Why Fiji is so important
Five of the seven species of marine turtles globally are found in the coastal waters of Fiji - the green (endangered); hawksbill (critically endangered); Olive Ridley (vulnerable); leatherback (critically endangered in the Pacific) and the loggerhead turtle (vulnerable) respectively. The most commonly occurring are green and hawksbill which also nest on Fiji’s beaches, as more rarely do leatherback turtles.
Laitia Tamata WWF-Fiji Marine Turtle Project OfficerEven under ‘natural’ conditions, relatively few young marine turtles survive their first year of life. Predators such as crabs, dogs and birds often kill the hatchlings as they make their way from the nest to the sea. And when they reach the shallows, many more small turtles are taken by fish. Life as a marine turtle is tough from day one! But the dedication and determination of the community turtle monitors we support in Fiji help to ensure that we give every hatchling the best chance possible.
Fiji
Fiji is an island nation located in the south Pacific and is made up of over 330 islands of which around 110 are permanently inhabited. Fiji is 194,000 square kilometres in size but only 10% of that is land. Around three-quarters of the population live on the coast meaning Fijians have a particular dependence on, and cultural connection to, the ocean.
About Fiji
Fiji has a long-standing network of organisations involved in the conservation of marine turtles many of whom have partnered with WWF-Fiji over the last decade. WWF-Fiji is implementing a marine turtle project, currently focused on nesting sites on the north shore of second largest island, Vanua Levu and on influencing national level policy and practice.
The project has four main strategies:
- Research and knowledge gaps are filled with key findings informing the efffective management of marine turtles;
- The Fiji marine turtle steering committee is operating effectively to oversee the implementation of the national marine turtle recovery plan;
- Community stakeholders are effectively engaged in marine turtle conservation and are influencing key decision makers;
- Accidental by-catch of marine turtles is reduced
Challenges facing Fiji
Marine turtles in Fiji face a range of threats including harvesting for meat, illegal capture for trade - particularly of turtle shells, accidental entanglement and / or capture as by-catch during fishing, damage and death from boat impacts, collection of turtle eggs, disturbance, erosion and loss of nesting beaches from sea level rise or infrastructure, loss of seagrass bed feeding grounds for herbivorous turtle species and other foraging grounds, artificial light and disorientation of turtle hatchlings towards roads, lack of awareness amongst the general population regarding the vulnerability of marine turtles to extinction and other impacts of climate change - for example the skewed sex ratio of hatchlings in nests with warmer sand.
Community turtle monitors
WWF-Fiji was instrumental in establishing a network of community turtle monitors, known as "daunivonu", in 2010. Since then awareness on the need to protect marine turtles and relevant laws and policies has increased alongside increased efforts to better protect nesting sites and reduce harvesting of turtles and their accidental capture during fishing. Additionally the number of daunivonu continues to increase and an assessment in 2014 found that those that had recieved the most support from WWF and other partners were the best performing and also reported increases in nesting turtles and successful hatchlings.
