[Photo: File]

Fiji’s coral reefs remain critical to the country’s food security, fisheries and tourism industry, with the government warning that growing environmental pressures threaten these important ecosystems.

Permanent Secretary for Environment, Dr Sivendra Michael, says Fiji’s reefs cover more than 6,000 square kilometres and play a significant role in sustaining livelihoods and protecting coastal communities.

He says the reefs also support the tourism sector, which contributes significantly to the economy.

Dr Sivendra Michael says protecting these ecosystems requires coordinated efforts between government, conservation partners and traditional fishing-ground custodians.

“They feed our families and sustain our fisheries. They protect our shorelines and underpin a tourism sector that contributes significantly to our GDP. They have also shown us what resilience looks like.”

However, Dr Michael warns that Fiji cannot take the resilience of its reefs for granted.

“That resilience is not something we can also take for granted. Our reefs face growing pressure from unsustainable fishing, land-based pollution and the loss of mangroves and coastal habitats on top of a warming ocean. Resilience is built when we reduce these pressures together, not silo but together, from the reach to the reef concept.”

Director of Environment Senimili Nakora says that says these pressures, combined with climate change, are threatening the health and resilience of the country’s marine ecosystems.

“We brought together the different perspectives and evidence to identify key pressures facing Fiji’s reefs. We identified three major local threats and these were unsustainable fishing, pollution and the destruction and degradation of coastal habitats. Alongside was also climate change as one of the major global threat to our coral reefs in Fiji.”

The Ministry says that Fiji’s National Action Plan for Coral Reef Conservation will prioritise climate-resilient reefs, sustainable fisheries, mangrove restoration and pollution control.