Marovo Species of the Month: Makoto Nonoa,The Titan!!!!!!

Balistoides Viridescens = the titan triggerfish (sometimes known as the moustache triggerfish).  This is largest of the trigger fish and can grow apparently up to 75 cm.  It has dark green and yellow patterns on the body and black margins of the fins.  It builds its nest in the sand during the last quarter of the lunar month from September to January and guards its nest closely.  This makes them relatively easy targets for spearfishing, but most Marovo spearfisherman avoid them because their local made spearguns lack the power.  They also can be a major hassle getting out of the water.    Marovo people also catch them in kura traps (large leaf traps that surround singular coral bommies…more on them later)

Marovo species of the Month

This here is what locals call a Pajara.  There are more than twenty varities of Pajara named in the Marovo.  Most live on the oceanfacing reefs and barrier reef passages, but some live in mangroves and estuaries.  The larger Pajara are considered very good food fish, although some groups in the Marovo do not like to eat them, either because they consider the meat to be too soft or because it is tabu to them.  Most fish must be shot, because they don’t like to bite baited hooks.  The Australian equivalent seems to be the Barramundi Cod (Cromileptes altivelis).  Although no one seems to know if they pair up for life like the Barramundi Cod does in the Barrier Reef.

A basic summary of the Marovo Lagoon

Hi all, over the last few weeks I have, believe it or not, been working pretty hard trying to revive and update the educational the Marovo Reef and Rainforest educational wiki on both the internet and local intranets in different schools.  We are trying to give this UNESCO funded project a bit a face lift and use it as a tool to store and record local Marovo knowledge, languages and histories.  It is pretty exciting stuff, but it’s a lot of work.  Bearing in mind that it is still a work in progress, you can have a look at it by clicking on the link below.  Every month I might share with you a few of my favourites entries.

http://en.marovo.org/index.php?title=Main_page

I thought I might as well also describe the area where I am living.  The Marovo Lagoon is located alongside New Georgia and Vangunu Islands in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.   It is an ecological goldmine, dominated by 700 square kilometres of coral reef and rainforest.  It is delimited by a long, uneven chain of raised barrier reefs and backed by high volcanic islands covered with rainforest.  The most recent census data reveals that there are about 15000 people who live in some 50 villages, mainly on the lagoon coasts of the high islands.  I have scanned a map that shows the area as well as the major language groups.

 

1. A famous deep water trench that is 3-4 kilometers deep. It is a renown sports fishing spot.
2. Marovo Island. The three villages consist of Chea, Chubicopi and Hinakole.
3. Patukae, Where I live.
4. My favorite fishing and diving spot. Every high tide schools of Travally and Tuna go there to eat. Diving can be a little spooky, but it is worth it.
5. An active underwater volcano which apparently is AMAZING!

The word ‘Marovo’ derives from a small island which itself is called Marovo.  I live a short paddle across from the island and have spent quite a lot of time working in the two primary schools located there.   Marovo Island, or in local terms Tusu Marovo, is a steep volcanic peak right bang in the centre of the Lagoon.  In the olden days, Marovo Island was a stronghold of powerful maritime traders, raiders and headhunters.   As an outsider, it is a little hard to get a clear idea on what head hunting actually consisted of and why it dominated Marovo culture for centuries because not much has been written down.  The conversations I’ve had seem to intimate that it was motivated by a mixture of protecting the bloodline, tribal feuds and …. sport.  There are literally hundreds and hundreds of human skulls stored in some of the outer uninhabited islands in the lagoon (kind of like best and fairest trophies).  I don’t have any means of taking photos at the moment, but if I can manage it later on, I will try and post a few photos to show you what I mean.

Rengasaur

Rengasaur in Bareke means destroyer. It’s a name that was given to a lure of mine for its aimless appetite for destruction. It’s a name that is well earned.

Fishing lures don’t have a long life expectancy in the Marovo. This poor attrition rate has more to do with the submarine landscape than predatory fish. Generally speaking, the Marovo is quite shallow, but there are deep water trenches that permeate these coral enclaves. These trenches can vary in depth, but since it takes about half of my line on my spinner to get to the bottom of some, I would hazard to guess that they range from 150 – 500 metres. The problem with trawling lies with navigating your lures close to, but not on the coral. It is bloody difficult to do. What makes it even tougher is if you have a lure like Rengasaur. Unlike a normal lure that is designed to swim relatively straight, Rengasaur has been so badly beaten and misshapen; it instead goes on long tangents swinging dramatically from left to right of the boat. Its unpredictable nature has a knack of finding other lures and coral bommies. So far, I have been quite successful at diving down and freeing it, but it is definitely on borrowed time. A few weeks back, we passed a local fisherman in a dugout canoe on the edge of a reef. Because the local had tied the base of his handline to his canoe, when rengasaur collected his line, what ensued was colossal battle of wills. I thought I had something BIG and can only imagine what the local thought when his canoe started to veer out into the reef. In the end, we figured out that what had happened, but the local wasn’t too happy about being towed 50 metres out into the open ocean (we gave him a lift back to say we were sorry).

Other mitigating factors for lure loss are the unintended targets of birds and sharks. Retrieving lures from either can be fraught with danger. The Dekere (Anous Stolidus ) are a sea birds that spend their whole lives chasing schools of tuna. Unfortunately for them and me, they really have taken a liking to Rengasaur. On two occasions, I have had to dehook these unwitting recipients of Rengasaur’s rathe, whilst being bitten and scratched. Bensadine has become my new best friend after such encounters. Sharks on the other hand, don’t play nice. They usually wait for another fish to strike, then attack. It is been my experience that they usually attack the head of the fish and thus become entangled in whatever you have aswell. Usually I just cut the line if it happens, but Rengasaur is special, so when a shark hit it (or it hit the shark) we pulled the beast onto the beach and started operation monster de-tooth. I felt mildly exploitative watching two local boys try to pry the lure free with their bush knives, but I guess that they also shared my attachment to Rengasaur. I will also note that, the shark survived this encounter and lived to annoy another day.

The last thing I will say about Rengasaur is its uncanny ability to find human flesh. We have had two injuries so far and a few more close shaves. Unfortunately, when you retrieve it and the boat is still going forward, Rengasaur can sometimes be propelled forward. It’s risky to duck, but riskier still to try and catch. Mall found this out the hard way.

Rengasaur is also in its element when you drag a fish onto the boat without a gaff. Fensal tried to stand on a Spanish mackerel to settle it down and got a hook through his left calf for his troubles. Both injuries brought a premature end to the fishing and forced us to make the long hike to the regional nurse, who delights in making fun of us.

You might think, why would I keep such a deadly contraption. Well, the answer to that question is in the picture below.

Patukae features in the news!!

The main village which I am currently living featured on a New Zealand Current affairs show this week.  Here is the link

http://www.3news.co.nz/Where-does-the-aid-go/tabid/367/articleID/262918/Default.aspx 

I am in two minds about the whole thing.  Part of me is appreciative of the support the Patukae Primary school received from the UNICEF donors.  Due to these contributions, the school now has three new toilets, two new water tanks, 50 desks and a renovated balcony.  This might seem trivial, but it was 3 years in the making.  Compared to the state of some of the other schools I visited, it’s the bloody Hilton.  They originally interviewed me, but I didn’t make the final cut…gutted.  If you look closely, you can briefly see my house when the kids are playing soccer. 

Still, many in the community feel that the project was managed poorly.  It is somewhat ironic that the title of the news story was ‘where does the aid go’.  Maybe ‘where does the money for the aid go’ would be a more enlightening title.  I have no real reason to get particularly toxic, but it does raise in my mind how aid related headlines can sometimes take precedence over project outcomes. 

Patuake is actually no stranger to press clippings.  This was a blog written about the PatukaeRICs internet system that was started up 3 years ago.  http://ict4dviewsfromthefield.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/a-working-public-private-partnership-for-rural-internet-connectivity/

I work very closely with these villages, but at the moment, there is great uncertainty over the future of this project.  As grandad always used to say, there is no such thing as a free lunch.