Cakaulevu Reef
Cakaulevu Reef (also known as the Great Sea Reef ) is a coral reef off the Fiji Islands on the north shore of Vanua Levu .
description
The Cakaulevu Reef is the third longest coral reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Belize Barrier Reef off Central America . Together with the nearby Pascoe Reef, the Cakaulevu Reef is about 200 kilometers long. The Cakaulevu Reef alone covers 202,700 square kilometers.
The first systematic study of the reef in 2004 revealed a diverse marine fauna, including unique mangrove ecosystems and endemic fish. Twelve endangered species live in the reef: ten species of fish , the olive ridged turtle and the East Pacific dolphin .
The marine fauna traditionally feeds the local population and currently around 70,000 people depend on the reef. After fish stocks declined sharply in recent decades, local authorities designated a number of marine protected areas in 2005 where fishing is prohibited. This enabled the authorities to override the centuries-old, traditional customs (parts of the Qoliqoli Bill Law ) in order to ban traditional fishing grounds . In places where bans have been imposed, fish stocks have now recovered slightly and are also spreading again to areas where fishing is permitted.
literature
- Aaron Jenkins: Fiji's great sea reef: the first marine biodiversity survey of Cakaulevu and associated coastal habitats , University of Michigan 2004
Web links
- wwfpacific.org , The Great Sea Reef
- thecoraltriangle.com , Cakaulevu, the largest reef in the Fiji Islands
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c earthobservatory.nasa.gov
- ↑ fijileaks.com , Qoliqoli Bill 2006