FISHING communities can decide to temporarily open marine protected areas (MPAs), or taboo fishing grounds, in order to earn an income for back to school shopping since they started the taboo, says Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas co-ordinator Margaret Vakalalabure.
Ms Vakalalabure said for taboo areas that were initiated by the qoliqoli unit, the decision to open the area or not would be done by a committee within the community.
It is understood that some villages along the Coral Coast were in the process of deciding to open their MPAs for a few weeks so that villagers can earn money to cater for the needs of their children who resume school in two weeks.
“With MPAs that are done by the qoliqoli owners, the decision to open or not is done by them because the initial request to have it established was brought forward by them. So if anything, it goes back to the committee that they have within the vanua or within that qoliqoli unit,” Ms Vakalalabure said.
“For us at the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas (FLMMA) network, we would first have to establish which actual site it is to see if they are members of FLMMA and if they are, there will be protocols to follow.
“We have a FLMMA divisional Western representative who is based in Votua Village along the Coral Coast and he will be notified because there are certain procedures to follow before it is opened.”
Ms Vakalalabure said there were 476 marine protected areas in the 14 provinces around Fiji.
