Fiji Hub Achievement Report

July 2017 Caqalai

Objective: Sustainable Monitoring

Completion of Long Term Ecological Monitoring Sites around Caqalai

for Jan-July 2017

Picture 1: A satellite image of the island of Caqalai and the surrounding fringing reef system. The 28 sites that
were surveyed for the baseline dataset are indicated, and the sites which have been chosen for annual
monitoring long term are ringed in red.

Introduction

The staff and volunteers were delighted to complete all required surveying on the sites selected around the
island of Caqalai, where the field base is located, according to schedule for the first half of 2017. This meets
our long term and mid-term objectives outlined below:

Long Term Objective: Coral reef surveys around Caqalai and Moturiki- Collect long term data on the reefs
around the two islands in order to inform the communities and support them in developing a sustainable
resource management strategy.

Mid-term Objective: Survey the selected 14 long term monitoring sites around Caqalai, recording data on
target invertebrate and fish species distribution and abundance and percentage benthic coverage of key
substrate types.

In accordance with our long term objectives of helping the communities of Moturiki develop sustainable marine
resource and environmental management strategies we are surveying selected sites around Caqalai. As
mentioned in our mid-term objective at each of the 14 sites we conduct basic coral reef ecological surveys
using recognised methodologies developed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science and our partners at
FLMMA. Caqalai is a small Coral Cay (see picture i) in the Lomaiviti island group, adjacent to the much larger
and geologically older island of Moturiki, and is not home to any permanent community settlements except the
Caqalai Island Resort which has a transient population of around 6-10 local Fijian staff. Therefor there is very
limited fishing that occurs around the shallow Caqalai fringing reef and associated habitats, and as such we
are using Caqalai as a control and will be comparing data collected from the coastal habitats and reefs around
Moturiki which are subject to heavy fishing pressure and looking for differences in abundance of our key target
species and relative percentage coverage of different substrate types.

The 14 sites selected around Caqalai were chosen from a baseline survey of the entire reef system around the
island which was completed in February 2016 (see picture i), the sites were chosen to include areas of
topographical diversity, difference in habitat types present and areas of particular interest such as near sewage
outflow pipes etc. At each site five identical surveys are conducted at each of two different depth ranges, so
that we can look at depth as a factor influencing distribution of species; the surveys are currently conducted
using SCUBA diving between 3-10m, with one survey completed per dive. On a survey there are four divers,
with one person taking down abiotics (physical factors such as temperature and visibility), one person
conducting a fish count and size estimation survey, one counting target macro-invertebrates and one person
recording benthic coverage along the survey tape. An exciting new development for GVI Caqalai for the
second half of 2017 will be the introduction of shallow water snorkel surveys using the same survey techniques
so we have a comprehensive data set from shoreline to reef crest. The fish and invertebrate target species are
chosen based on globally recognised methodologies such as Reef Check (http://www.reefcheck.org/) and the
objectives of the project relative to the local area. The target species list includes species that are biologically
important for the function of the coral reef ecosystem, such as herbivorous fish which keep the cover of macro
algae in check, species which are indicators are a changing environment such as urchins (indicative of
overfishing) and species that are commercially important for the protein and income of the local communities.

We aim to survey all 14 sites annually and sites of particular interest twice per year, such as those with notably
high biodiversity and coral cover or sites which are highlighted as at risk of degradation. All 14 sites are
surveyed around Caqalai between January to July, and this will be kept constant every year to ensure
seasonal variation is not a factor, and then the 6 sites of interest are surveyed again in the second half to look
for seasonal variation. Another exciting addition to the schedule this year is from August to December we will
start the rapid assessments of selected sites around Moturiki, both within demarcated protected areas and
open fishing grounds to choose sites to start conducting the same surveys as undertaken around Caqalai for
future comparison.

Picture II: Our previous Science and Engagement

Officer, carrying out a benthic survey at one of our
monitoring sites around Caqalai.

Conclusion

The fact that we have completed all necessary surveys

at the 14 sites around Caqalai according to the survey
schedule is great way of working towards achieving our
project objectives and future-proofing the methodologies
to ensure that we can collect enough data and complete
the necessary training of staff and volunteers in time. In
order to make sure that our data is meaningful and works
towards helping the communities of Moturiki successfully
manage their tropical marine resources, we have to
make sure our methodologies are sustainable. Ensuring that we have set the right schedule for
comprehensively and reliably training volunteers and community members in the different survey techniques of
our project and meet all the other day to day project needs, (and actually get out and collect the data!) is
essential in achieving long term sustainability and routine to the programme.