News Alert! JCU Nature Photography Masterclass 2013
James Cook University is proud to present the second year running Nature Photography Masterclass with Jürgen Freund!
Sea Cucumber Hunters of Fiji in the GSR
April 2013 - Kavewa Island, Nukusa Village, Yadua Island Sea cucumber is a high value, high demand Chinese delicacy that is sought after by Chinese traders buying dried sea cucumbers from all over the world especially in Asia and the Pacific. Sea cucumbers are flexible, elongated echinoderms belonging to the class Holothuroidea. They live on the sea floor in reefs, lagoons and coastal [...]
Yadua Turtle Monitoring and Irris
20 April 2013 Patricia Mallam WWF South Pacific Communications Manager brought her lovely 9 year old daughter Irris to rendezvous with us on Yadua Island - we, coming from Macuata Province and they, coming from Suva. They were joined by Pita Qarau, Turtle Monitor from Yadua Village in Suva and they all took the ferry from Viti Levu to [...]
WWF and University of South Pacific at work in the Great Sea Reef
April 2013 Our visits to the Fijian villages and the one resort in Macuata Province were made the richer when we were able to document the fieldwork of WWF South Pacific Marine Species Coordinator Laitia Tamata, WWF Labasa staff Koli Musudroka and University of South Pacific Laisiasa Cavakiqali. They were visiting 5 sites in the target reef systems [...]
Nukubati Island – the Only Resort in Macuata Province’s Great Sea Reef
14 - 18 April 2013 Google Earth Map - Nukubati Island Getting a WWF assignment to document the world's third largest barrier reef, we needed to make sure we saw the Great Sea Reef from underwater. Nukubati Island Resort is the only resort in the Macuata Province of the GSR who offered diving as well [...]
Kia – The Remote Island Paradise of the Great Sea Reef
10 - 14 April 2013 Kia Island in the horizon surrounded by the Great Sea Reef. Google Earth Map - Kia island It was a long 4 hour boat ride from Nukusa Village to Labasa Town where we stayed overnight before heading to Kia Island. We armed ourselves for the next stretch [...]
Udu Point – Freediving the Great Sea Reef
7 - 9 April 2013 The first time we saw the village of Nukusa from the boat, I thought how wonderfully situated it was. It is not a beachside village like the usual but one that is about 10 metres elevated from the sea. And then on second thought, I looked at all our luggage [...]
Udu Point – First Sunday at the Farthest End of the Great Sea Reef
7 April 2013 Google Earth Map - Kavewa to Udu Point, the farthest east we got in Fiji. (Click for larger map) Nukusa Village is the 4th to the last village from the tip of Vanua Levu. It is so remote that the villagers need to use up to 40 gallons of fuel [...]
Kavewa Island – Mangrove Reforestation and the Reefs
4 - 6 April 2013 A charming activity took the children of Kavewa by storm one overcast Saturday morning. All the school children from Kavewa Village had just come back home for the weekend from their boarding school in Drua Drua (another nearby island) when they were assigned to go pick as much propagules in [...]
Kavewa Island – Turtle Monitor
4 - 6 April 2013 Emosi Time, son of Kavewa Village chief is known as a Dau ni Vonu or Turtle Monitor. Emosi used to be a turtle hunter, catching turtles for turtle meat offered in traditional Fijian celebrations. Since 2011, Emosi has turned from the dark side and is now a guardian of turtles. Lifting [...]