Want to hear more about the Phoenix Islands? Want to meet some of the expedition members in person? Want to meet some of the students who corresponded with the team on this very blog? Want to see new (never before seen!) photos?

Join us THIS COMING MONDAY, November 2, at 7pm. The lecture is free; and free snacks will be provided as well!

Please register (free!) using this link - seats are limited!


Phoenix Islands Residents (photos: J. Stringer)

Rising From the Ashes: The Phoenix Islands Protected Area
These days it is impossible to find an ecosystem that is untouched by man. Human effects are felt from the polar ice caps to the deep sea, and coral reefs are far from the exception. The major stressors on most reefs--sewage inputs, overfishing, point-source pollution and extensive tourism--are local. However, a few remote places still exist where reefs are not affected by these local stressors; humans only affect these reefs on a global level. The Phoenix Islands are among these treasures. Their remote location, coupled with their intensive regulations and protection, create a unique opportunity for scientists to study a reef free from local impact.

New England Aquarium researchers recently participated in a rare expedition to the Phoenix Islands. In this lecture they will share scientific findings as well as anecdotes from this remarkable adventure.


Stuart, David, Les, and Randi underwater, measuring reef creatures like the clowfish and anemones featured here (photos: J. Stringer)

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Labels: coral reef health, Marine Protected Area, Randi Rotjan

The Phoenix Islands "Greatest Hits" highlights continue...

#8: Measuring the diversity, abundance, and biomass of PIPA fishes

*Guest post by Stuart Sandin*

Although corals and some algae form the backbone of a coral reef, it is the fish that give reefs their personality (at least from the perspective of a 'fish guy'). Notice, for example, that movie writers and animators did not have us finding Porites corals, but instead we focused on the reef fish Nemo and his friend Dori. Without fish, a reef would be essentially static, with limited color and even more limited movement.


(Photos: R. Rotjan)

We fish guys make a living out of looking for fish, counting how many are around, and trying to figure out what they do. This all begins with advice from Dr. Seuss, "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish." During our time in the Phoenix Islands, Les, Tuake, and I tried to gain some ecological perspective regarding the fish from each of the islands. In set areas, we counted every fish swimming around, identifying the species and estimating each fish's size. From this we can estimate some fundamental properties of the fish assemblage -- how many fish are around, how much do they all weigh (which is important because fish vary dramatically in size), and what are the ecological roles that these animals are filling?


Photos: R. Rotjan

Now what did we find? Well, we were able to confirm the long-pondered concept -- if you don't fish in an area, you get more fish. The reefs of the Phoenix Islands have no fishing activity, so it is not surprising that we find more fish there than in more heavily fished areas like Fiji, Hawaii, or any other inhabited island. But what is surprising is the sheer bounty of fish that were present on the reefs. It seems that during every dive we would come across a large school of some species; sometimes we saw dozens of giant trevally, or hundreds of parrotfish, or thousands of convict surgeonfish. Add up all of these fish and you have a particularly large assemblage of animal mass. The best insights into this is perhaps completed by comparing the fish assemblages from the Phoenix islands to more commonly visited areas. Let's use the metric of total fish biomass (in other words, imagine that you took every fish out of a section of reef and weighed them...this is our metric of choice when summarizing multi-specific fish assemblages). Our surveys of the Phoenix islands revealed that there were about 250 grams per meter squared of reef, or about a half pound of fish in the area of the hood of a car. In contrast, the reefs of the main Hawaiian islands, Fiji, and Jamaica have about 65, 30, and 20 grams per meter squared, respectively. The reefs that most people visit during vacation are a shadow of their historic potential.


Photos: R. Rotjan

But the reef fish of the Phoenix islands were not wholly pristine and devoid of the scars of human activities. On a number of the islands we did not see many reef sharks, and when we did find them the animals were small and young. Although fishing is currently outlawed from all reefs within PIPA, this has only been true for the past few years. Within the past 10 years there has been some fishing activity on the reefs, particularly targeting the sharks for their fins. Catering to a lucrative market for shark fins (used in shark fin soup), foreign fishing vessels find it to be profitable to legally (and sometimes illegally) to visit even the most remote reef areas to harvest sharks. The regulations of PIPA prohibit any future shark finning from the reefs of the Phoenix islands, and the good number of juvenile reef sharks that we saw during this trip suggests that a recovery of shark populations is possible. But in order to realize this regrowth of shark populations, we have to assure compliance with the regulations. Multi-national efforts to improve surveillance of the remote and protected areas of the Pacific (under the jurisdictions of Kiribati as well as French Polynesia, the United States, and other nations) are beginning and will be essential to protect the splendor of these last remaining gems in sea.


Photos: R. Rotjan

The theme of 'Phoenix rising' has been common during this trip -- we saw evidence of the corals recovering from a massive bleaching event, we saw bird populations soaring following removal of introduced rats, and we also see evidence that even the insulted shark populations can recover to full glory. I am proud to have been a part of such a proactive team of conservationists, politicians, and scientists focused on protecting the Phoenix islands. Only due to this type of effort can I hope that we will protect, and perhaps even improve, vast regions of the ocean for our children and their children to marvel at into the future.

-Stuart-

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Labels: Marine Protected Area, shark finning, Stuart Sandin

This entry is written by Tukabu Terooko, a Director of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.

The designation of the Phoenix Islands a protected area is part of fulfilling Kiribati obligation under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) being party to the Convention. Initially, the plan was to protect the marine habitats only, but with the abundance of terrestrial life such as coconut crabs, seabirds and others, Kiribati then decided to include the land resources as well. The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) encompasses a total area of 408,250 sq. km.


Tukabu Terooko and Greg Stone (Photo: Brian Skerry)

As a small country, Kiribati is proud to contribute to the global environment in closing off 11.34% of its total exclusive economic zone rich in marine biodiversity. PIPA is also an important spawning area for tuna beside the Philippines and its location in the centre of the Pacific Ocean is strategic for stock enhancement of the neighboring waters and afar. It is also an important site for nesting and feeding of seabirds migrating from other hemispheres therefore PIPA in its entirety could be regarded an important protected area in the world. Being remote and isolated, the natural beauty of the islands in PIPA will always remain pristine due to absence of human activities.


Mating green sea turtles seen during a previous Phoenix Islands expedition (Photo: Greg Stone)

There is a need to conduct studies on the deep sea habitats including pelagic species because information is still lacking in these areas. Data to be collected would be very useful in designing of the management and conservation measures for such habitats and species.


A map of Kiribati (click to enlarge)

The passage of the PIPA Regulations 2008 and Trust Conservation Act 2009 is indeed a testimony that Kiribati is committed in protecting the PIPA biodiversity. The decision whether or not to list PIPA a World Heritage Site (Natural) would be made mid 2010.

-Tukabu Terooko

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Labels: Kiribati, Marine Protected Area, Phoenix Islands, Tubaku Terooko