What One Pearl Oyster Farm in Fiji Can Teach Us About Climate Resilience

In the sunlit waters of Savusavu, a team of Fijian men haul up their catch from small barges anchored just offshore. Several long lines of black-lip pearl oysters are drawn up, stacked one on top of another. As the lines are pulled up, small damselfish wriggle free, flopping on the deck before being quickly tossed back into the water. The women on board pause their shellfish sorting to gently extract clusters of verdant seagrapes from the oyster lines. The nutritious seaweed (Caulerpa racemosa) will be served to their families or sold on the market, along with the oysters.

“You see, these oyster lines act as biodiversity aggregators,” says Justin Hunter, founder of J. Hunter Pearls (JHP) and our tour guide for the day. Justin had agreed to bring a group of researchers to visit his pearl farm operations in Savusavu, known by locals as the hidden paradise of Fiji. As we lean in for a closer look, avoiding some fire coral, we see the oyster lines teeming with more damselfish and seagrapes, as well as tunicates (sea squirts) and other marine animals. Across our planet’s vast oceans, these oysters are a literal lifeline, enabling animal larvae to settle and sheltering fish and invertebrates from predators. As filter-feeding bivalves, oysters also act as nature’s water purifier, sucking up excess nutrients into their shells and tissue. “Oysters don’t need external feed,” explains Justin. “They take what they need from the water column.”

Back on land, the visiting researchers witness how expert technicians coax the oysters to secrete lustrous, jewel and earth-toned pearls, the rarest of cultured ocean pearls that are so highly valued that they were recently gifted to royalty. But these pearl-producing, water-filtering, habitat-forming oysters are also delicious in their own right. Served raw on ice with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of chilli, the oysters capture the briny essence of the sea and are a textural delight. The local community has taken note, and is now working with JHP to explore ways of selling oyster meat to local markets and hotels—and, in so doing, diversifying their oyster production beyond pearls. This has created new job opportunities—particularly for women and youth—and is increasing the return on oyster investments, given that only 18 months are needed for oyster babies to grow to an appealing size, compared to 5 years for pearl production.

Building on a community pearl farm pilot project

The community-led oyster farms in Savusavu are one example of a holistic approach to aquaculture (rearing aquatic animals or culturing seaweeds for food) that produces healthy protein and livelihoods for communities, while attracting biodiversity and taking up excess nutrients from the surrounding waters. JHP, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Fiji, the Pacific Community, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development are finding ways to improve and expand the community pearl farm pilot project that Justin Hunter initiated through collaboration on AQUAPearl. The project is supported by the International Development Research Council and the Government of Canada’s International Climate Finance Initiative and is one of a portfolio of nature-based aquaculture projects called AQUADAPT across the Pacific islands and Southeast Asia.

Unlike purely commercial aquaculture, AQUAPearl partners interpret nature-based aquaculture as creating food resilience using inclusive and sustainable aquaculture practices that restore ecosystems and help ensure sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities. As a nature-based solution, filter-feeding oysters on farms improve water quality, while the oyster lines attract biodiversity. To improve the pilot experience, WCS Fiji will monitor fish biomass and coral health near the oyster lines.  In addition, WCS will work with communities to restore upstream watersheds and enhance water quality over the long term. Together with watershed planning and management, better stewardship of the ocean and surrounding environment will be encouraged, helping to ensure that these ecosystems continue to thrive and that oysters are safe for human consumption.

The fisheries sector is Fiji’s third- largest natural resource sector and is closely linked to the diet, recreation, and social values of Fijian communities. But the combined effects of climate change, overfishing, and other factors have reduced fish catches and livelihood opportunities for Fijians. The AQUAPearl project is one step toward building resilience in communities that have been impacted by the loss of fisheries livelihoods. Oyster farming can help support families with additional income from oyster sales, and the provision of alternative protein sources. Indeed, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Savusavu and pearl sales and supply chains ground to a halt, JHP’s team and communities suffered heavy income losses, but were able to pivot to harvesting oysters to meet household food needs.

This is the difference between nature-based aquaculture—where an emphasis on ecosystem and community health and resilience in the face of climate change, disasters, and other shocks is guided by community values, reciprocity, and relationships—and aquaculture-as-usual, where intense operations designed to meet food security needs can degrade and pollute ocean ecosystems, damaging future fishing opportunities by altering food webs and removing nursing grounds.

The risks of intensive commercial aquaculture

The triple-COP year (meetings of the three Rio Conventions successively in the same year for the first time) demonstrated a growing policy imperative for implementing nature-based solutions, as witnessed by multiple references to nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based approaches in decisions taken by countries. Yet, work remains on scaling up nature-based solutions and integrating the concept across sectors.

Globally, aquaculture production has surged past capture fisheries for the first time, and production in both has hit world highs of 223 million tonnes, with aquaculture production estimated at 131 million tonnes (data from 2022; FAO, 2024). Yet, despite its importance in feeding and sustaining growing populations while reducing stress on wild fish stocks that are impacted by overfishing, climate change, pollution, development, and other pressures, aquaculture is currently a blind spot for NbS. 

Rearing carnivorous fish, also known as “fed aquaculture,” relies on fishmeal made from wild-caught small fish such as anchovies and sardines. The demand for fishmeal, and a thriving fish oil industry are driving overfishing of these nutritious small fish, harming the livelihoods and diets of the poorest populations in the world, and causing imbalances in intricate marine food webs. Unfortunately, switching to plant-based feed for aquaculture is not always the answer. The demand for plant-based feed, such as soy or maize, has driven deforestation and habitat destruction. And switching to plant-based feed, even if sustainably sourced, does not address the problem of effluent that is released in the sea or sea lice and other parasites that can transfer from escaped farmed fish to wild populations.

Other kinds of intensive commercial aquaculture have earned a bad reputation for their social and environmental impacts. In coastal zones, mangroves have been cleared for shrimp farming, resulting in pollution, habitat destruction, and soil salinization that can seep into groundwater and destroy agricultural lands. Mangrove destruction also means reduced climate resilience in the face of storm surges. Given the massive increase in aquaculture and its projected expansion—it is expected to reach 111 million tonnes in 2032, (an overall growth of 17% compared with 2022)—the resilience and sustainability of aquatic food systems should be prioritized, particularly for populations that are food-insecure and whose livelihoods depend on capture fisheries or aquaculture.

Integrating resilience into the fisheries and aquaculture sector

The AQUAPearl project and others in the AQUADAPT network are showing that there are more sustainable ways to farm aquatic animals for food, that do not require overfishing forage fish, convert valuable coastal mangroves into shrimp farms, or cause pollution. Aside from bivalves, it is also possible to sustainably farm animals higher up in the food web: rice-fish farming is another example of a nature-based approach to aquaculture called integrated multi-trophic aquaculture.

The AQUAPearl project partners also integrate community-based, gender-responsive approaches to aquaculture, and actively pursue market research for potential export beyond local markets, establishing quality assurance protocols to support the shellfish aquaculture industry, while encouraging better stewardship of watershed ecosystems to prevent pollution.

But scaling up nature-based aquaculture requires capacity, innovation, and investments. Integrated, multi-sectoral, and whole-of-government approaches are also critical for success, given that a project like AQUAPearl is relevant to multiple policy objectives on biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, gender equality, food and livelihoods security, and economic development. For example, policy-makers can integrate nature-based approaches to aquaculture into their national biodiversity strategies and action plans (under the Convention on Biological Diversity) and their national adaptation plans (under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). Sectoral strategies for fisheries and aquaculture should also prioritize sustainable approaches. In particular, gender-responsive approaches are needed, as women make up 24% of the workforce in fisheries and aquaculture, and 62% of the processing subsector. They are also affected by wage gaps and gender-based violence (FAO, 2024). Thus, women’s contributions to the sector need to be recognized, and their working conditions must be improved.

In November 2024, the AQUAPearl team convened a stakeholder workshop with Fiji’s ministries of fisheries and forests, trade, and health, along with universities and non-governmental organizations. The project team introduced AQUAPearl to the stakeholders, sparking discussion and debate on what constitutes nature-based aquaculture. The participants also discussed health certification and trade requirements for a future shellfish industry in Fiji. The workshop catalyzed high-level support for the project and strengthened relationships between stakeholders. It was a promising step towards collaboration across ministries on nature-based aquaculture, highlighting its role in promoting a sustainable, gender-responsive blue economy in Fiji.

Communities are at the heart of the AQUAPearl project. The team will continue working with the communities in Savusavu alongside private sector, conservation, and government partners; supporting equitable governance models for leading the farms; providing training on oyster biology and business set-up; and purchasing native trees from nurseries for restoration. The team will also set up a quality assurance program that monitors oyster and water quality, conducts market research, and consolidates and shares results.

Each step taken moves us closer to a more resilient, holistic approach to aquaculture—an approach that other countries, not just Fiji, should be advancing.