Pitufa.at

I met Liti on facebook (of all places), we got chatting about Fiji, the beautiful islands of the Lau group, the wonderful underwater world and the need to protect it. Liti volunteered to translate our brochure about sustainable fishing into Itaukei (Fijian) and did a great job! Thanks a lot for all your help–vinaka vaka levu!!

Tiki is originally from Ono-i-Lau in the the Lau group, lives in Suva and gives her best to help her island with fund raisers and organising things for the islanders. When she heard about our project for sustainable fishing, she contacted us, so we met up yesterday for a chat, brought some of our newly made brochures for her to take to Ono-i-Lau and she… Continue reading »

The little Island of Matuku in the Lau Group is installing 3 big no-fishing zones around their island to guarantee sustainable fishing in the future. We have been trying to raise support for the project and a big thank you goes to all of you, who have donated for the project so far! This week we’ve been running around in Suva organising things and there’s… Continue reading »

Here’s a summary of the explanation we give islanders here in Fiji. English is a second language for most people here and many of the people who live out on the islands don’t have much formal education, so the info is a bit simplified, but it helps to illustrate the main points. Please feel free to download the pdf if you would like to use… Continue reading »

Matuku was the first island in the Lau group we visited with our Pitufa in July 2022. The little island doesn’t see many yachts as it lies off the beaten track and we were amazed by the hospitality the villagers showed us and the wonderful underwater landscapes that we found just off our anchorage. During our second visit in Matuku we started raising awareness for… Continue reading »

Tony Philp of Vuda Marina and Coprashed Marina has gracefully offered to provide ground tackle and buoys to mark the borders of the Marine Reserve, thanks Tony! We still would need some funding to support the efforts of the islanders to protect their reef. They will need to patrol the area (especially at night) to make sure no outsiders ruin their Tabu with illegal spearfishing,… Continue reading »

Scientific models predict an El Niño period for the next (southern) summer, meaning that we can expect rising ocean surface temperatures. The consequences here in the Pacific will be most likely more severe cyclones and bleached coral reefs (and many other types of catastrophes around the world). Coral can only recover from storm damages and bleaching when lots of herbivore fish keep the weak reef… Continue reading »

We are still determined to get some positive outcome for the islanders of Matuku from the boating accident we and Maikeli Tamani (the deceased headman) suffered there. 2 weeks have passed and we are making progress! We still have not decided on an x-ray machine, but several offers have come in. If you have ideas, contacts with medical equipment contacts, get in touch with us!… Continue reading »

Dear friends and followers of our blog, we were overwhelmed by all the support and love you’ve sent us after our accident. Thank you all! We nearly died two weeks ago, and we’re still aching, but we are recovering. Our friend Maikeli, the headman of Makadru, drowned and his death was a serious blow to the island community, who lost a generous, caring man who… Continue reading »

When corals die, we generally think of pollution and global warming as the culprits. But overfishing is also an important factor as weakened reefs need herbivore fish to clean the dead bits, so the coral can recover and regrow. The reefs in Fiji have mostly still beautiful coral, but overfishing is a big problem, especially near densely populated areas. Here in Matuku the people are… Continue reading »