84 – COSMOS Issue 86
SUSTAINABILITY BIOLOGY
Although the roundjaw bonefish (top left) is – as
its name suggests – bony, it’s a dietary staple
on Anaa. Use of traditional fishing traps (top
right) resulted in the islanders over-exploiting
the species. The Anaa Atoll Project recovery
program includes creating a new economic
driver – a sustainable tourism industry based
around catch-and-release fly-fishing (above left).
Islanders (above) still use stone traps to fish, but
on a schedule informed by science and culture.
Left, Anaa schoolchildren – with, from left, mayor
Calixte Yip, marine biologist Alex Filous and
school principal Jean Pierre Beaury – wrote and
distributed a petition that was instrumental in
gaining island-wide commitment to the fishing
changes.