99 Juvenile Giant Clams Arrive

Our precious cargo has travelled hundreds of kilometres from Fiji’s Fisheries research station on Makogai Island. First by boat to Natovi Landing on Viti Levu. From there by road on to Suva, and then down the Queen’s Road, coincidentally to the boat channel in front of Will and Alex’s farm in Momi! From there they were transported by boat to the surf mecca of Tavarua Island Resort, where they were kept in a holding tank, until we went to pick them up.

It’s been a long time coming, we’ve been waiting for these clams literally for years. You see a baby T.Gigas clam starts out life being artificially created in a holding tank in a Fisheries’ lab, on a remote island in Fiji that was once a Leper colony! So endangered are these clams that it’s got to crisis point and human intervention is required to save the species from extinction.

The spawning of giant clams has been hampered severely in recent years through lack of funds and cyclone Winston - the largest cyclone in history to make landfall in the Southern hemisphere. It reeked damage on our project here at Tokoriki Island Resort, but worse still flattened and crushed the Fisheries infrastructure and reefs at Makogai Island.

The dedicated team of Fisheries have rebuilt and are now back in business, better and stronger than ever before. Giant clam spawning is taking place again and in an effort to prevent total annihilation of a species, a small handful of unique projects which are dotted around Fiji have partnered with the Ministry of Fisheries in an effort to plant Giant Clams.

Our project is the oldest in Fiji (18 years) and as such we have the largest collection of mature T.Gigas clams in Fiji.

Committed partners are:

Makogai Island Ministry of Fisheries Research Station/ Vatuvara Foundation (Lau Islands)/ Wakaya Island (Lomaiviti)/ Tavarua Island Resort (Southern Mamanucas)/ Tokoriki Diving (Tokoriki Island Resort - Northern Mamanucas)/ Mago (Mel Gibson’s Island - Lau Group)