Short answer?
I wish - but no, not really! 😞
The massive pressure on our marine resources during the pandemic could, and indeed should have led to a moment of reflection and new beginnings.
But instead, we're very much back to business as usual where instead of tackling the ever increasing problem of widespread poaching and over-fishing, and according severe threats to our marine biodiversity, the local marine conservation mafia is back playing their usual games of Smoke and Mirrors.
Granted, changing one's ways is difficult.
But faced with the current abject failure on so many fronts, there really is no other way.
But it sure ain't gonna be easy as the status quo is deeply entrenched.
Fiji's marine conservation ecosystem is highly complex (but then again,
once you understand it, maybe not so much), highly non-transparent and
replete with misinformation in a seemingly never-ending cycle of
collective frittering away of other people's hard-earned money on bogus
short-term projects with zero actual benefit to Fiji's imperiled marine
biodiversity, nor the to communities depending on it.
Think NGO/Consultancy Complex (read it!) and you'll understand where I'm coming from!
Everybody knows this but most continue to play the same old tired game of musical chairs (hint: Ma'afu Street!)
as that's how they earn their living, the more since there is zero
institutional memory, and any degree of accountability for one's past
failures is non-existent.
Needless to say that I despise all of that: most of those people and
orgs, the brazen squandering of resources on junkets and talkfests, the
parasitical mooching and profiteering, the verbose bloviating and above
all, the total lack of due diligence and subsequent dissemination of all that unbearable BS.
And in the meantime, our marine biodiversity continues to deteriorate ever faster, with little improvement in sight.
In
fact, after more than 20 years of following the same old tired playbook, and despite of many, many millions in
donor funds having been pumped into this space, I would argue that
Fiji's marine habitats and Fish stocks are more threatened than ever.
And then, there's those pathetic bloody influencers, or whatever.
They
parachute into our tourism and conservation space, talk to some random uneducated charlatan, and then compound the
problem by making idiotic and highly misleading public pronouncements
on their various socials where they get uncritically parroted by their
followers.
Talk about Dunning-Kruger on steroids!
Be it as it may, this cannot remain unanswered.
Don't worry - I'm not going to point fingers, at least not more than strictly required.
But like in my last post about Shark ecotourism,
I feel that it is necessary to set the record straight once and for all - the more as like there, I can then simply reference this post instead of having to explain the exact same facts over and over and over again.
Not that I really believe that it will change much - but hey, hope springs eternal.
But I'm digressing as always,
So back to the matter at hand:
Are Fiji's marine biodiversity in general and Sharks in particular adequately managed and/or protected?
Spoiler alert: they are not!
And this is why.
As a bare minimum, the two essential elements of successful marine protection are
- Some official Legislation, usually specifying what is being protected, where and when; and the penalties for transgressions.
- And then, the all-important Implementation = Monitoring, Enforcement and Prosecution
A. Legislation
Fiji's current marine biodiversity management and/or protection has been enacted under a variety of laws, foremost of which the
- Fisheries Act (1941),
- Offshore Fisheries Management Act (2012),
- Offshore Fisheries Management Regulations (2014),
- Customs (Prohibited Imports and Exports) Regulation (1986)
- Endangered and Protected Species Act (2017)
- and various international agreements to which Fiji is a signatory like CITES, the CMS and the rules and regulations of the WCPFC
To make an example, once we realized that our voluntary village MPA, the Shark Reef Marine Reserve, was actually not legally enforceable (see below), we advocated legalizing it via a Regulation under the Fisheries Act (1941), resulting in the Fisheries (Shark Reef Marine Reserve) (Serua) Regulations 2014 that established Fiji's first legislated National Marine Park.
This is a small piece of legislation tailored specifically to the SRMR that inter alia bans any fishing, defines the penalties for non-compliance and confers BAD authority for its day-to-day monitoring, management and policing in a ground-breaking marine PPP.
Subsequently, 4 more such legislated Marine Parks have been established (i.e. "gazetted" because in order to come into force, any new law most be published in the Government Gazette) under this template, comprising 2 reefs managed by resorts, one reef channel in Kadavu harboring a notable grouper spawning aggregation, and one village reef.
And what about Fiji's other 700+ declared village MPAs/LMMAs/tabus etc. that ought to be the backbone of Fiji's 30x30 commitment?
Including all those famous "names" like Namena & Waitabu, and all those much-touted seascapes and the like, for which the donors have, and keep forking out those seemingly endless streams of funding and for which FLMMA got all those prestigious conservation awards, etc?
Sadly, they are not much more than paper parks.
Much like when we initially established the SRMR together with Galoa village in 2004, they are merely the result of private voluntary commitments by stakeholders (= mostly a village or group of villages) to somehow manage (= mostly: not fish) a determined marine area.
These voluntary MPAs are however not recognized under the Fisheries Act, not gazetted = not legislated and thus not legally enforceable - which begs the question,
- Has this been nothing but a brazen con from the outset (= probably not, but who knows),
- did it become one over time, once the failings became obvious but everybody kept on lying to the donors lest the funds would stop flowing
- or is it just simply a case of utter collective incompetence, with nobody ever engaging in a modicum of due diligence?
Seriously: FLMMA: what were you thinking?
Like a smart pal told me, conservation without legal teeth is just environmental performance, nothing more than greenwashing and virtue signaling!
But back to the technicalities.
Be it as it may: if at all, those 700 village tabus are only binding at the community level insofar as the villagers agree to voluntarily abide by their rules.
In the past, the neighboring communities would have respected them, meaning that the protection used to be quite effective at the local level.
This however with one important caveat: those fishing bans were merely declared in order to preserve the food source. Instead of proper species-specific biodiversity management and conservation, the result were a multitude of unspecific "village fish pantries" - and consequently, some of our most prized fishes like the Napoleon Wrasse or the Bumphead Parrotfish are rapidly disappearing from our waters.
But in terms of preserving a degree of local food security, those systems certainly used to work quite well.
Not so anymore.
When everybody in tourism lost their job during the pandemic, many did turn to fishing, resulting in widespread over-fishing and poaching, and the severe depletion of the stocks of our most prized fish all across Fiji - see e.g. our latest post-pandemic surveys here.
And as seafood prices have soared in line with the wiping out of the stocks, the poaching is ever-more lucrative, increasingly being professionalized and has continued largely unabated after the pandemic, with a whole flotilla of high-powered vessels raiding even the most remote village LMMAs and tabus pretty much completely unchallenged.
The crux is this.
Unless explicitly forbidden by law (e.g the regulations for those 5 legislated marine parks), anybody in Fiji can fish anywhere for own consumption (= this when using legal gear e.g. hook & line, or if spearfishing, see Fisheries Act 13 (1) a).
All poachers know of this loophole and when caught will
always claim to be fishing for own consumption; and anybody preventing them from doing
so will ultimately find themselves on the wrong side of the law and be convicted for vigilantism and/or piracy!
Which brings me straight to the
B. Implementation
Here, I can keep it short and sweet.
- In theory, those 5 legislated MPAs can be legally enforced.
However in practice,
- whereas we at BAD have the manpower, boats and cash flow to monitor and enforce the fishing ban in the SRMR and are able to deter and/or apprehend some poachers, I ignore whether, and to what extent the other designated MPA managers have the resources to do so.
- as poaching is increasingly being perpetrated by professional teams, they know exactly how to evade capture and use any legal loopholes to their full advantage. E.g., the law mandates that poachers must be apprehended in the act, a nearly impossible feat when dealing with the ubiquitous night-time spear fishing on SCUBA!
- and when it comes to the prosecution, Fiji's courts are hopelessly backlogged and understaffed, and prosecuting poachers is not a high priority. Consequently, as an example, none of the poachers we have apprehended has so far been sentenced.
- As stated above, all those other 700+ declared MPAs are not legally recognized and can thus not be legally enforced beyond checking for compliance with the general rules of the Fisheries Act (like compliance with gear restrictions, fishing moratoria or prohibited species, etc), and checking for licenses of the commercial fishermen (who however are near-impossible to identify).
- Other enforcement mechanisms based on traditional indigenous protocols, whilst probably quite effective in the past, are rapidly being eroded since especially the younger generation of villagers have no qualms in defying the will of the community in favor of earning a quick buck.
- Finally, the desperate lack of adequate resources in the Ministry is also preventing the effective enforcement of other provisions of the Fisheries Act that impact our Sharks.
E.g., our critically important riverine and estuarine Elasmobranch nurseries (of Bulls, Hammerheads, Lemons, Wedgefishes, Ocellated Eagle Rays, etc.) are severely threatened by widespread illegal gill netting. But the compliance = enforcement team of the Ministry only comprises less than 10 field officers tasked with monitoring compliance with every single Fisheries regulation throughout the whole of Fiji which is pretty much mission impossible!
C. And what about the Sharks?
Fiji does protect some marine species.
E.g., all Sea Turtles are protected via moratoria under both the Fisheries Act (1941) and the Offshore Fisheries Management Regulations (2014); or the Napoleon Wrasse is protected under the Offshore Fisheries Management Regulations (2014); or all Cetaceans are protected via the declaration of Fiji's entire EEZ as a Whale Sanctuary under the Fisheries Act (1941); or there is a yearly seasonal fishing ban for most Groupers and Coral Trout, equally under the Fisheries Act (1941).
No such luck for our Sharks.
Nada, not even a measly NPoA - which is probably a good thing as those take up a lot of time but are ultimately widely considered a total waste of time, quintessential nothingburgers that come at the expense of real management and conservation measures = long on bureaucratic jargon but short on binding rules, enforcement, and actual population recovery in most countries that have enacted them!
And this not for lack of trying!
Many years ago, our industry was collectively working with Pew and the Coral Reef Alliance on declaring Fiji a Shark and Ray Sanctuary.
But the campaign got hijacked by a gang of local con-$$$ervationists who as so often were only interested in delaying the proceedings in order to milk it for a maximum of junkets, conferences and per diems. And then, the death knell came when the chief Shark Angel and Fat Paul conspired to literally barge in, very much uninvited, for a disastrous television show/campaign dubbed Operation Requiem (think: Whale Wars with Sharks) that completely alienated the authorities who then officially pulled the plug on the whole undertaking.
Yes, this pompous shit. Recognize the squeaking sharkette?
And the bloody show?
Nixed because it was too fake even for Discovery - plus Paul had to quickly interrupt his interventionist bluster when he got indicted, and then skipped bail in Germany and requisitioned the rapid response craft to heroically hide from Interpol in some remote corner of Ha'apai!
And thus the ghastly sharkette never got around to putting her life on the line, and to this day keeps happily, and not at all expertly squeaking away on Shark Week!
We later tried to introduce a comprehensive and forward-looking Shark and Ray Management & Protection Regulation, but to no avail as that topic appears irrevocably tainted - this very much also owing to a prominent then USP Professor of Marine Studies and now doyen of our latest, greatest marine NGO publicly declaring that If we protect the Sharks, they will eat all the fish!
Yes you really can't make this shit up - but that's what really happened!
And so it goes!
But back to the Sharks.
There are also positives, as there is now a whole, albeit disjointed host of laws and regulations that can be invoked when trying to protect most of our Shark species:
- Principally in order to achieve compliance with CITES,
- the Endangered and Protected Species Act (2017) bans the domestic trade, and via a catch-all clause about the possession and control, quite possibly also the catching and killing of all CITES I & II - listed Elasmobranchs;
- all CITES-listed Elasmobranchs may quite possibly also be protected via the capture and killing provisions in the Offshore Fisheries Management Regulations (2014)
- and the Customs (Prohibited Imports and Exports) Regulation (1986) bans the export and import of Shark fins (but probably not of other highly prized Elasmobranch fins like those of the critically endangered Wedgefishes!)
- And finally, the Offshore Fisheries Management Act (2012) and its associated regulations restrict the use of fishing gear and activities impacting Sharks, including prohibitions on Shark finning and the catch, sale, and possession of protected Shark species, this principally in order to be in compliance with the rules of the WCPFC.
Like I said, it's complicated!
Long story short, however, Fiji's Sharks are still being caught, killed and consumed - and where there is legal protection, the enforcement is generally weak to nonexistent.
Rather than being a fin fishery like in the past, this has now morphed into a food fishery where as the prized Fishes are being fished away, people are preferentially targeting the smaller reef Shark species and very disturbingly, the juveniles in the critical nurseries; this because small Sharks taste better than the bigger ones owing to the fact that they have accumulated less urea = ammonia in their meat.
That said, the situation is by no means catastrophic.
The fin ban, and the international trading ban under CITES and its local derivative laws prevent the establishment of any sizeable targeted commercial Shark fishery - and consequently, I strongly doubt that our Sharks are presently threatened at the population level.
And whereas the illegal gill netting in the nurseries is a serious concern, there are simple remedies - but more of that later.
Got it so far?
Yes, that sure is a lot of detail that transcends the scope of an Instagram post, long as it may be!
But that's the reality on the ground - and if you want to lecture others about this topic, you need to first inform yourselves by talking to people in the know!
Above all, beware of those pied pipers prating from atop Mt. Stupid!
D. And what about the Conservation Achievements of the Shark Diving Industry?
So here goes - now comes the juicy part 😁 (= toothy grin).
Long story short?
None of us are Fiji's supreme Shark guardians and protectors.
Yes we at BAD sure try our best, and there is also our legislated Marine Park which we're tasked to look after, which is certainly a great proof-of-concept - but it is very small-scale and although every bit helps, it is probably not terribly relevant for Shark protection at the population level.
That said, we sure count for something.
Shark diving is a highly visible and also lucrative niche product of Fiji's tourism industry that in 2011 has been shown to contribute USD 42.2m to the Fijian economy - and with that in mind, it stands to reason that this may have played a role in the enactment of the most recent Shark-positive laws. Or at least, that our existence and economic contribution may have prevented the establishment of a proper targeted Shark fishing industry.
However, Fiji's current Shark management and conservation legislation is principally the consequence of what has happened at CITES and the WCPFC - and therefore, it would be totally inappropriate if any of us were to engage in any self-congratulatory victory laps.
In brief, beware of pied pipers of which there are many!
But back to the operators. 😁
Fiji's provisioned Shark dives were pioneered more than 30 years ago by Aqua Trek Mana in the Mamanucas, at the now defunct Supermarket shark feeding site where a local Shark wrangler would literally physically manhandle some poor unsuspecting Reefies - all very rough and impromptu, and certainly not in any way conservation-oriented.
But that was then - and very much like had to be expected, it inevitably all ended in tears.
Shark diving in our area was pioneered in the late 90ies by Aqua Trek Beqa who established the baited shark dive at Shark Reef.
Like all such dives back then, it was all rather sketchy and testosterone-fueled, and consequently, quite terrifying despite there being far less Sharks (but far more big Fishes) than nowadays. There was a small fee, some of which was being paid to a (wrong) village in exchange for access to the reef.
However, the site let alone the Sharks and Fishes were not in any way protected.
On the contrary, whenever the village demanded Fish for some function, the dive staff would happily oblige. In addition, whenever some absolute genius would -much to the delight of the staff!- declare that there were too many Giant Trevallies, dozens of them would be "culled" in order to "thin the herd" akin to what was being claimed to be "best practice" in the African safari parks.
And did they then at least duly recycle those poor Trevallies by feeding them to the Sharks - or did they instead pile them into the back of the company pickup truck to then go sell them in Navua?
Take a wild guess!
Yes once again, you just can't make that shit up can you.
But that was then - at least for the most part.
We then took over Shark Reef in 2004 (long, long complicated story) and added the science and conservation components along with much more stringent safety protocols, thus establishing Fiji's first proper Shark ecotourism experience - and incidentally, a globally recognized alternative to the status quo in marine conservation.
Yes we did - not you! 😒
You know who you are!
In fact, we only opened shop once we had signed the conservation agreement with the (correct) village.
Contrary to before, the new deal stipulates that a fee is being paid not in exchange for access but in exchange for the village not fishing there - this the more as we conduct our Shark dive in government waters and not inside the village's traditional fishing grounds.
And we switched to feeding expensive Tuna heads that get consumed quasi exclusively by the Sharks instead of the previous mountains of offal and Fish carcasses from the Fish processor in Lami that made the reef look like a bloody underwater bone graveyard - and consequently, Fish biodiversity that was heavily skewed towards small predators, scavengers and detritivores was able to rebound from less than 200 to now more than 500 species, indicative of a healthy coral reef assemblage!
And we also weaned the staff off their addiction to culling - cold turkey!
But enough of that.
Disbursements to principally Galoa but also other communities so far: FJD 500k+. Plus paid millions in wages. Plus contributed many more millions to the Fijian economy in terms of taxes but also direct purchases and investments. Plus generated even more millions in income for all the ancillary businesses like accommodations, restaurants, tours and transfers, souvenir shops and airlines. Plus trained dozens of young dive professionals mostly recruited among local school dropouts, many of which from Galoa. Plus sponsored the training of dozens of honorary fish wardens. Plus welcomed, entertained and mesmerized thousands of tourists. Plus engaged in several marine restoration initiatives. Plus published dozens of peer-reviewed papers and scientific reports.
And the list goes on and on.
When it comes to our four principal industry peers.
Following our lead, all now claim that they have entered into some conservation deal with local communities, that they protect their site, that they are saving the Sharks, that they have
pioneered this or that - and obviously, that they are the very best!
Really?
- Last time I checked, none of them operate out of a legislated (= gazetted) MPA- and consequently, none of their sites are currently legally protected against poaching
- I however understand that the one in the Yasawas is actively pursuing legal protection via a different mechanism (I hear, a foreshore lease). They also employ marine scientists, conduct research and reef restoration, etc. and actively engage with the local communities that are said to largely respect the fishing ban.
- The others, well what can I say. Lemme keep it as neutral as I can.
- Now that the Fish have been conveniently aggregated in those Shark diving sites: is there any monitoring, training of fish wardens, deterrence via vessel inspections & enforcement of the Fisheries Act - anything at all?
Any, gasp, night patrols?
- Or may the staff still be taking advantage of absentee owners and regularly poach there?
- And the neighboring communities, every single day, on their way to and from Pac Harbour and Navua?
- And do they employ any marine scientists = any scientific monitoring and/or research, let alone publications?
- Any reef restoration?
And no, I'm not talking about the idiotic fad of transplanting some random Acropora without having addressed the causes for why it is not (anymore) there in the first place!
- Any marine conservation beyond the infamous old greenwashing tropes of raising awareness and changing perceptions?
- How about some real education imparted by a real scientist?
- Fees disbursed, people trained?
- Questions questions! 😁
And so it goes.
In the big scheme of things, not to worry.
Judging from the many, many enthusiastic reviews and lack of major incidents, everybody in the industry does a really good job at providing an exhilarating and safe experience to our tourists.
The conservation and research, meh.
They cost a lot of money, require very specialized skills and knowledge, and heaps of commitment, patience and perseverance as everything is tedious and success is by no means guaranteed - and with that in mind, it's perfectly fine to decide not to incur that expense and to merely focus on the tourism side of the business like many of our peers do world-wide.
But folks, can you then please stop the charade.
Stop pretending to be what you are clearly not, the more as the customers always end up finding out the truth and will quickly call you out - as in flagging somebody's, and I cite, 2h bro science talk 😂, and the like.
If you don't know what yer talking about, do yourself a favor and get yourself an education - e.g. by reading our scientific papers or by consulting this blog.
You're welcome!
And even better: how about walking all that breathy talk!
See below!
E. And the Way Forward?
Fiji's Shark Diving Industry is not broken and needs no fixing.
The operations are all profitable and based on the customer feedback, they are quite well run and above all, very safe indeed. Yes would be nice if we all loved each other and worked together - but since we all operate our own sites, it's not an objective necessity and definitely not gonna happen any time soon.
So please, spare us the advice, relax and enjoy the experience!
But what about those non-legislated shark diving sites?
C'mon folks - you can do better than that! They are literally our most important business assets that feed you and your family, and it behooves us to take care of them - if only from a business perspective!
Get your sites legally protected - and then bloody get off your lazy ass, cough up the money and go patrol them!
That said, this is obviously a much bigger issue.
The pandemic has clearly shown us that when you obliterate the fish stocks, the poor Sharks really suffer - and consequently, our focus needs to shift away from species protection to habitat protection, as in how can one protect the Jaguar if one doesn't protect the Jungle.
With that in mind
- First and foremost, if we really care about improving the situation on the ground, we urgently need to wean ourselves off the excesses of that despicable NGO/Consultancy Complex and completely change the ways we address biodiversity conservation in Fiji!
- We need to stop directing all those conservation funds to those leeching NGOs and multinational agencies who keep on brazenly frittering them away on overhead, lavish junkets, conferences, workshops, committees, consultants and per diems, only to come up with all those useless projects, technical reports and management plans that eventually all fail miserably because there there were never any long-term commitments, nor the required authority let alone the funding for their implementation.
- Instead, the bulk of the funding needs to be directed to the implementing authorities, e.g. to the compliance team of the Ministry of Fisheries, or as wages for the honorary fish wardens, but also for technical equipment ranging from measly laptops, torches and weather gear all the way to vessels and coastal radars, etc!
- And then, the metrics of success need to be completely changed: away from the dreaded workshops, reports, awareness and capacity building to real, measured, sustained improvements in biodiversity, which is the only thing that actually counts!
- And as a corollary to the above.
Instead of all those breathy announcements and wasteful pompous launches at the GPH, how about boasting about the Blue this and the Green that only once we have actually delivered meaningful results on the ground!
- Let's find ways to legalize those 700-plus voluntary MPAs and/or LMMAs, which would
- greatly empower our local communities and our already established army of fish wardens who instead of engaging in the current questionable vigilantism, would then greatly enhance Fiji's fisheries management, monitoring and enforcement.
- incidentally, also benefit our industry peers, but more importantly
- create a huge swath of protected marine habitat that would benefit our Sharks, and
- go a long way in achieving Fiji's 30x30 commitments, at least when it comes to protecting our coastal habitats!
- Let's try and close the most glaring loopholes, e.g.
- Now that a coalition of local scientists along with the Fiji Shark Lab have succeeded in listing all our riverine and estuarine Elasmobranch nurseries as ISRAs: let's get them legally protected, e.g. via legislated MPAs for the core areas, plus legislated seasonal fishing bans further afield.
No, not like this: far from its bombastic and misleading designation, this is simply yet another voluntary, not legislated and thus legally unenforceable seasonal fishing ban = like I said at the start, nothing but the usual Smoke & Mirrors!
- Let's confer to the Ministry of Fisheries full authority over the whole seafood value chain, this including the currently largely unregulated domestic trade very much inclusive of all those shady outlets plying their trade on Facebook!
This would also enable Fisheries to mandate that the traders finally submit the data about the local commercial fishing industry which would greatly help in managing those stocks! And how about reversing the burden of proof and also force them to prove that the seafood they sell has not been poached!
- Let's also put Fisheries in charge of all legislation concerning our marine resources instead of the current fragmentation across several Ministries
- Finally, how about delegating the authority for all marine conservation inclusive of its enforcement to an independent agency like the LTA - and by the same token, let's find ways to streamline the enforcement by alleviating the burden on the judiciary with a regimen of spot fines, much like what has incidentally already happened with respect to enforcing the traffic rules.
- And because I'm at it: how about educating, but also calling out our hopelessly uniformed media and idiotic local influencers that keep on glorifying the killing of our charismatic, and often threatened megafauna like the Giant Groupers, Bumphead Parrots, Turtles and large Sharks!
Any takers?
Like I keep preaching: Less idle talk, more action on the ground!
But above all.
Let's go Shark diving - sustainably!
PS: This is a great start, and very much in line with what we've been advocating for - well done Madam Minister!
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