Pride Campaign Manager Adam Murray recently visited Jason Jack who is leading a Pride campaign in the Pacific on the island of Kosrae. Jason is focusing on fish and trying to get other islanders to do so too.
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I have just returned from an interesting trip in the Pacific where I spent a week on the beautiful island of Kosrae. Kosrae is one of the states in The Federated States of Micronesia. It’s seemingly a magical place – when you take a step into the surrounding mangroves or coral flats you really feel like you are talking a step into Jurassic Park.
Jason Jack from the Kosrae Conservation and Safety Organisation (KCSO) took us on a tour of some of the achievements of the Pride campaign in Kosrae.
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On the first day we went to the Tafunsak harbour. This is one of the sites where the commercial fish stocks are recorded and monitored by KCSO staff and the government. This is important for KCSO’s work and specifcally to Jason’s campaign. Many people in Kosrae have talked about how there used to be more big fish in the area and now it is rare to see big fish like the bump-head parrotfish — the campaign’s mascot. With good monitoring it will be easy to see increases in fish stocks as a result of the conservation work carried out in Kosrae.
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Examples of caught bump-head parrotfish.
Luckily Jason has a lot of support on the island. He is working closely with the other NGO called YELA Organization and also government departments like KIRMA. There are a lot of untapped skills on the island that Jason is beginning to use. For example we met with a very proud local artist who won an art competion that Jason held. This competition was held to build support and get some artwork for the campaign logo. Using “Kosrae Pride” Jason will be able to get even more people engaged.
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Jason (right) with a very proud local artist who won the campaign logo design competition
Even though life in the Pacific Isles are notoriously laid back, I was really encouraged to see what Jason had already achieved – building partnerships and establishing monitoring techniques. Kosrae is the perfect environment for a Pride Campaign and every good news story spreads fast across the island. One such good news story is that within a few weeks after our trip to Kosrae, Jason’s boss contacted me to say that “We saw four bump-head parrotfish, the first time in my life to physically see this kind of fish in Kosrae’s coral reef ecosystem.” This can only be a good sign — showing that hopefully the conservation efforts on Kosrae are making a difference.
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