National Geographic leads Kadavu ocean study with Fijian ministries

A three week long Kadavu expedition by the National Geographic Pristine Seas is currently underway to study the health of our ocean.

This is in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs and the Ministry of Fisheries and Forests in conducting a research and film making expedition to support the commitments of Fiji to sustainably manage 100 percent of its ocean space and designate 30 percent in fully protected areas by 2030.

Permanent Secretary for Environment, Dr Sivendra Michael, who is also joining the expedition, says over the next week, he and Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lenora Qereqeretabua will observe and then report back to the government and stakeholders.

Michael says importantly, through the Memorandum Of Understanding, they will ensure that the data, imagery and analyses are accessible to all Fijian researchers, practitioners as well as the media.

He says the results will feed directly into the national Policies milestone including the Marine Spatial planning process.

Waitt Institute Pacific Regional Director, Arthur Sokimi says a lot of the things we have learned are through stories, and all of us have those experiences and we recognise that that is still a reality in the communities that we come from.

Sokimi says the work that they are currently doing does not aim to take away from that process, it actually celebrates that process and recognizes it for what it is, something that is a very, very important part of our own learning process.

He says they want to strengthen the scientific knowledge, to build on the data sets that they have, and all of it needs to make sense to the people that they are here to serve, and those are people in our communities.

Pristine Seas was invited by the Fiji government to study the health of our ocean with the expedition starting earlier this year in April and concluding in September.

The National Geographic team says in support of national marine protection efforts, their team of researchers and filmmakers are living and working aboard the Argo, a vessel equipped with cutting-edge technology for exploration, research, film making and live-streaming.

They say as part of the Pristine Seas team, local and international scientists will assess the health of marine ecosystems and fill knowledge gaps.

The Pristine Seas team says data they gather will be shared with the government of Fiji and developed into scientific research papers that inform the need for marine protections.

They say in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Pristine Seas is co-creating an innovative education program that extends ocean literacy into classrooms and communities.

The Pristine Seas film team will produce two documentary films, one will highlight Fiji’s leadership in local-level marine stewardship (LMMAs) and its commitment to achieving meaningful national-level ocean protection and the second film will focus on Rotuma.