Deborah Bassett
Source: The Huffington Post
June 30, 2011

"Located in the South Pacific about two-third of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand, The Republic of Fiji is comprised of 332 islands of which nearly 110 are inhabited. On a recent trip to the bustling one-horse port town of Savusavu, located on Fiji's second largest island of Vanua Levu, I was pleasantly surprised to discover several eco-friendly treasures throughout the enchanted island which maintains a refreshingly strong sense of cultural identity amongst island natives and the Indian-Fijian community that makes up close to one-third of the total population.

Perhaps the most impressive of findings was the Fiji locally managed marine-area network, (FLMMA) a community based initiative that finds local chiefs and residents taking control of their own destiny through the implementation of tambu, pronounced tabu, areas throughout the island chain to prohibit fishing in designated areas in order to allow local fish stocks and coral reefs to recover from the devastating effects of international overfishing in adjacent waters and the recent hurricane that rocked Fijian coastlines in 2009. The Coral Reef Alliance and Fiji Shark Conservation Awareness Project are also pioneers in local Fijian conservation efforts."

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