- EDITORIAL - GREEN TOURISM - TREND - FRENCH POLYNESIA NEWS UPDATE - TREKKING FAIR - TOURISM PROFESSIONALS WORKING ON BEHALF OF THE ENVIRONMENT - INTERVIEW -
- Another Successful Annual Tahiti Beach Cleanup Campaign -
- French Polynesia: A Whale Sanctuary -
- “Shark Feeding” Severely Regulated -
- Bora Bora Singled Out Since 2000 for “Pavillon Bleu” -
- Moorea, first Maritime Management Plan in French Polynesia (PGEM) -
- Fakarava Part of UNESCO Man & Biosphere Network -
- Reef Check: Protectors of French Polynesia’s Coral -
- Tetiaroa: Operation Clean Beach -
Another Successful Annual Tahiti Beach Cleanup Campaign
Various associations, joined by the general public, mobilized on March 31 to clean up the majority of the beaches on the island of Tahiti. Not only was this another successful annual event, but an effort that gets bigger and bigger each year.
All of the communes, or municipal governments, on the island of Tahiti mobilized to participate in this operation to not only clean up beaches but also the mouths of rivers emptying into the lagoon. More than 200 people turned out on Tahiti’s West Coast, accompanied by Maïna Sage, the French Polynesia government’s minister of tourism and the environment.
The effort was worthwhile, as the volunteers collected scrap metal, various rubbish, cartons and cans of beer and soft drinks, filling up sack after sack. The effort returned the beaches to their natural beauty, but for how long?
The Ministry of Tourism and the Environment plans to organize an Internet poll to try and end this problem, which is only worsened by heavy rain. The poll will ask participants, “Should polluters be fined?” That could be an effective way of fighting such lack of civic spirit and the degradation of daily living.
French Polynesia: A Whale Sanctuary
Whale watching has been an organized tourism activity in French Polynesia for many years. Tahiti’s government approved a decree in 2002 providing a framework for the development of this activity by specifying the conditions for whale watching, thus creating a sanctuary for whales and avoiding any potentially harmful effects for these yearly “visitors”. |
Since time immemorial humpback whales have been visiting French Polynesia waters every July through October for breeding and giving birth in the tropical waters of the Austral Islands. Up until 1957, the people of the island of Rurutu took advantage of this natural migration by going whale hunting during big festivals, their catches feeding the island’s entire population. But since the last such event 50 years ago, the giant whale has become a protected species, which means they cannot be hunted or experience any other form of harm from humans. The entire zone has become a sanctuary where groups of whales and their calves can visit in total tranquility. So the tourist activity of whale watching is strictly regulated, not only to respect the whales, but also to prevent them from moving to a more calm destination, thus depriving French Polynesia of a tourism attraction that is in full growth and respectful of nature. |
The humpback whale, with the scientific name of “Megaptera novaeangliae”, is 20 meters (65 ft.) long and weighs 50 tons, making it the biggest living mammal. It leaves the cold Antarctic waters around the South Pole during winter for warmer tropical waters, particularly those of French Polynesia to breed and give birth. During the course of its lifetime of some 30 years, the humpback whale can give birth to some 15 calves.
The baby whales spend their early days in the same waters where they were born until they are strong enough to make their first visit to the colder waters of the Antarctic.
An estimated 4,000 humpback whales exist today in the Southern Hemisphere, with about the same population in the Northern Hemisphere. So the species is threatened, which is why it is protected. That is why the French Polynesia government decided to create a sanctuary for whales and other ocean mammals. This sanctuary covers four million square kilometers (1.5 million square miles), which is almost as large as French Polynesia’s exclusive economic ocean area (5 million square kilometers, or 1.9 million square miles.
Whale watching inside this protected zone is regulated. That sets limits on how close one boat or several boats can get to humpback whales, sets speed limits for the boats and controls the use of sonar equipment.
Such standards are the reasons why the humpback whales return to French Polynesia waters year after year. That offers tourists of future generations the promise of the same incredible and gracious spectacle of these huge mammals leaping out of the ocean.
“Shark Feeding” Severely Regulated Back
“Shark finning” is prohibited throughout Tahiti and Her Islands and “shark feeding is prohibited in all lagoons, coral reef passes and within a one kilometer radius from the center of all reef passes. Both controls stem from an April 12, 2006 French Polynesia government Council of Ministers decision on both activities to protect an endangered species and protect the lagoons of Tahiti and Her Islands, while at the same time safeguarding an essential link in the food chain.
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The prohibitions are to last for two years, to give the government enough time to conduct a study on the supply of sharks in French Polynesia waters. The results of the study are to be available in 2008.
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The government has also prohibited all business activity involving the sale or storage of any and all parts of sharks, including the creation of jewelry using shark’s teeth. Several environmental protection associations welcomed the government’s action.
Shark finning involves the commercial fishing of sharks for their fins, which are exported to Asian countries for use in preparing “shark fin soup”. The practice involves all species of sharks. The fins are cut off and the sharks are thrown back into the ocean to die.
“Shark feeding” has become a very popular tourist activity operated by scuba diving clubs outside the coral reef barriers where no other water activities occur. The visitors are usually placed behind a rope at a safe distance from the sharks to watch as monitors feed chunks of fish from their hands to sharks attracted by the dead fish.
However, shark feeding today is decried because it is suspected of modifying the behavior of fish and sharks, which pounce on the offered food. The activity has also reportedly caused sharks to become abnormally aggressive.
Bora Bora Singled Out Since 2000 for “Pavillon Bleu” Back
The Leeward Island of Bora Bora, has been singled out since 2000 for Europe’s “Pavillon Bleu, an ecology label with a strong tourist connotation symbolizing an exemplary environmental quality.
Bora Bora, with its reputation as the “Pearl of the Pacific”, is the only community in the region to receive such a distinction for so many consecutive years.
Concerned about preserving the beauty of French Polynesia’s most popular outer island and maintaining the quality of its lagoon, Mayor Gaston Tong Sang and his municipal councilors have made Bora Bora a pilot site for sustainable development.
This island of some 7,500 residents has potable water in all homes. There are several desalination machines to convert seawater into drinking water to meet growing demands from residents as well as tourists.
The municipal government has also installed a wastewater network linking homes and hotels to two water purification plants.
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Moorea’s Maritime Management Plan in Operation Back
Moorea’s Maritime Area Management Plan (PGEM) is in operation, applying to 49 square kilometers (19 sq. miles) of the lagoon and 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) of shoreline as a result of a decision by the French Polynesia government’s Council of Ministers.
Protected marine areas in the lagoon are marked off by yellow buoys, which means specific activities are prohibited, such as:
Some activities are regulated in the protected marine areas:
In order to determine the effectiveness of this maritime management plan and its measures for preserving the lagoon, test zones have been designated inside and outside the protected area for regular surveillance. The results will help in judging the impact of the management plan on the health of Moorea’s lagoon.
The people living on Moorea are committed to the creation of this maritime management plan, the goal being to preserve the lagoon’s main resources, both for fishing and for tourism.
Fakarava Part of UNESCO Man & Biosphere Network Back
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The Tuamotu atoll of Fakarava is one of 25 new sites that have been added to the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) global network, a program that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has pioneered for sustainable development on a scientific basis since 1971. MAB seeks to preserve remarkable natural sites during the development of human activities, such as tourism. Fakarava has become one of 500 other sites already listed as biosphere reserves. Fakarava is also one of seven atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago grouped together as part of the MAB network. The designation represents a complete revision of the atoll of Tairo Biosphere Reserve obtained in 1977 from UNESCO. The six other atolls are Aratika, Kauehi, Niau, Raraka, Taiaro and Toau. Most of the atolls are inhabited and local communities were heavily involved in designing the zoned areas, reflecting their perceptions and taking into account local rules governing access and use of resources, UNESCO reported. |
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Reef Check is a Los Angeles-based international non-governmental organization dedicated to conserving tropical coral reefs by setting up methods to monitor the health of lagoons. It has volunteer teams operating in 80 countries worldwide.
In French Polynesia, Reef Check volunteers provide follow-up and a regular inventory of the existing quantities of coral, fish, shells, etc. in a fixed area.
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In effect, each volunteer is committed to monitoring the same segment of the coral reef once a year. The collected data is sent to Reef Check’s international database.
This effort in French Polynesia is supported by the French Coral Reef Initiative (IFRECOR), a national initiative for overseas communities supported by the Ministries of Ecology and Sustainable Development and by the French Foreign Ministry. Elodie LAGOUY represents Reef Check in French Polynesia.
Tetiaroa: Operation Clean Beach Back
A lot of floating debris ends up on the beaches of the atoll of the late actor Marlon Brando simply because Tetiaroa is located amidst the ocean currents coming from Tahiti. Thirteen volunteers collected 15 cubic meters (530 cubic ft.) of various trash on April 17, shipping it to Tahiti to be reprocessed.
The volunteers from the Te Mana o te Moana association collected 840 kilograms (nearly a short ton) of plastic bottles, “savates” (go-aheads), a television and washing machine carcass, the door of a freezer, a baby carriage wheel, a dart game, cigarette lighters, pens, lipstick tubes, tires, plastic chairs, toys, brooms and many light bulbs and neon light tubes. This brief inventory of all types of trash was shipped to the fishing dock at Tahiti’s north coast Commune of Arue. The plastic bottles, which accounted for most of the collected trash, will be recycled as part of the selective sorting practice already in operation on Tahiti and Moorea. The rest of the trash will follow the normal rubbish treatment procedure.
Besides cleaning up nearly 70% of Tetiaroa’s beaches, the association had the goal of making the people of Tahiti aware of ocean pollution and the dangers it poses. The biggest danger comes from plastic sacks and coverings and fishing material, such as rope, nets and nylon lines. They threaten marine life (including birds, turtles, dolphins and whales), which choke themselves when swallowing plastic sacks, or die when they become trapped in the fish netting. Teihotu Brando and his family offered the association invaluable help in the beach clean up operation. The Polynesian Environment Company (SEP), the Ministry of Tourism and the Environment, the Commune of Arue, the Moorea Dolphin Center and the InterContinental Resort Group also provided support.
- EDITORIAL - GREEN TOURISM - TREND - FRENCH POLYNESIA NEWS UPDATE - TREKKING FAIR - TOURISM PROFESSIONALS WORKING ON BEHALF OF THE ENVIRONMENT - INTERVIEW -
