Letter From the Director David K Mitchell
Welcome to our fifth ECA newsletter for Eco Custodian Advocates, As we enter our third year we can look back and see that we are making both environmental and life impact of our place. Our lead story is on turtle satellite tagging with youth from Ole Island - 1808 Atlas of D’Entrecasteaux voyage. But 2018 is leaning towards an El Nino year and it seems the migration for nesting this season is not on. We look at why not.
We had an Adelaide University student with us in this work who had been drawn by Gwala Rising.
This was as part of the BRCC, Building Resilience to Climate Change in PNG, ADB funded program onFood Security. This work took us to the rarely visited preselected islands of the Luzancays; Kawaand Konia, the villages of Keileuna Island and Lalela village of Kitava Island. As getting to these places isa full days dinghy travel from Alotau on an open 23’ fibreglass banana boat with a 40HP engine hangingoff the back, the calmer the weather the better.
ECA at long last made it to the distant Lousiade Archipelago to learn from the severalhivi (gwala) that had been placed there. The Hon. Bernard Jack who made a smartphone recordingMPA of a hivi being placed on the Panahubo Reef (ECA Newsletter 8) formally invited us as President of theYeleyamba Local Level Government area to make this visit many years ago. Finally with the USAIDLukautim Graun program support we were able to achieve this.
The idea of gwala, bubuli of the header picture). Fishing is still allowed in the has been applied in waters out from the reef drop off, but not allowed Sewa Bay in the past however this was not really within the bubuli that follows the fringing reefs along applied. A recent unfortunate event though where a the shore.