NFMV pays tribute to Joan Moody who has died after a short illness.
Conservation in Fiji has lost a hero. NatureFiji-MareqetiViti would like
to pay tribute to Joan Moody (and husband Tom) for their unheralded
contribution to conservation on Namenalala island and the waters around it
for the past 28 years.
Joan is little known throughout Fiji but for those who did know her and her work, she will be remembered as someone who, rather uncharacteristically for the industry she worked in, walked the talk and if you didn’t measure up, you would know all about it.
The Moody’s were charged by NLTB with the care of nearly all of Namenalala as a nature reserve and developing a resort on a small portion. It was a remarkably progressive arrangement which I don’t believe has been repeated, and that is a pity.
Every time I went to Namenalala, I marveled at how seriously Tom and Joan took this responsibility.
Talk was not of how many booking, but what was going on in the reserve, the arrival of mynah birds and how to be rid of them, how many turtles had nested and hatched, how the booby’s breeding season was progressing; and, also of their skirmishes with unscrupulous bait fishing boats, illegal fishermen and irresponsible divers.
This was, and probably still is, the best managed nature reserve in Fiji. Joan extended it to the sea and with Tom and the Kubulau qoliqoli owners set up a remarkable Educational Trust Fund.
No fanfare, no press releases, just getting on with the job of looking after Fiji’s remarkable natural heritage. A truly sad passing; our condolences are extended to Tom and their family.
The Family have said that donations can be made direct to Westpac Account Name: Namena Ltd. 1168092700 – with a note For the Joan Moody Memorial Fund.
Or, by cheques can be mailed to Moody’s Namena Resort, PMG, Savusavu, Fiji.