Ocean Law Bulletins

Kawakawa (Grouper) and Donu (Coral Trout) are Fiji's most popular eating fish and are highly prized by all Fiji citizens. For a number of years, many of Fiji's citizens have been taking a voluntary pledge not to consume these important species during their peak breeding season (June to the end of September). 

In 2018, Fiji's Minister of Fisheries imposed a legal ban on the capture of a number of listed species of Kawakawa and Donu from June to the end of September each year. This was followed in June 2019 by Fisheries Regulations implementing this seasonal ban.

Recently, in August 2020, the Minister of Fisheries has amended the seasonal ban by reducing it by two months, effectively ending the ban on 1 August 2020. In this legal bulletin we briefly review the seasonal ban, its amendment and the reasons that marine scientists called for the seasonal ban to assist in the sustainable management of these popular species.

Sharks that are alive and healthy in Fiji's oceans are worth a great deal of money to Fiji's economy. In 2012, the Pew Foundation calculated that shark diving alone generated US$42.2 million for Fiji's economy

Unfortunately, the unnecessary killing of sharks, whether intentional or as a result of an accidental bycatch, removes this opportunity and has adverse effects on marine ecosystems and Fiji’s tourism industry. It is vital, therefore, to provide protection for shark nurseries, and ensure Fiji has effective fisheries laws and initiatives for shark protection that are implemented.

Early this year, dead baby sharks hit the headlines when around 10 juvenile hammerhead sharks were found dumped in a culvert near Suva. These endangered animals may have been caught illegally in nets set across a nearby river mouth where scientists at the Marine School, USP have undertaken a detailed and celebrated study and found a significant and important breeding ground.

Fortunately, the newly created Inshore Fisheries Management Division (IFMD) within the Ministry of Fisheries is currently looking to strengthen a variety of fisheries laws and regulations and their implementation including, but not limited to, the laws that protect sharks. In this bulletin, we consider the existing relevant laws on netting around rivers and discuss additional measures to ensure that sharks are better protected. We also briefly consider other initiatives that are currently being led by the IFMD to make Fiji's inshore fisheries more sustainable for the benefit of all Fijians. For more information regarding other shark conservation measures in Fiji, please see our previous bulletin: “A Legal Policy Discussion of Shark Conservation in Fiji”.

The largest ocean on earth is also home to the largest collection of floating rubbish/garbage which scientists have coined "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch".

The statistics about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch provide terrifying reading and are summarised by the National Geographic in a recent online article that can be found here. The article explains that the floating garbage weighs 79,000 tonnes and is predominantly plastics originating from both land based (80%) and ocean based activities (20%), includes discarded fishing gear, waste from the 2011 Japanese Tsunami and perhaps most worryingly contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic of which microplastics comprise 94%.

One of the solutions to this horrendous human made problem is for each country to regulate and control littering and the failure to responsibly dispose of household and consumer waste. In this 3rd legal bulletin in this Fiji Marine Pollution Law Series, we consider Fiji's legal framework to regulate and control littering.

While outside the scope of this legal bulletin we acknowledge that:

• other regulatory and innovative solutions must be found globally to reduce or eliminate the use of plastics and find other more environmentally friendly consumer packaging
• Pacific Islands are not the main cause of this global issue
• Responsible consumer choices and manufacturing choices are required
• Fiji has started using innovative mechanisms to discourage the use of plastics like introducing a charge for single use plastic bags.

The major threats to our oceans are well understood, and include pollution from land based sources.

For a full list of the major threats to our oceans the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) sets them out here and also explains that:

Untreated sewage, garbage, fertilizers, pesticides, industrial chemicals, plastics ... most of the pollutants on land eventually make their way into the ocean, either deliberately dumped there or entering from water run-off and the atmosphere. Not surprisingly, this pollution is harming the entire marine food chain - all the way up to humans.

In this second legal bulletin in the Fiji Marine Pollution Law Series, we consider Fiji’s legal and regulatory framework in relation to marine pollution from land based industrial or commercial activities. For those interested in this area, it should be noted that Mr Filimone Tuivanualevu who is admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of Fiji, has also published a legal bulletin entitled "How does the law protect rivers in Fiji from pollution?" which can be found here.

In further planned legal bulletins in this series we will consider Fiji's laws in relation to marine pollution from household waste and the potential civil liability that polluters who cause harm may incur based on common law negligence.