Marovo Lagoon

Vangunu Island seen from space. Marovo lagoon can be seen north of the island.

Marovo Lagoon is a large saltwater lagoon located in the New Georgia Islands, north of Vangunu Island, at 8°29′S 158°04′E / 8.48°S 158.07°E. It is part of the Solomon Islands. It encompasses 700 square km and is protected by a double barrier reef system.

The Marovo Lagoon World Heritage Area in located in the Marovo Lagoon. Sightings of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) have been confirmed in the lagoon.^[1]

There are many islands in the lagoon, some of which are inhabited. The people speak the Marovo language and live mainly by subsistence agriculture and are skilled at fishing.^[2] The lagoon is a popular destination for diving.

References

1. "Tursiops aduncus, Ehrenberg, 1833: Solomon Islands, Delphinidae, Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphin, Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin". Review of Significant Trade: Species selected by the CITES Animals Committee following CoP14 and retained in the review following AC25 (PDF). CITES Project No. S-380: Prepared for the CITES Secretariat by United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. 2012. pp. 2–10. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
2. Robert E. Johannes and Edvard Hviding (2000). Traditional knowledge possessed by the fishers of Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands, concerning fish aggregating behaviour (PDF). SPC Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin No. 12. pp. 22–29.