Adventures on the beautiful island of Pukapuka in the Northern Cook Islands continue! A rare glimpse of this remote tropical paradise in the South Pacific.
I talk about the reserves with houses made of traditional methods and how they function to support sustainable harvesting methods to prevent resource depletion.
We then introduce the mayor of Pukapuka for a rare interview. Special thanks to Lurline McGregor for conducting the interview. The mayor expresses his concerns on global warming and shares his message with the world, describing what changes he has noticed on the islands in his lifetime. Low laying atolls like Pukapuka and many of the islands in the Pacific will be hardest hit by sea level rising. On Tabuaeran the water tables are rising and wells that were once fresh water are turning into salt. Old trees alongside the lagoon are being submerged under water. Coral bleaching caused by ocean acidification is affecting even the most remote islands in the world, impacting the entire ecosystem.
We then move towards documenting different fishing practices and capture the struggles of dealing with sharks. I personally love sharks and always hate seeing them killed, but they are not specifically being targeted and this is not a large scale fishing operation. Simply the locals taking what resources they need to feed their small island population.
A friendly competition of volleyball is play to determine what village has to go fishing for those days. The losing team must bring the winning team a large quantity of fish before they're able to re-challenge the winning team. Makes the competition more interesting!
The video is then finished with a more extensive interview with the mayor of Pukapuka. Thanks for watching!