Guardians of Marovo lagoon: practice, place, and politics in maritime Melanesia: chapter 5: on seas and reefs: maritime knowledge and practice

Abstract

It is the sea-the sea is what makes Marovo different. All kinds of things can be found in the sea here to make life good and to earn some money You can go to Choiseul, Vella, Ranoga, Simbo, Kolobangara [other islands in the western Solomons] and those places-true, people there have plenty of coconut trees, but they don't have anything like our lagoon! Nothing but open sea and a few reefs along the coasts of those islands. Here in Marovo, people can live well even if they don't own a single coconut tree-they can get money from shells and fish and other things in the sea. In Marovo you know we haven't cut down all our bush to plant coconuts, because we dont need that many coconut trees. So-we have good gardens full of food, close to our villages, and the sea here is full of fish. We have many things that people in other places don't have-and that is why we don’t suffer much when the copra prices go down!