Va'a Tahaa

A grandfather on the island of Tahaa teaches two young men the art of carving an outrigger canoe. Because of the widespread availability of modern equipment and materials, these traditional skills are seldom taught to the younger generations in the Society Islands nowadays.

Stone Fish Trap
Fa'a Ofai

This trap on the northern coast of Tahaa is one of the few remaining traditional fish traps in the Society Islands. It is shaped to capture fish which come in with the swells through the barrier reef. The heart shaped pens in the foreground prevent the fish from escaping.

Pineapple Fields, Moorea

Hundreds of acres have been cleared in the Pao Pao and Opunohu Valleys to grow mono-crop pineapple plantations for local consumption and export. Soil, pesticide, and fertilizer run-off from these farms is the main source of sedimentation and pollution in the bays and fringing reefs of Moorea's north shore.

Private Property

Private property systems have increasingly replaced common property land tenure systems in the Society Islands. In particular, foreign people and businesses have purchased tracts of coastal property for vacation homes and resorts hotels, restricting local access to coastal and lagoon resources.

Poti Marara Fishing

The poti marara speedboat was designed in Tahiti to allow individual fishers to simulataneously navigate and fish in the deep sea. As the population of reef fish has declined in Moorea's lagoon, many fishers have turned to deep sea fishing to earn their livelihoods. These two fishers land their catch of mahi mahi at a dock on Moorea's north shore.

Protesting Tourism Development

In the spring of 2000, hundreds of residents of Moorea came together to protest the creation of an artifical beach by the Outrigger Hotel (now the Sheraton). Local fishers surrounded the dredging equipment with canoes for over two months to prevent the dredger from filling in the nearshore reef with sand. On shore, families set up a camp and erected signs by the road to inform tourist and others of the social and environmental injustice occuring as a result of tourism development. Eventually, after petitions, marches, and appeals to the Haute Commissioner and the president of French Polynesia, the hotel was ordered to remove the dredger.

A Wedding on Tahaa

My field assistant, Sandra Vaiho, her mother, Filomen, and I attend a cousin's wedding in Vaitoare.