Sharks had not been seen on the reef near Naidiri for decades. They returned to the village in Fiji this year after an effort to plant thousands of corals.
In 2009, Manoa Duwai convinced his village to create a protected area within their fishing grounds on Fiji’s Coral Coast. He was concerned about the small number and size of fish he was catching.
The village formed a youth group in 2011 to manage what they call the “tabu area”. In 2023 alone, the group planted 18,000 corals and 10,000 mangroves. Big fish started living in the zone and soon spread to other fishing areas nearby.
“Things started to come back, different types of fish species, invertebrates, all back. I’m the happiest person in the whole village,” Duwai said.
The protected area is now home to hundreds of “super corals” that could protect the village from climate change.
