Bula vinaka, Noa’ia e mauri and warm greetings from Suva.
I am humbled to be part of the panel today to celebrate something that is very dear to me – Our Ocean, Our Livelihood, Our Blue economy!
Honorable Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Honorable Secretary General of the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, Honorable Peter Thompson, Reverend James Bhagwan, my fellow Ocean sisters, ladies and gentlemen.
This is my Ocean Story – a tribute to my late maternal great grandfather Jimione Mataiasi Howard and to every person who knows the power of our Ocean!
Ma’piga Jimi, as we fondly called him, knew the ocean, reefs and the lagoons around Rotuma and I can confidently say, no one else in my family knew the sea the way my ma’piga Jimi did. He was an old sailor and a chef – to my extended family, he was a comedian, a seaman and a comrade. To me, he was a gifted storyteller, a keeper of traditional knowledge, a canoe carver and a fisherman!
Ma’piga Jimi is a major part of my ocean story today!
When I was much younger, his stories fueled my passion to be the voice for the turtles, dolphins, sharks and every life in the lagoon. And it made sense to me at that time – his stories were laced with moonlit fishing for red bass, free diving, voyaging using traditional navigation and protecting marine life.
But it was also entwined with ocean stories that involved changes – warming waters, over harvesting of seafood, pollution, unfamiliar fish stock migration, sea level rise and climate related impacts on fishing.
These stories really pointed me towards activism!
I inherited my love of the Ocean from him! The ocean stories stuck with me! And this is the beauty of storytelling – sometimes the stories are about mythological creatures from the Ocean or unchartered sea depths with wonders of what lies on the sea floor that is yet to be explored – other times, it was stories of navigating through the currents and using the stars as his GPS to guide him and his catch home.
Every fish, crustacean, wave and coral in my ma’piga Jimi’s story was meant to connect his young audience to the Ocean and every song, chant and narrative aimed at creating a curiosity and drive to appreciate and protect the Ocean.
My mother speak of childhood memories filled with family trips to the reef at low tide to forage for sea urchins, edible sea grapes or na-ma in Fijian, clams, crustaceans and other edible seafood. She also talked about traditional knowledge that were passed from one generation to another – the songs, chants and stories that would later send me picking up rubbish at the Nasese foreshore during school holidays.
These memories of our ocean stories have all led us here at this specific moment in time to advocate for a healthy ocean and the communities and wildlife that depend on it.
Around early 2018, I asked my parents to help me pray over something that was very close to my heart – advocating for a ban on balloon releasing – after watching a turtle choke on balloon fragments that was on YouTube! When I started campaigning, I was silenced – because I was only a kid – at 14, I was writing letters to the Editors, reading about the Fiji Litter Act 2008 and calling on the Fijian government to look at balloon releasing as littering and make amendments to the Fiji Litter Act 2008.
And when business houses and adults challenged me to give them an alternative to using balloons, I turned to mangrove planting – and fought back by walking the talk – instead of using balloons to mark a special milestone or an event, I encouraged people to plant mangroves or plant native trees and to explore other environment friendlier alternatives.
It is a great feeling to have a hands-on role in coastal rehabilitation through mangrove planting activities and to learn about the environmental benefits of mangroves!
A couple of months back, I read about Nicole’s amazing and inspiring story when she became the first Pacific Islander and fourth woman to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench! These feel good stories gives me HOPE – and it is humbling to share this space with Nicole, Katrilla and Hereiti today!
All our ocean stories are inter-connected. I hope Ocean storytelling is here to stay.
