“THE way humans need a house, fish need mangroves too.” – Setaita Biu, fish warden, Barotu Village, Fiji. In the coastal village of Barotu in Navitilevu Bay, 50-year-old Setaita Biu reflects on the deep relationship between her community and the sea. As a fish warden, she knows the rhythms of the sea better than most. She also knows what’s been lost — and what’s starting to return. “Just like we need a house to live in, fish need mangroves,” she says. Setaita remembers how things were after Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston hit Fiji in 2016. The mangroves were damaged. Crabs, once plentiful in the muddy roots, became harder to find. “We used to catch a lot of crabs. But after Winston, they disappeared. The mangroves were broken, and without them, the crabs didn’t have anywhere to live,” she says. But now, things are slowly changing.
