Movement of Bivalves (Anadara spp.) from Fishing Grounds onto Land in the Fiji Islands

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as announced by the United Nations in 2015, are an important framework for promoting sustainability. The SDGs include 17 goals that can help countries to achieve environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Coastal fisheries represent an important commercial industry for local people in the Pacific Islands, and many research projects have been conducted on the sustainable use of such resources in relation to the SDGs. Such research has indicated that coastal fisheries play an important role in the socioeconomic and ecological systems in coastal areas in the Pacific. For example, the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Viti Levu is densely populated with filter-feeding bivalves (Anadara spp.), which are an important food and income source for the local people. Women collect these bivalves and sell them in the marketplace. In addition, these bivalves filter particles suspended in the water, thereby improving water quality. Thus, the harvest and sale of these bivalves has an influential role on the physical environment of both coastal and inland regions. This process can be traced through the fishing activities that transfer materials from fishing grounds onto land in a complex overall system consisting of both human beings and nature in coastal areas. The objective of the present study is to investigate the structure and function of the system with regard to the movement of marine products from the fishing grounds onto land. We focus on fishing activities involving bivalves. Surveys were conducted in two villages from 2017 to 2019 to gain a better understanding of the movement of bivalves in eastern Viti Levu. The movement of marine products from the fishing grounds onto land through fishing activities was influenced by both natural and socioeconomic factors, such as the ecology of marine resources, the current market economy, family members, social structures, and waste management practices. The findings are that the system has been affected by many factors, which suggest that the structure may be unstable. We discuss the directions that should be pursued in order to maintain a sustainable, normally functioning relationship between the people and their environment from the perspective of the SDGs and bivalve fishing activities. We conclude that this bivalve is a good indicator species for addressing SDGs in coastal areas in the Pacific Islands.