Title
Opportunities and challenges of managing spawning aggregations in Fiji: 19D Managing fish spawning aggregations
Author(s)
Fox, M.;Naisilisili, W;.;Batibasaga, A.;Jupiter, S.
Published
2012
Abstract
Coastal Fijian communities have historically fished spawning aggregation sites for subsistence. As
market pressures have escalated, vulnerable aggregations are rapidly being extirpated. There are no provisions
within the current Fiji Fisheries Act that provide legal controls on fishing aggregations. However, communities
can set customary rules to manage spawning aggregations within local management plans covering their
traditional fishing grounds. Their local knowledge can be used to determine the spatial placement of fisheries
closures (e.g. across channels and/or on steep forereefs), as well as the timing of seasonal bans on harvesting
spawning species. Although not legally binding, compliance is high when there is strong respect for decisionmakers and broad participation in decision-making process. We present an example from Kubulau District, Bua Province, where communities banned grouper catch during the month of August but were more reluctant to
protect a well-known mullet aggregation site due to the cultural practice of holding an annual feast associated
with the congregation of two mullet runs. We further discuss the opportunities as well as limitations to
developing nation-wide seasonal bans on aggregation species. For example, the word for grouper in Fijian
(kawakawa) includes a number of different species which individually spawn during different months of the
years in Fiji, with considerable geographic variation in the timing of spawning. However, these limitations
could be addressed through a collaborative campaign between the Fiji Fisheries Department and NGOs to
encourage a broad seasonal ban (e.g. July - November) on harvesting the most vulnerable species.
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