sanctuaries in the world.

Fiji’s Cakaulevu (a.k.a., the Great Sea Reef and the world’s third largest barrier reef) – is getting numerous waitui tabu (prohibited fishing zones) to provide sanctuary for thousands of marine species, including marine turtles, dolphins, sharks, and 43 new hard coral species. Similar MPAs have been implemented in other parts of Fiji. Locals agree that, as a result, not only do the flora and fauna appear healthier and happier, but personal incomes have risen by 35%.

I’m impressed with the fact that it isn’t just far-off government officials imposing strict regulations on remote islanders who fish for their livings. Rather, communities worked with the WWF, local politicians, NGOs and local village chiefs to help set up the MPA outside Naduri, the first of the network of marine protected areas in this part of the reef. As conservation practices spread, underwater communities are bound to become even more beautiful, meaning: Fiji will, no doubt, become even more of a premiere dive spot.

Data for 2008 "Status of Coral Reefs of the World"

A call from Ms Helen Sykes of Marine Ecology Consulting...

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We are now calling for data from anyone who wishes to contribute to the 2007 Fiji report, which in turn will be included in the 2008 "Status of Coral Reefs of the World" edited by Clive Wilkinson of AIMS. All contributors will be acknowledged in the reports, and also help us to
increase the representation of more regions of the Fiji Islands. Data need to be with me by 15 DECEMBER 2007.

You can send me raw data if you wish, but I know many organisations need to hold on to original information. All I need are averages in the form of summaries. The reef should be as representative as possible of the area you work in, and it's great if you have data at two depths, one between 3 and 6 metres and one betwen 9 and 12 metres, but we will take any data you care to share. If you do not measure all the criteria below, send what you have - not all sites contribute to all categories.

Country

Region

Site name

GPS reference

Depth

Reef Type

Date

Water Temperature

Organisation name

Surveyor name

Survey method used

Please give means of at least 4 samples with standard deviation if possible:

Percentage substrate cover at the most complex level you record:

(Corals, Algae, Sponges, Abiotic substrate types)

Number of macro-invertebrates per 100m2 of reef Sea Cucumbers, Diadema Urchins, Tripnuestes Urchins, Pencil Urchins, Lobster, Banded Coral Shrimp, Crown of Thorns Stars, Giant Clams (Giant Clams with a size estimation)

Number of fish in these groups per 100m2 of reef Butterflyfish, Snappers, Sweetlips, Parrotfish over 20cm long, Moray Eels, Surgeon and Unicornfish, Goatfish, Jacks and Trevallies, Groupers (Groupers with a size estimation)

Any sightings, whether on a transect or off it, of Bumphead Parrotfish, Humphead Wrasse and Turtles. Turtles to species if possible, plus any notes on habitat and behaviour which may be possible.

Thanks and best regards,

Helen Sykes

Director

marine ecology

Fiji's leading company for Coastal & Marine Ecology Assessments

Resort Support

PO Box 2558, Govt Buildings

Suva, Fiji Islands

t: +679-336-3625 / +679-359-2136

e: helen@marineecologyfiji.com

Fiji’s reefs in spectacular condition!

Fiji’s reefs show high coral health after recovering from a coral bleaching event.

Coral reefs have frequently been in the news over the past few years, usually for all the wrong reasons, in articles about dying corals across the globe. However, Fiji has had reason to celebrate, with recent scientific reports suggesting that the reefs here are remarkably resilient, and currently in the best condition recorded. (this millennium!)

Fiji is a large archipelago with a great variety of reef types, spread across the country. While not denying that reefs have their ups and downs, the Fiji branches of the Global Coral Reef Network (GCRMN) and Reef Check have just published the results of eight years of study, where reefs have been seen to recover from events such as Cyclones, Crown of Thorns Starfish and High-temperature Coral Bleaching, within five years.

Dive operators around the Fiji Islands have supported and carried out scientific reef surveys on their dive sites, which have shown reefs affected by coral bleaching in 2000 were back to normal amounts of coral cover by 2005, and even better than normal by 2007.

Many reefs are currently showing a spectacular array of hard corals, with more than 80% coral cover, and 40% Acropora branching and table corals, the most attractive to fish, marine animals, and divers. This suggests that corals in Fiji can survive quite catastrophic events as long as they do not occur too often, a nice cause for optimism for the South Pacific reefs.

Detailed reef health reports can be found at:

• www.reefcheck.org

• www.gcrmn.org

• www.marineecologyfiji.com

By: Helen R Sykes

Director Marine Ecology Fiji

Fiji Co-coordinator Reef Check

Fiji Co-coordinator GCRMN

ReefBase Pacific: Strengthening Information Access and Dissemination in Support of Effective Coral Reef Conservation and Management

Duration: January 2006 – December 2008

Funding: AFD, UNF

Partners: International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), University of the South Pacific (USP), École pratique des hautes etudes (EPHE), South Pacific Environment Program (SPREP)

Objectives
The ReefBase Pacific project will make an important contribution to realisation of the objectives of AFD’s Regional Initiative For The Protection And Management Of Coral Reefs In The South Pacific (CRISP) by:

• Promoting a holistic approach to the protection and management of coral reefs (considering not only ecological, but also social and economical information requirements) by applying the lessons learned from previous and existing activities by ICRAN, ReefBase, GCRMN, and regional partners.


• Mobilizing, standardizing, integrating, disseminating, and promoting the extensive data-, information-, and knowledge-bases currently present, but underutilized, in the South Pacific nations and territories.


• Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of targeted research, by assembling and rationalizing the information needed to build effectively on previous and existing work.


• Providing a vehicle for dissemination of information for coral reef initiatives.

In order to make these contributions effectively, the proposed project has set the following general objectives (in logical order):

• To develop an active, collaborative, region-wide network of coral reef professionals currently involved in the research, conservation, and management of coral reef resources in the South Pacific, who effectively and efficiently share and discuss data, information, issues, and solutions.


• To use the region-wide network to mobilize an unprecedented knowledge-base on coral reef resources and their monitoring, conservation and management in the Pacific, using established methodologies and formats developed by ReefBase, GCRMN, and ICRAN.


• To utilize the network and knowledge-base to create an effective, easily accessible information system which can provide managers, researchers, and reef users with instant access to the wealth of existing and new information relevant to the management and sustainable use of coral reefs in the Pacific.


• To widen the scope, impact, efficiency and effectiveness of current coral reef management and conservation activities, through the development of a network of professionals in Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, who communicate and share information.

The project will develop close collaborations with existing information systems and initiatives and seek to coordinate and interlink them together in ReefBase Pacific by jointly developing, disseminating, and promoting relevant, high quality information products for specific, targeted beneficiaries (researchers, managers, policymakers, educators, and the media).