Fiji wrestles with plans to revive Indigenous rights over world-famous surf breaks | Fiji

In Fiji, infants know a connection to the ocean from delivery; their umbilical cords, or vicovico, are typically implanted within the reefs that body the coastal Pacific nation, embedded among the many coral. It’s an age-old follow amongst iTaukei, the Indigenous Fijian folks – making a lifeline to the ocean, a reminder of their roles as conventional custodians.

But for many years, controversy over the rights to the Fijian seabed has solid an extended cloud over the island nation, which sees 1,000,000 vacationers flock to its shores every year, many to surf the proper, barrelling reef breaks. It has led to heartache and, at occasions, violence.