To be a Beche-de-Mer or Not to Be ?? That is the Question..

This species is soon to NOT BE anymore if no one does anything about it!

The Beche the Mer comprehends many species of sea cucumbers, elongated urchin type of creatures which filter feed on the sandy bottom of the lagoon. Most of them only come out at night. They are instrumental to reef health as they prevent the overgrowth of algal mats and recycle nutrients.




I was shocked when local driver Morgan, who works for UQ said that is seriously intended to harvest Beche de Mer whilst on duty for the University of Queensland conservation DVD project that I am working on!

The illustration that the cash economy is pressuring everyone. Beche de Mer harvesting has been a major source of income for most Solomon islanders until the population got wiped out and the fishery officially closed by the Ministry throughout the country. It will take years for Beche de Mer to recover but the coconut wireless gossip is that the fishery is re opening soon, so many are already harvesting again in Morovo lagoon, in anticipation!!!!
With no one to enforce the laws, the only solution is to convince the communities to self regulation and that conservating the resource is for their own good. Unfortunately, some Malaysian loggers are still managing to export the Beche de Mer uncontrolled and with possible black market selling outlets, the islanders continue poaching in the lagoon. Asians pay a lot of money for this delicacy. The results are as destructive as the shark fishery but because the poor old seacucumber is not as charismatic as the larger vertebrates, it does not get much media attention.


A few torches were seen at night in the area where we went to film the spawning, their weren’t innocent. The harvest consists of picking the sea slug from the sea bottom at night time. It is the easiest when they all gather at the top of coral heads to spawn. Then the poor seaslug is boiled for 12 hours (a solomon wife’s job!) then dried over a stick rack above a fire for two days. People camp on the outer islands for several days during the harvest. The harvest is so doubly destructive as locals burn a lot of timber to do the drying. Most importantly, locals pick the spawning time, during which masses of Beche de Mer gather on the top of corals to spawn simultaneously, letting the species little chance to reproduce.


This Beche de Mer is spawning - would you believe they can stand up ? But it is lonely on its coral head...Normally, many individual gathers on the same coral heads to maximize chances of fecundation but there aren't enough of them anymore.


Meanwhile, in the deep of the night, the parrot fishes are sleeping in their transparent sleeping pouch, eyes wide open!

Chemoho conservation area and Pelevo island, Morovo Lagoon

The great Hornbill

Yes, that starts sounding repetitive but the search for conservation initiatives continues in the Morovo lagoon with rather depressing outcomes. In amongst the raped and pillaged natural landscape of Vangunu, there aren’t many places left that stand out for their intact natural value.

One of many logging camps which are all around Vangunu island



Very little native forest was spared by the loggers, except for one plot which we were lucky to find at Chemoho, near the village of Cheke.
The conservation has been the initiative of one family alone, on their own land, a 300 acres plot which runs from the shore to inland hills and they are very proud of it and wish to make it known to the outside world, which is why I am talking about it some detail now.
Lulu and family


The block of native forest saved by Lulu and Hopia has become a heaven for all the birds who lost their habitat trashed by loggers on either side, so it is a birdwatcher’s paradise! A great place to photograph a number of species, including the Hornbill. Many pairs reside throughout the block and Hopia knows their habits very well, along with those of many other species, which fruiting tree they are in and when, etc….

White cockatoos are contstantly cackling in the trees


cuckoo shrike eating fruit


Ducks inhabit the creek which borders the block and can be visited by kayak or dinghy



Eclectus parrots, white cockatoos, many kingfishers and buffeted kaukau also reside in the lowland area whilst a swirl of butterfly species can be observed near the hill that lookout over the lagoon.

Hopia or Lulu and any of the girls can take you for a walk on the network of neat tracks zigzagging through the bush block. Of course the block has been used in a traditional way and is sparsed with clearings used for gardens and only a few large trees were harvested here and there for family building needs. The foreshore area supported a coconut plantation



Hopia, Lulu Viginia and kids are very welcoming and hospitable. During the time new Zealand was encouraging the ecolodge business (90s) Lulu trained as a kayaking guide and both worked in the lodge nearby. Now they are eager to have any visitors interested in nature. Though their settings is very rudimentary, it’ll make for an interesting visit and they welcome any yacht to anchor at the front (there is a 9m shoal 150 m from their coral jetty) Lat Lon XXXX

Hopia also runs a carving shop, inside the old district courthouse. Here are a few examples of his talented works.
Hopia in his shop





Carving is abig industry in MOrovo lagoon and the archetype representation of sustainable and value adding use of timber. It's also deeply inspired by nature.



Another interesting though not terribly protected anchorage is behind Pelevo island, which also belongs to Lulu and family.


- I will add Map and GPS track to Pelevo, there are a bunch of reefs to avoid -

This tiny sand cay, 2.4 miles north of Chemoho has a house on it, Turtles and Kurukuru (pidgeons) nest on it. The reef there is an MPA set by Lulu early 2000. It has started recovering and makes for a shallow snorkel.


Lucky porters, they're happy to carry the tripod, said to be lighter than a chain saw!!!!

MPA's in the Morovo Lagoon

MPA stands for Marine Protected Areas. Such concept is no novelty to us in Australia but what may seem a relatively simple undertaking in our country (despite the strong lobbies of recreational and commercial fishermen, for example on the Great Barrier Reef) is much more complex in the Solomon Islands.

Marine protected areas in fact are no novelty to Solomon Islanders either, but the islanders have mostly forgotten this. Traditionally, the chiefs were also closing certain reefs areas to protect them from fishing for periods of time and let them replenish. In older times, the chiefs had more power than nowadays and their will was respected. Recently though, there has been a drop in leadership quality within many communities and the push by outside initiatives is necessary to help conservation. As part of its water quality monitoring of the Morovo Lagoon, the University of Queensland team found out that fishing practices were the predominant threat to the coral reef ecosystems and that there was a need to reduce harvesting to help the reef recover. So they pushed for the communities to create a number of MPA’s. A tedious work undertaken by the UQ team with local boat driver and community educator Morgan.

Most people live on or by the water and use the resource



Though very traditional, fishing by a growing population pressures the reef



Morgan is helping the local villagers marking their MPAs with rope and buoys. Lots of buoys are needed shaping a very well defined line, says Morgan, because if only one or two mark the corners, they are likely to get stolen. This is one of many other difficulties and oppositions to the establishment of MPAs. Jealousy and greed are crippling the process, with some community members gossiping that Morgan is personally benefiting from the MPAs. Many of these MPA projects do not have their own dynamism: too often, an NGO comes in, provides all materials and does it all. As a result, people do not appropriate the project fully and if the NGO resigns activity in the area, MPA does not continue. The lack of good leadership is often the problem.



If no longline fishing buoys are available, a clever way to make some floats is to use bamboo stick, ballasted with cement at the bottom. A small flag is strapped at the top.



Morgan conduct underwater monitoring training sessions


In each MPA, regular monitoring is conducted by trained locals. For fish and coral census transects, a simple exercise for a marine bio in Oz, takes a bit of patience to train the locals. But they have the advantage of knowing their reef perfectly.


In particular, the overharvesting of grazing fish, enabled excessive algae cover to impend on coral growth, leading to coral death and the loss of habitat for other species of fish.


Together with excessive nutrient and sediment input from erosion caused by logging, macroalgae are getting a boost to invasion after every major rain event. With Morovo lagoon being very enclosed, with its double barrier, plumes get trapped inside, covering the coral with layers of mud.


Of course this is intermittent and in dry periods, the rivers are pristinely clean


Going up one of the rivers on Vangunu with driver Morgan



But the damage created by large ares of clear fell land is obvious in heavy rainfall. This reef is straight of the oil plantation of Meresu on SE Vangunu

Mbiche Village, an enthusiastic community!

November 12th,




There is no anchorage for the KUNA at Mbiche so the Kuna stays at Peava, just round the corner, 6 miles by kayak away. The village is located on the weather coast of Ngatokae, and only rugged people live on these shores constantly beaten by the trade winds.
high cliffs near Mbiche


Huge swells may raise up and down black pebble beaches: the coral platform disappears under volcanic rocks, that people there know how to turn into bowls and mortars. A Mbiche specialty!!!
Stone carving


The community there runs a number of small projects, of which they are all proud and even happier to show them on camera. Interestingly, from their on account the Mbiche mob decided to run a bit of a tour for visitors which is “over organized”. Their idea of tourism has yet to mature (by our white standards), but for a country whose tribes were head hunting eachother still less than 50 years ago, their hospitality is pretty good!).
- Look closer, there is a human skull amongst these carvings!

Mbiche even runs a small lodge, right in the middle of the village. Simple, 50SBD per person per night for accommodation with matress and mosquito net provided (says the sign!)
the small lodge in the gardens


The good thing about this lodge is that the chickens are on the other side of the village but breakfast is brought to your room early enough, 7 am, bugger! Food is plentiful (20SBD per meal) and the village ladies rotate the preparation of the meals so that everyone gets a small cash income.



The other main source of cash in this village is that of a private donor through the initiative of the University of Queensland: in exchange for conservation initiatives, ie forest and reef , the community receives cash to cover the school fees for the children.




Several organizations in the process of making Ngatokae Island and model for conservation are pushing for native forest to stay intact in the very few areas it has not been logged. Mbiche has one of the rare areas of forest which has not been logged yet and a few people in the community with environmental awareness and enough good leadership to convince people that there are cash alternatives to logging.

Taking the pikinis climbing in the forest for the camera showed it was very well worth it for future generations. Not only providing play trees, the forest provides food and shelter for itsinhabitants. Here some kids a breaking the Gnahli nuts, which falls of a huge tree




Gnahli nuts are broken with rocks and eaten in the forest



Other projects from Mbiche include an oil press. The oil press enables them to produce coconut oil, for cooking or massage and sell it. The production of coconut oil is labour intensive but the process is very simple. Nothing can go wrong with the robust oil press, so no technical knowledge is needed from the outside.
The coconuts are husked and broken open…
Then scratched…



Then dried


Then the scratchings are pressed to release the oil which is filtered and bottled.


Anyone who wishes some frangipani perfumed massage oil for Xmas let me know!!!



But wait!! There is more: all in the village insisted we come back to film the MPA, marine protected area and couldn’t wait for it to get markers again.