Ambitious expedition to Tongan archipelago underway

Transcript

It's hoped the most in-depth study of plants and animals ever undertaken in the island group of Vava'u will achieve the ultimate goal of increasing Tonga's protected areas.

In a collaboration between the Tonga government and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, a team of biologists are just embarking on biodiversity survey work of land and marine sites on Vava'u.

Bruce Jefferies from SPREP says it will help identify high-priority conservation areas and told Bridget Tunnicliffe Vava'u is a pretty unique place.

BRUCE JEFFERIES: It's an archipelago that's got 80 to 100 small islands and atolls and some of them are quite difficult to land on so some of them haven't been surveyed, others have been surveyed previously. Vava'u is known internationally as a place where the humpback whales come to calve during the August to November period. There's quite a bit of work been done on the whales so we won't be involved in whale research as such because we can just use existing material. But we will be looking at other marine mammals, dolphins and turtles, and any of the other species we can in terms of marine mammals as well as coral reefs, coral fish, you know health and all that sort of stuff.

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: And will this provide pretty valuable information to different stakeholders, information that you've never been able to provide before?

BJ: Yes, the idea you know we strongly recognise that this is customary owned land so the hope of maintaining its conservation values sort of rests with them. So we are working with them and an NGO that's based in Vava'u called VEPA, the Vava'u Environmental Protection Association, and we're nurturing a partnership with them as they'll be sort of working with the government of Tonga for the long-term. We're looking at a 10-year horizon, not something that's going to happen overnight but having a local NGO working with the government is one way of trying to ensure some sustainability and continuity.

BT: The ultimate goal is adding to Tonga's protected area network.

BJ: Very definitely, and we're looking at something wider than just protected areas, we're looking and we'll be talking with the government officials and governor of Vava'u about looking at a marine special planning approach for the
archipelago. We call it marine special planning but it includes islands and terrestrial areas, that's an approach that's being used more and more throughout the Pacific islands, not just to put protected areas in place but look at zoning areas. For no-take, fisheries, zoning areas that are appropriate for community based fisheries, some for commercial fisheries, and for tourism of course which is important here so that whole suite of activities that takes place now in the marine environment.