<
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2025/11/16/the-oyster-farmers-battling-climate-change-in-fijis-troubled-seas>
"Vanua Levu, Fiji — Jelly Ravea, 58, glides out to sea on a bilibili, a
traditional Fijian raft made of bamboo. She is fishing off the coast of
Vatulele, a village on the south coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest
island.
The sea has long been the main source of food and materials for islanders here,
providing everything from seaweed and seashells to various fish. For centuries,
Fijians like Ravea have paddled out once, if not twice, each day to scour the
ocean for their daily catch.
But this tradition is now in danger.
“Every day, we should be able to eat something from the sea,” says Ravea, who
wears a deep blue sulu, a traditional wrap, around her waist. “But times are
hard, the shells are sometimes dead, and the oil from yachts spreads over the
sea and kills the fish.”
An abundant ocean is essential for the 900,000 people who live in Fiji, an
archipelago of 333 islands in the South Pacific Ocean. With 40 percent of
Fijian households relying on subsistence fishing amid declining fish stocks,
coastal communities are seeking ways to make a sustainable income.
Ravea, who has fished these waters for more than five decades, has long feared
that the decline in fish goes beyond the ebb and flow of natural weather
patterns. She blames climate change and poachers. In need of reliable pay, she
was the first in her family to strap on a scuba tank and search the seafloor
for black-lip pearl oysters 25 years ago. She soon took up farming, helping
develop the community's burgeoning oyster farms. Now an expert, she hopes
oyster farming — typically a source of lucrative pearls — can also offer a
climate-resilient meat trade for villagers.
The AQUA-Pearl Project, a collaboration between the International Institute for
Sustainable Development (IISD), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and
Fiji’s Ministry of Fisheries, is supporting oyster farmers such as Ravea to
teach other villagers the ropes. Employed by J Hunter Pearls, a local pearl
cultivator and key private sector partner to the project, Ravea helps Fijian
women develop community pearl oyster farms, teaching them how to care for the
oysters, cultivate their meat, and sell them across the island. She would like
to see the industry grow into a new kind of coastal trade that keeps families
fed, communities afloat, and traditions alive."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
