Diving the Divine | Tradition and Tabu in Fiji

DIVING THE DIVINE – TRADITION AND TABU IN FIJI

FEATURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY LAUREN WARNELL

Fiji is well known for its exciting shark diving and abundance of soft coral’s, but on the island of Vanua Levu we discovered something that was arguably even more breath-taking. Natewa Bay – the largest bay in the south pacific – holds some truly spectacular diving.

TRADITION AND TABU

At 80 km long, 15 km wide and with a surface area of over 1,000 square km, Natewa Bay is the largest bay in the South Pacific, and, being located in Fiji, the local communities that live along its shores have ownership over the coastal areas within the bay. These so-called Qoliqoli areas consist of beaches, lagoons and reefs and are passed down from generation to generation. Traditionally, when the chief of a village dies, a portion of the community’s fishing ground within this area is set aside as a no-take zone, or tabu (pronounced ‘tam-boo’) as a token of respect for the chief.

The Tabu can last from 100 days to several years and, as one might expect, upon lifting the Tabu, local spear fishermen report an increased harvest – with some believing the abundance and size of the catch after the Tabu is lifted is directly related to the Chief’s supernatural powers.

It is the original community-led marine conservation.

PIONEERING EXPLORATION

While the idea has been extended elsewhere in Fiji, often in partnership with NGOs, in Natewa Bay these traditional tabu’s are still in place. So in July 2018 we ventured out to see what sort of impact such a tradition has on local reefs.

When we landed at a small remote camp close to Dawa village on the bay, a Tabu on a nearby reef called ‘Cakaukaloo’ which roughly translates to “Gods Reef”, had been lifted around one year earlier after five years as a notake zone. To amplify what may have already been quite an extraordinary underwater labyrinth, we were the first group to be given permission to dive on the reef.

The excitement was palpable as we took the short 15-minute boat ride along the shores of the Bay to Cakaukaloo. After four weeks of camping in the area and wondering how divine the reef would be, this was our chance to feel like real explorers. Maybe we would see lots of sharks? Or an abundance of reef fish? The corals would probably be “quite nice”.

But nothing could prepare us for what we saw when we rolled back. The incredible diversity and abundance of hard corals, reef fish and pelagics was so astounding it almost blew us back out of the water.

From around 5 m there were table corals as far as the eye could see, some the size of dining tables, different species of soft corals in every colour of the rainbow and such an abundance of reef fish it was hard to know where to look first. Schooling barracudas and reef sharks swum by the sloping reef, while juvenile harlequin sweet lips danced around the coral and nudibranches slid along the substrate. Clutching my camera I froze – how does one even choose what to look at!

Not only was there an incredible sense of excitement around the idea of being pioneer divers in the area, there was also an inspired confidence that when reefs are protected the right way the results can be quite astounding. To know there are places left with apparently pristine reefs gave some hope after years of working in marine conservation and seeing some less positive results.

MACRO MAGIC

While Cakaukaloo was the highlight of our visit to Natewa Bay, it was not to overshadow the other gems in the area. During our two-month visit, at least half of our time was spent shore diving where we found some remarkable muck diving with species including halimeda ghost pipefish, juvenile clown frogfish and decorator crabs to name a few. Meanwhile, two resident pods of spinner dolphins, turtles, rays and even the occasional whale was sighted. There was a sense that you could bump into just about anything as the area has seen so little exploration in the past.

Thus, while Natewa Bay isn’t famous for a flagship species – like the Bull Sharks of Beqa for example – this little known bay hosts pristine reefs which have been protected by local communities for decades and offers the type of diving one rarely encounters elsewhere. However, there is only one dive operator with permission to dive these reefs. Matthew Norman and Sara Carlson of Ocean Ventures Fiji have spent the past two years making visits to the local villages and asking permission from village chiefs to dive within their Qoliqolis. With minimal diver impact and traditional tabu’s, this area will hopefully continue to flourish for years to come and remain a positive reminder of how some of the world’s reefs can continue to thrive.