SUVA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Fiji celebrated World Fisheries Day on Wednesday by asking its citizens to align goals and ambitions to "sustaining their fisheries for sustainable communities."

Fiji's Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Fisheries Naipote Katonitabua officiated the 2018 World Fisheries Day Celebrations in Lautoka, Fiji's second largest city.

Katonitabua stressed that people must start, if they haven't already, to sustain Fiji's fisheries for sustainable communities in the future.

He highlighted that Fiji is a part of a bigger celebration where different nations, communities and individuals all over the world acknowledged connectivity between fisheries and the social, cultural and economic foundation of a nation.

The official said that in Fiji people celebrated the importance of the ocean and surrounding coastal waters; and also recognized the very important reason for proactively managing fisheries resources which were vital to Fijians as a source of food, income and livelihood.

He said that the ocean, coastal waters, coral reefs and the abundant fisheries resources also served other functions, which would include natural capital, aesthetic values, cultural significance and spiritual identity, as could be gauged through traditional totems.

The Pacific oceans and its abundant resources provided a common thread that united the region and even reached across each Pacific island country, he said, adding that this made it critical for everyone to ensure that Fiji's fisheries resources are maintained at sustainable levels, not only for the present, but also for future generations.