Author: Alexa Bach-McElrone
Source: Scuba Diving Magazine

"Imagine you’re diving in warm, clear water along a 1,000-foot vertical wall of multicolored coral, dotted with thousands of curious fish. Schools of tuna and trevally streak by while a humpback surfaces in the distance. An endangered hawksbill turtle glides past you, and a blue ribbon eel peeks out of his cave.

Are you ready to buy your plane ticket?

Spanning the sea between Fiji’s two largest islands — Viti Levu and Vanua Levu — the Namena Marine Reserve showcases some of the world’s most spectacular tropical coral reefs. It also sustains the people of Kubulau, whose ancestors have fished these reefs for centuries. In the 1980s and ’90s, this vibrant ecosystem was threatened by rampant commercial fishing. Fish populations were declining, and Kubulau’s primary source of sustenance and income was disappearing. To halt the decline, chiefs from each of Kubulau’s 10 villages banded together to declare the area a no-take zone — the first in Fiji."

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