Fiji Islands - Anglers Paradise

Fiji is an independent sovereign tropical island state in the South West Pacific near Australia and New Zealand. It is situated between 12 and 21 degrees south of the equator and between 177 east and 178 degrees west longitude. It sits on the International Dateline and as such was the first to greet the new millennium.

The country is comprised of more than 330 islands, most of them of volcanic origin. The islands have spectacular mountains and river valleys and innumerable coral reefs and lagoons which have some of the best scuba diving in the world.

This is home to the target fish of Anglers Paradise - the giant tropical trevally (GT) and other warm water species such as tunas, various bill and broadbill species such as the majestic marlins, swordfish, sailfish, and mackerel such as wahoo, walu (Spanish mackerel), and other types of fish such as mahimahi, cods, coral trout and a range of snappers both shallow and deep water as well as barracuda and sharks.

Fiji has a low population of approximately 800,000 people who became independent in 1970 after 96 years of British rule. Most people speak English as it is the common language of the population which is comprised of indigenous Fijian people of Papuan stock, now more than half the population, and people from the Indian subcontinent, descendants of indentured labourers and a small number of people of other races.

Both groups speak in their vernacular as well as in English. Main industries are the growing and processing of sugar cane, tourism, natural drinking water, gold mining, timber extraction and processing and deep sea fisheries mainly for skipjack and yellowfin tuna species. There is a cannery at Levuka on the island of Ovalau. Fiji is noted for the genuine friendliness of its people and the unspoiled nature of its countryside and islands.