Mapping Marine Protected Areas for the Nacula District, Yasawa Islands

Fiji Hub Achievement Report March 2013

Over the last few months Global Vision International (GVI) Fijis Marine Research and Conservation Project have been working with the local communities to map and identify locally recognised Marine Protected Areas, known in Fiji as Tabu areas (no fishing zones). Through community outreach and GPS mapping, GVI have been able to gather the information required to provide the communities of the Nacula District with the most up-to-date map of the Tikinas Tabu zones. In 2006 Partners in Community Development Fiji (PCDF) facilitated a Marine Management Plan for the Nacula District which included the mapping of Tabu areas. However, seven years later few of the Tabu areas mapped in 2006 remained in place and those that did were experiencing issues with poachers. At the request of local villages and resorts, GVI collected the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates required to update existing Tabu mapping and also enable new sites to be documented as Tabu zones.

Figure 1 GVIs 2013 Nacula District Tabu Map

In order to gather feedback and advice from the communities, the proposed Tabu areas were discussed with key members of each village and the local resorts. In total, GVI logged 15 hours gathering information and collecting GPS coordinates for the final map to be produced. The coordinates were collected by boat using a Garmin 60 GPS, marking waypoints at key reefs and tracking the outline of the reef system. The GPS data was then entered into a mapping program called MapSource and sent to The Institute of Applied Science (IAS) at The University of the South Pacific (USP). The next stage was for the data to be transferred into another mapping program called Geographic Information System (GIS) which was used to create the final map. GVI would like to acknowledge and thank the IAS, USP and in particular Hans Wendt who created the final Nacula District Tabu Area Map (Figure 1).

The mapping of the Tabu zones was made possible by the support of the local community and their commitment to help protect the reefs. The High Chief of the Nacula District, Tui Drola, has fully supported the declaration of the Tabu areas and is currently working to formalise the introduction of local bi-laws to enforce their protection. GVI have now printed and distributed the Nacula District Tabu Area Map to members of the local community and resorts with the aim of circulating and socialising the information. In November 2012 GVI facilitated a Fish Warden, Marine Awareness and Resource Management Training Workshop. The up-to date map will be a useful tool for the twenty-eight Fish Wardens that were trained during this workshop, further empowering the communities to police and enforce their Tabu areas. This map will be shared with the Fiji Ministry of Fisheries and Forests and entered into the databases of the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Area Network (FLMMA).
Figure 2. Sakaraia Navunisinu, the Coordinator of the recently formed Nacula Tikina Yabula Management Support Team, holding the updated Nacula District Tabu Area Map.

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