Shifting Baselines

Archeological records show that outrigger canoes have been used in Fiji since at least the early 1800s but perhaps as early as the 1440s. It's possible that they have been around even longer. In this photo (ca. 1880), the Camakau, or traditional Fijian canoe, is in full sail. Such canoes were commonly seen in the outer islands in the Fiji group.

But boat-building, at least in the canoe sense, is an endangered profession here in Fiji. According to Leon Zann's 1980 publication, Traditional and Introduced Fishing Boats in the South Pacific:

Rafts and crude dugouts are still used on some of the rivers of Fiji but they are no longer widespread. The outriggers formerly used in fishing are all but extinct, confined to a few small islands of the Lau group.

This survey indicates there are fewer than 150 canoes remaining in Fiji: 15 on Ogea; 34 on Fulaga. 40 on Kabara and Numuka; plus a handful on other Lauan islands.

Elsewhere in Fiji canoe-building and sailing skills have been completely lost. For example, the fishing villages of Komo in Lau (population: 250) and Nasegai in Kadavu (population: 400) each have only three outboard punts while a generation ago every household had a fishing canoe. Today's village economy is cash based with much of the income coming from relatives working on Viti Levu. Sales of canned fish are astonishingly high for so-called fishing islands.

The reasons for the decline in traditional craft are the speed, convenience and versatility of the 'outboard'. Fijians have the financial means to exchange their slow, cumbersome and inconvenient canoes for modern, high speed outboards. Even on canoe-building Fulanga, which does not have a single outboard, the people say they would get outboards if they had the money. On Moala in Lau, people referred to the sailing canoe as "slow, useless, and old fashioned boats."

p.s. As it turns out, I learned the government subsidizes two-thirds of fiberglass boats (which replaced canoes; in photos to come) or about $6000. Stay tuned for more on subsidies soon...