Gallery
Project partners
Real collaboration
All of our project partners are locally respected and legitimate authorities in their field. We work directly with all of our partners and the local community, discussing each aspect of the project including our research methods, openly sharing our findings and working out solutions to local issues for the benefit of all our partners. We also aim to assist our project partners by conducting the locally relevant research that they will benefit from. There are many organisations offering marine conservation expeditions and discerning volunteers will want to know what the mid and long-term goals of each project are and how relevant in-country partnerships are. South Pacific Projects prides itself on credibility and creates opportunities for volunteers to meet our project partners during each expedition.
Ratu Epenisa Cakobau
Ratu Epenisa Cakobau is a direct descendant of Ratu Seru Cakobau – one of the greatest and most influential chiefs in Fiji’s recorded history. Seru was born in 1817 to the King’s brother. Gaining distinction amongst his peers he ascended to the role of Tui Kubuna, or ‘high chief’ of Fiji. During the peak of his supremacy (1840-1849) he was involved in some of the darkest and bloodiest battles ever recorded in Fiji; which led to the rise of Bau (Seru’s island home) as the seat of power in Fiji. War and cannibalism was rife during this period as the dominion of Bau extended to the eastern, central and northern divisions of Fiji. However, following an increase in new world explorers and settlers, particularly missionaries, Seru accepted Christianity, and worked to promote peace throughout Fiji. Later, it was Seru who signed the deed of cession to the Commonwealth of the British Empire to increase the development of Fiji’s infrastructure and trade options and to end further bloodshed from foreign forces.
Ratu Epenisa is passionate about conserving local marine resources for the village communities that make up Bau district and utilise the Kubuna Waters. He often patrols his waters, looking for poachers, using his own boat! He has requested that South Pacific Projects, in partnership with the Department of Fisheries, set up a network of Marine Protected Areas within the Kubuna Waters to help achieve this goal. We liaise directly with Ratu Epenisa Cakobau regarding all facets of the project in Kubuna Waters.
Moturiki Environmental Committee (MEC)
The Moturiki Environmental Committee (MEC) was initiated as a response from the community to increase awareness of environmental issues and their associated impacts on the quality of life of the islands inhabitants. The MEC is made up of representatives of each of the ten villages of the Moturiki District, discussing and acting upon locally relevant environmental issues. South Pacific Projects is offering select members of the MEC scholarships to partake in our training programme. In addition we will be working with FLMMA and the MEC to develop community managed marine protected areas and helping them to develop various eco-tourism projects.
Department of Fisheries
The Department of Fisheries Research Division is working towards developing and implementing sustainable marine resource practices, trade, and aquaculture programmes to help ensure food security for all Fijians. In order to do this, they are currently making efficient decisions and promoting community empowerment and developing all necessary infrastructure and management policies. Personnel from the Department of Fisheries are regular visitors to our site in Fiji, working with us on research activities such as MPA management strategies, reef reseeding, fish spawning aggregation (FSA) research and turtle monitoring. We also offer scholarships and training to Research Division staff.
Saras Sharma
Saras has been working at the Department of Fisheries Research Division for several years and has helped South Pacific Projects immeasurably with our project since we first arrived in Fiji. She retains very strong links with the project and was our second Marine Scholar in 2009. Saras is a passionate conservationist, very knowledgeable and a real pleasure to work with. A highly experienced Fisheries Officer, Saras is also a keen whale researcher and is a key member of the Fiji Marine Turtle Steering Committee. Saras regularly visits Leleuvia to meet with volunteers and inspire them with her passion for the marine environment.
The University of the South Pacific (USP)
The University of the South Pacific (USP) is the leading tertiary education provider and research facility in the South Pacific, offering many curriculum’s to twelve Pacific Island Nations. Its numerous faculties divide into various schools of specialities. We work closely with USP advisors at our project site in Fiji, with USP staff and students visiting Leleuvia throughout the course of the year and contributing to our volunteer training and research activities. We also offer scholarships and training to staff and students of USP from relevant schools.
Professor Randy Thaman
Randy Thaman is Professor of Pacific Islands Biogeography at the University of the South Pacific, which he joined in February 1984. He received his BA and MA in geography from the University off California, Berkeley, in 1962 and 1967, and a Ph.D. from UCLA in 1974. He has conducted research and carried out consultancies in most of USP’s 12 member countries, with his most recent studies having been on community-based biodiversity in Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Niue Tuvalu and Kiribati and the floras of Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Tokelau. Many of his students now hold important positions in areas of environmental management and sustainable development throughout the region. He has published on a wide range of topics of importance to the Pacific Islands. His main areas of research interest include environmentally sustainable development, atoll and small-island biodiversity Pacific Island floras, agroforestry and food systems, ethnobiology and traditional environmental knowledge, community-based biodiversity conservation, and ecotourism.
Fijian Locally Managed Marine Area Network (FLMMA)
The Locally Managed Marine Area Network spans Southeast Asia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and the Americas. The Network includes practitioners from various backgrounds including community members, traditional leaders, conservation organisations, academics and researchers, donors and decision makers. The Fijian Network (FLMMA) collaborates with the other LMMA networks and their respective members to share their experiences and advice regarding the development of locally managed marine areas so that all can benefit from knowledge gained. South Pacific Projects is a new member of the FLMMA Network. We aim to assist FLMMA by capacity building and providing training for their staff, to develop a network of locally managed marine areas within the Kubuna Waters and Moturiki Qoliqoli.
London Dive Chamber
London Diving Chamber specialises in diving medicine with a 24 hour advice line. Services include: NHS-funded recompression; free consultation if you think you have the bends; 24 hour phone and email advice; diving medicals; dry diving and dive medicine courses.
–
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
WWF is an international non-governmental conservation organisation that aims to conserve the world’s biodiversity, to help ensure the sustainable use of natural resources, and to promote the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. South Pacific Projects is working with WWF on marine turtle conservation strategies and monitoring methods through the turtle steering committee of Fiji, acting on the recovery plan produced by the committee in 2008.