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The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2006 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting ('triggering') IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('trigger species') at the site:

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Black Noddy Anous minutus	LC	breeding (2003)	28,000 pairs	A4i
A4iii Species group - waterbirds	n/a	- (2003)	28,000 pairs	A4iii

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2006. The most recent assessment (2019) is shown below.

State (condition of the trigger species' habitats)
Habitat	Quantity (% remaining)	Quality (% carrying capacity)	Result
Forest	very poor (<40%)	poor (40–69%)	very poor
Marine Intertidal	good (>90%)	good (>90%)	good
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	good (>90%)	good (>90%)	good

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Climate change and severe weather	likely in short term (<4 years)	whole of popul­ation/area (>90%)	moderate decline (10–30% over 3 gener­ations)	high
Human intrusions and disturbance	happe­ning now	few indivi­duals/small area (<10%)	no or slight decline (<1% over 3 gener­ations)	low
Invasive and other problematic species and genes	past (and unlikely to return) and no longer limiting	whole of popul­ation/area (>90%)	slow decline (1–10% over 3 gener­ations)	low

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Whole area (>90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation	A compre­hensive and appropriate management plan exists that aims to maintain or improve the populations of qualifying bird species	Substantive conservation measures are being implemented, but these are not compre­hensive and are limited by resources and capacity	not assessed

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
1990	Vatu-i-ra	Marine Protected Area - Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) (-)	100

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Forest	major (>10)	Dry evergreen forest (tropical)
Marine Neritic	major (>10)
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	minor (<10)
Marine Intertidal	minor (<10)

Land use	% of IBA
fisheries/aquaculture	minor (<10)
tourism/recreation	minor (<10)
not utilised	minor (<10)
nature conservation and research	minor (<10)

The island is uninhabited but is regularly visited by fishers and occasional tourists on dive trips. The island is under the Native Tenure and is owned by the Nagilogilo clan.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Vatu-i-Ra (Fiji). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/vatu-i-ra-iba-fiji on 22/12/2024.