In February 2009, OceansWatch was approached by Willie Sau Kaitu’u, a member of the Tehakatu’u tribe on the Rennell island at the very south of the Solomon Islands archipelago. Marine resources have depleted in recent years around the Rennell Island due to overexploitation and tropical cyclones, so the local communities began looking into ways of preserving the remaining resources by establishing Marine Protection Areas (MPAs). Willie volunteers with World Vision in the Solomons and therefore had access to the Internet and found our website. He also approached several other NGOs but only OceansWatch responded.

The day after OceansWatch arrived, we were invited to address the community. One of our marine scientists, Alison Schmidt gave a talk on Coral Reef ecology and options were outlined for protecting fish stocks, such as constraints on fishing gear, seasonal bans, size limits and an MPA. Immediately after the talk the community formed the Tahakatu’u Conservation Committee, which asked us to locate a suitable MPA site. Alternate 100m sections were surveyed throughout the tribe’s reef and it was soon apparent that one site stood out as it had more coral life forms and coral cover than other sites.

Tribal elders were shown the site and felt it would also work well for them, as one boundary of the proposed site was traditionally a “tambu” area and another was marked by a cliff that looked a bit like a face, looking over the MPA.

The area was mapped and “Reef Check” surveys were carried out in it as well as Rapid Assessment Surveys both within and outside the MPA. The Conservation committee met again to discuss the findings and agreed on the MPA site. Whilst the community agrees that the MPA is an essential insurance policy for the tribe’s marine resources they are naturally concerned about the immediate loss of fishing area.

OceansWatch is committed to helping communities through this transition time and has drawn up an MOU with the tribe to help them best utilise alternative sustainable resources for the next 4 years. OceansWatch will train community members to monitor their own fisheries and MPA as well as support the community school and is considering other measures such as organic farming and permaculture consultancy.