Tetepare Island – The largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific





More photos to come soon! Check www.tetepare.org for more information


Tetepare is a large volcanic island located to the South of the Western Province and covers a large area. The island was fled by its inhabitants more than a century ago due to a mysterious illness. They relocated on neighbouring islands, such as Rendova, leaving Tetepare pristine and rarely visited. More recently threatened with logging, It was saved by a community initiative supported by various donors: In 2002, the descendants of Tetepare inhabitants created an association to protect this last wild island, the TDA (Tetepare Descendants Association). The island became the perfect target for conservation to create a reserve for wildlife both marine and terrestrial with the involvement of the community.



Anthony and Michaela who hitched a ride on the Kuna, are currently volunteer advisers for Tetepare from AVI (Australian Volunteers International).

Some anchorages:
The south coast (weather coast of the island) is surrounded by a continuous lagoon whereas the protected North coast facing the Blanche channel is steep and lined by black sand beaches bordered by pristine rainforest.
KUNA visited a few possible of the anchorages. Some others are described in Dirk Sieling Cruising guide to the Solomons (unfortunately out of print).

Raro Bay – S 8º 42.192 E 157º 32.130
The shoreline is extremely steep except for a slightly shallower bank at the entrance of the main creek (where creek sediment build up). One has to approach fairly close to shore, leaving a small wave break to port and drop the pic on a 45 degree mud/sand slope in about 13 m of water. The anchorage is fairly protected from the trades wind and barely a roll came through in the absence of swell , thankfully as the current held the boat parallel to the shore. Not recommended in the summer season with NW winds!

One can go for a walk up the creek which mean ders between steep mud and carved volcanic stone banks. With care though as the rivers has lots of crocodiles. Don't dive in the tempting freshwater pools full of fish...


Waugh bay - S8º 42.415 E 157º 26.892
Same sort of configuration as Raro Bay, except steeper so the boat hangs even more precariously to shore!! A very short snorkelling reccie (the esturary is full of crocs) identified a mud bank in about 10 m of water on a 40 degree slope, before a 60-70 degree drop. Anchor on that bank. In Trades season, the corner is very protected and small gust hold the boat offshore.


Lagoon in front of the research station – S 8º 43.240 E 157º 26.395
On the below google earth image, follow the deep blue channel on the top left corner. A point on the stardboard side is marked by a white stick and a buoy. The reef edge on the left is steep.

Great spot but no room to swing a cat, well a 38’ Adams in between bommies, and shallow (2,5 to 3 m) on sand with relatively poor holding. With a short scope of 12 m, a Danforth and CQR in series totalling 80 pounds dragged a few meters in 25-30 knots of wind, so best to go there in light winds. Or best not eyeball the anchoring system at work!!!! The current running from SE-NW through the lagoon holds the boat nicely in position, limiting swing in between the bommies.



One can jump of the boat and snorkel or dive in the main channel and see dugongs, which are likely to hang out there most afternoons. There were three females with calves and couple of males last week. They tend to be very curious of snorkellers underwater.

Dugong feed on the rounded leafed seagrassess which are abundant in the shallow waters around the island.




From the first point west of the station and for 13 km to the East, Tetepare lagoon is managed as a marine reserve where every form of fishing is banned. The size of the fish in the lagoon behind the anchorage is a testimony of the benefits of the reserve. And the rest of the island is monitored by rangers for resource use such as trochus and coconut crab harvesting. Many old individuals hang out stationary in the current and a rent scared of divers and snorkellers like in other areas of the Solomons where they are fished. Some of the southern beaches are also turtle nesting ground, which can be visited with a guide during the egg laying season. Tetepare’s a home of many hawskbill turtles and of the endangered leatherback. The rangers tag turtle and monitor them as part of an international program.





Underwater coral reflection in glassy waters




Trevallys courting: one turns fully black while the other keeps it irony color



A school of barracudas generally hangs out in the deeper part channel. Watch the current!



Lots of cushion seastars!


Big Old stingray that's lost its tail!



A very large school of bumphead parrot fish hangs out at the anchorage in the morning. In other places there are hunted. They are especially vulnerable at night, as they sleep alltogether with their eyes open, oblivious to light sources, etc.

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