Secluded from human interaction, the pristine Duff Reef or Cakau Galu in Mavana, Vanuabalavu in Lau has become a turtle sanctuary in Fiji.
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With its stunning natural aspects, the reef has now become a marine reserve – a protected home for turtles.
With its signature two palm trees on the finest of white sand, the sand cay island called Sovu is surely a treasure to behold.
The declaration of the reef was made possible through the efforts of Conservation International (CI), its partners and in particular the people of the yavusa Qalitu in Mavana. This is part of the Lau Seascape Initiative.
An initiative that focuses on both terrestrial and marine resource management and highlights the importance of achieving effective governance across all sectors and at all levels.
The declaration ceremony was done on Duff Reef on November 19.
Conservation International director Susana Waqainabete-Tuisese said the declaration marked a significant milestone for the work they had done under the Lau Seascape Initiative.
“We have been working with the people of Mavana, particularly the late former prime minister, Laisenia Qarase on this,” she said.
“He was a staunch supporter of the idea of conservation and the benefit it would bring current and future generations. He was fully aligned to the conceptualisation of conservation work and he proposed with the support of a member of his clan to set aside this reef as a tabu area.”
There were plans to declare the island a marine reserve in March, but because of COVID-19, the plan had to be deferred. For the team to be able to declare the reef a sanctuary before the year ends was a milestone, especially getting the commitment of the local communities.
“We are so proud of the people of yavusa Qalitu even after COVID they were still persistent and committed to set this as a turtle sanctuary,” she said.
“Now it is being protected.” The main purpose of the declaration was to allow turtles to go to Sovu Island to lay eggs.
“In addition to being a turtle sanctuary we also see it as a potential outdoor laboratory where we can encourage our young students at the universities to study marine science especially on the life cycle of turtles,” she said.
“We also work in partnership with many partners like the University of the South Pacific and we have signed a memorandum of understanding with various organisations to make a commitment to continue to develop and try to get funding to all the different areas that we are working on.
“From our organisational point of view, this is a big milestone because we have finally formalised from a community bottom-up approach the conservation of this particular site.”
Yavusa Qalitu representative Mesake Koroi said it was an important moment for the Yavusa. He said the main aspect of the declaration for them was to teach the people of the importance of respecting nature.
“If we respect nature, nature will respect us,” he said.
“This is the beginning of something everlasting for the yavusa and it is one of our contributions towards the fight against climate change. “We thank all the organisations that have supported us with this move.
“This is to preserve our natural resources and natural resources we mean what is in the sea and on the land. We believe that if we all respect and preserve these resources we will get the blessings from above.”
To also mark the auspicious event, the CI team led by the organisation’s director Mrs Tuisese and manager Semisi Meo tagged and released two turtles from the sanctuary with the help of Mavana villagers.
On the island to witness the declaration and the tagging of the turtles were partners, supporters and the villagers.
