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ecovery from fishing pressure between Nasue and Namena MPAs and differences in activefishing inside and adjacent to Nasue MPAs. Surveys could also be performed at higherreplication, sampling more environmental variables, to rule out other factors which mayhave contributed to the differences in fish assemblages inside and outside the Nasue MPA.Some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of Nasue MPA include:• Raise awareness of MPA rules and boundaries among residents of Kubulau District.Following the endorsement and adoption of the Kubulau EBM plan (WCS 2009), rulesand regulations were explained in each village and management posters, includingmaps of the current MPA and community tabu boundaries, were posted in everycommunity hall. Follow-up activities are needed to ensure that all residents areaware of the rules and understand the consequences of non-compliance;• Raise awareness of enforcement protocol and options for legal punishment ofoffenders. Protocols for enforcement of national laws and community managementrules are detailed explicitly in the Kubulau EBM plan (WCS 2009). Follow-throughdepends largely on the pro-activity of the Kubulau Resource ManagementCommittee (KRMC) and its subcommittee focused on resource management. Tostrengthen awareness of options for enforcement, the KRMC participated in a roleplayexercise where four scenarios were presented and members were asked toevaluate whether management rules had been broken and, if so, what were theavailable options for punishment. However, at the same managementimplementation workshop, the KRMC ranked as high priority the need to obtainmore skills for fisheries monitoring and infringement reporting, which will requireongoing training.• Raise awareness of MPA rules and boundaries among resource-rights owners living inadjacent districts. At an intensive management planning workshop in February 2009,Kubulau leaders and participants suggested that much of the external poaching isbeing done by people originally from Kubulau who still retain traditional fishingrights within the qoliqoli but have since moved to other districts and therefore havenot been educated about the recent management initiatives. KRMC resolved to: (1)visit neighboring districts to raise awareness of management rules for the qoliqoliand MPAs; and (2) produce and distribute fliers detailing MPA boundaries and rulesto be posted at provincial offices, police stations and the regional fisheriesdepartment office in Savusavu.• Increase frequency and efficiency of enforcement patrols. Because patrols requirefuel, which may be costly, the KRMC has committed to developing and submittinggrant proposals with conservation partners to acquire marine radios, which will helpto identify the location of offenders, and fuel to operate the patrol boat. The KRMCwill require assistance with grant proposal writing and development of a rotationalschedule for patrols.• Shift the boundary of the Nasue MPA away from the border with Wailevu. At theFebruary 2009 management planning meeting, a suggestion was proposed to shiftPage | 19
the boundaries of Nasue MPA further south so that it would be at least partiallyvisible from shore. The residents of Kubulau seemed initially resistant to the ideabecause they felt it might encourage more poachers to cross the border fromWailevu District if the area is declared open again to fishing. However, given that reconfigurationoptions for the MPA network will be presented back to the communitywhich optimize fisheries benefits while minimizing costs to fishers (Adams et al.2010), it may be worthwhile to broach the topic again given the degree of poachingin the area.AcknowledgmentsThe authors are grateful to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Gordon andBetty Moore Foundation for supporting this work through phase two of the Ecosystem-Based Management project in Fiji. We thank Kathy Walls and Ed Lovell for collecting thePorites corals, and Ed in particular for providing mentorship to S. Shah during initial phasesof coral core preparation and analysis. We are grateful to Malcolm McCulloch for providinglaboratory space and time at the Research School of Earth Sciences at the AustralianNational University to enable high resolution trace element analysis of the coral records.Fraser Hartley and Daniel Egli (of WCS) provided invaluable assistance with collation andpreparation of UVC fish and benthic data, while Aaron Jenkins of Wetlands International-Oceania offered his expertise to finalize the Fiji fish list to ensure that only species found inFiji are recorded.Page | 20
Page 1 and 2: Integrating EBM science toassess ma
Page 3 and 4: Executive SummaryResearch for this
Page 5: IntroductionHuman activity on land
Page 8 and 9: South-western Vanua Levu, around th
Page 10 and 11: Table 1. Porites coral characterist
Page 12 and 13: the offenders. A nonparametric Frie
Page 15 and 16: Pocillopora corals that tend to rec
Page 17 and 18: DiscussionCurrent day coral reef co
Page 19: able to recover quickly is likely d
Page 23 and 24: Fleitmann D, Dunbar RB, McCulloch M
Page 25: Veron JEN (1995) Corals in Space an

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