Safeguarding the ocean is crucial for our future generations, says Serua resident Adi Kolokesa Latianara.
The 51-year-old president of the Women’s Association in Serua said women in her village had been conserving the ocean through sustainable projects.
“I remind the women about the pollution in the ocean and advise them not to throw their rubbish in the sea,” she said.
“Each household in the village has three bags to separate waste materials.
“We use plastics and bottles to make artwork.
“Most of the women in the village sew pencil cases and make earrings and necklaces.
“We thank Consumer Council for coming to our village and teaching us how to sew bags made from sacks.
“We use these bags for our shopping, rather than buying the bags from shops. “Empty tins were collected by the Lautoka City Council.”
Ms Latianara said the Women’s Association of Serua consists of more than 50 women. “It’s important to include young girls especially the school leavers and single mothers.
“We meet on Thursdays at 10am and have lunch together.”
Ms Latianara said male companions had been supportive towards the Serua Women’s Association and in the projects they had been doing. “Because men discuss with women on various issues in the village.
“For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we have to protect our ocean.
“For us in Serua we have marine reserves and we need to educate our village community so that everybody knows how to protect our marine resources.
“We are also planting mangroves because this is where small fishes and crabs get their livelihood from.”
Ms Latianara said she had also advised the women in her village not to catch small size sea creatures.
“Most of us go out fishing, we advise all the ladies, if you catch a small fish please throw them back into the sea and we just get the big ones. “When we catch kawakawa fish, we have to put them back in the sea.
“We can see the size of the fish were small, and the fish which we used to catch before, we normally can’t see them.
“There were people selling sea cucumbers as well, they have been stopped which is good because those sea cucumbers are helpful in protecting fish and other sea creatures.”
