VAVA'U ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ASSOCIATION Dedicated to the conservation of Vava'u's natural beauty through educational awareness, sustainable development, and collaboration.
Plankton Survey In October, we partnered up with Dr Raymond Buckley, Marta Gomez-Buckley (UoW) and Euakafa Island Research and Ministry of Fisheries to initiate a feasibility study on the plankton, ichthyoplankton (fish eggs) and small fishes survey in Vava’u. This work will provide a critical data gap to the Ministry of Fisheries and will further develop fisheries management programs such as special management areas and deep-water snapper fishery. A big thank you to everyone for this collaboration. The report will be available on our website soon!
A BIG THANK YOU
2016 was a great year for VEPA, we engaged with many communities on a variety of environmental topics, our school programmes were well received and kids were chanting our slogans around town! Our staff grew and strengthened in their knowledge and capacity. This is all achieved because of the great and wonderful support for VEPA by our international and local sponsors, volunters and friends. A very Happy New Year to you all!
OUR OCEANS, OUR FUTURE The last quarter of the year was spent with women’s gleaning groups. Gleaning is the activity of collecting molluscs, sea cucumbers and other organisms for subsistence. During our awareness programme, women’s groups shared some of the environmental changes they are seeing. This program joined the women’s groups from Mangia, Toula, Koloa, ‘Utungake, Makave and Vaipua to understand and collect data on the changes they are seeing. A big thank you to all the women who gave their time and we look forward to more in 2017.
Website: http://vavauenvironment.org Email:
[email protected]
Social Media: vavauenviro
Invasive Species School Challenge During October, the VEPA awareness team presented our topic of Invasive Species. The schools, 12 Government Primary Schools and 6 High Schools participated in the regional Invasive Species Challenge hosted through SPREP. The GPS participated in spelling the word ‘Invasive Species” and the High Schools prepared slogans to beat Invasive Species. Congratulation to GPS Houma for receiving a “Best Effort” prize of US$200.
Talihau Beach EbA
An ecosystem based adaptation program was initiated in Talihau to restore the beach area through encouraging vegetation growth, which catches sand and reduces land based erosion. The project was initiated in 2014, however this year the project got a facelift with a new fence to continue to protect the ecosystem. A big thank you to our friends at MEIDECC for their assistance and hard work in putting up the new fence, and we continue to enjoy our “beach days”
Turning the Tide on Beach Pollution • VEPA hosted an initial beach clean up
event on 17th December. • Sponsorship was provided by The
Beach Houses, Tonga, Friendly Islands Kayak Company, Alex Hayes and Endangered Encounters. • Activities including teams of beach
monitors will be implemented in 2017.
Website: http://vavauenvironment.org Email:
[email protected]
Social Media: vavauenviro
