The global economy and the political unrest in Fiji have both dealt blows to the island nation's tourism industry.
However, there is another problem just beneath the surface.
Locals say some popular tourist spots along the Coral Coast are swimming in wastewater and the evidence has been caught by a 3 News camera.
The pristine waters of Fiji are world renowned, but those images are no tourist wonderland. They are a marine protected area maintained by locals and far from any major resort.
Tourists swim near a broken pipe that leaks effluent outside the Warwick Resort on the Coral Coast.
Conservation groups say the draw card spot is overrun with seaweed, algal bloom and dead coral as sewage seeps through the sandy soils from the village next door.
“Tourists are coming to see the coral but there's no coral now on the Coral Coast,” explains Resina Koroi. “They've got to do something.”
The village is working with a Christchurch company to build eco-friendly wastewater trenches.
It is a pilot project which organisers hope will be picked up by other villages along the coast. Locals say they will then look to resorts to clean up as well.
“We have to start it first and then we can point the finger at anyone else later,” says Ejeke Viliame, a Galito Village resident. “But first we have to do it ourselves first.”
A marine biologist advising on the project has been testing water outside resorts.
“Some of them are definitely slack on the way they treat their wastewater, where they dump their rubbish where it's placed, how it's placed,” explains Holly Gittlein.
The Warwick Resort would not respond to questions about sanitation systems, despite a week of calls and emails from 3 News.
The locals used to be able to fish in the shallows. The tourists next door used to snorkel right off the beach, but now in order to fish you have to go right out past the reef. To snorkel you get in a boat and go elsewhere.
The idea now is to clean up what previous generations have ignored.
The tourist magnet is moving to stem the tide of pollution: to save the coral and their tourism industry.
3 News
Melissa Davies' trip to Fiji was sponsored by the Pacific Co-operation Foundation. For further information ph 04 931 9380, email info@pcf.org.nz, website www.pcf.org.nz