FIJI COUNTRY PROGRAM 2015

Offshore Marine Managed Areas: campaigning for the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape
STATUS: Ongoing
FUNDING: Waitt Foundation
PARTNER ORGANISATIONS: Department of Fisheries, Department of Environment, IUCN, WWF,
Conservation International
Permanent Secretary for Fisheries and Forests, Mr. Inoke Wainiqolo opening the first spatial planning
workshop. Eleni Tokaduadua, Principal Environment Officer for the Department of Environment (right),
supporting the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape. ©Dwain Qalovaki/WCS
HIGHLIGHTS AND NEXT STEPS:
Two marine spatial planning workshops on the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape was held in July and
December, 2015, at the Tanoa Plaza in Suva, with opening remarks by the Permanent Secretary
for Fisheries and Forests. Both workshops were attended by over 30 representatives from
government, senior officials from each of the four provinces, as well as those from the private
sector and non-government organizations. The first workshop focused on developing a
common understanding of Marine Managed Areas (MMAs) in the context of national policy and
legislative frameworks, and mapping out important biological, ecological, social, and economic
features in the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape. Participants also started to identify and map out possible
areas in the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape that could be established as MMAs.
The second workshop focused on reviewing the proposed MMAs and their environmental,
social and economic values, prioritizing the MMAs, and looking at potential zone
configurations. The stakeholders at the workshop strongly requested that the ecological, social,
and economic values of the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape should be protected, and that this should be a
key recommendation to the Fiji Government. Next steps will be to prepare a document on the
priority MMAs, their values and management, present the outcomes of the two workshops to
the relevant technical and multi-sectoral committees under the respective ministries,
undertake wider consultations with the private sector, and discuss with Department of
Fisheries the process and opportunities for gazettal.
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