Some eye candy from Uepi

Finally KUNA had the opportunity and a good reason to sail around Vangunu Island through Morovo lagoon: go to Uepi Island, 37 miles from Peava. Taking a trip inside the lagoon was definitely easier after two banana boat rides but overall there are only a few shoals to avoid, the entrance to the Mbili passage is easy to negociate, staying right in the middle of the channels and the waters directly around Vangunu island are quite deep. Any shoal above 9m become a milky emerald green color and when it gets yellow brown, start worrying!! I will later post a track.


As a contribution to Morovo conservation DVD project, Grant and Jill, who manage the resort on this private island invited us to film on their reefs, which, despite many challenges, have been protected for more than 20 years. Grant and Jill have worked very hard on educating the local villagers to avoid fishing, and explain that in return, the tourists who come and look at the reef bring in business, which is good for the community. The concept of tourism and investment in the future has yet to grow a lot more in the Solomons.

Uepi reefs are the oldest MPA (Marine protected area) in Morovo, a testimony for what fish life may have been not so long ago on all the other reefs when fishing pressure was less. Morover, Uepi has been a diving resort for so long that the fish is really accustomed to divers, great for those who like to have a close up look. It is definitely easier to film reef life and fish behaviours where fish are plentiful and not afraid of humans, who are predators elsewhere. Grant and Jill are a wealth of knowledge about the marine environment there because they dive everyday.

Uepi is also a fantastic diving resort, with excellent facilities, very helpful staff and delicious local food. Great place to stay for a diving holiday!!


The accomodation side from the water. Do NOT anchor THAT close!!

I later will post a track on how KUNA got through the lagoon and to the anchorage behind Uepi island. Really the Uepi anchorage is not so well protected from the S- to NW and it can get fairley choppy if waves build up during squalls or more systemic winds but the holding ground is about OK (sand and rubble), and it would be well protected in the trades season, though stinking HOT!!!!. If you go there, take care to anchor with sufficient swinging space in between all the bommies to prevent damage from the chain. An amazing number of animals live on these small oasis. Also anchor far away enough from the island to not impend on guests privacy and report to the office on arrival to get advice on what you can and can’t do.

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