October 2026: Fieldwork in Beqa, Fiji

In October 2026, Dr. Salanieta Kitolelei conducted fieldwork on Beqa Island as part of her SOCPacific2R postdoctoral research with a team from USP including Dr. Jokim Kitolelei and a USP environmental student alumnus.

During this fieldwork, the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) was conducted with an initial round of BRUV deployments at one reef passage. The team also conducted informal talanoa sessions and interviews about reef passages and the kind of species which pass through them during Fiji’s cold season. Initial video recordings were shown to the communities to show the diversity of fish species and identify the many reef fish which were documented in the videos at the time of the deployment.

By demand of the local residents, a follow-up fieldwork will be conducted on more reef passages in Beqa.