Download PDF: Phoenix Islands Protected Area
When Cat Holloway invited New England Aquarium scientists to join our expedition to the Phoenix Islands in 2000, supported by four NAI'A "citizen scientists", we all hoped that something lasting would come of the expedition. Little did we know that the scientific team, led by Dr. Greg Stone, would be so impressed by the Phoenix Islands that they would ultimately succeed in creating a 184,700 square mile marine protected area.
We have been to the Phoenix Islands six times now, three times on expeditions to support the creation of the marine protected area. So awesome are the islands that National Geographic has written about them and now Conservation International, one of the world's best-funded conservation groups, has accepted responsibility for funding the endowment that will protect the islands from fishing.
We at NAI'A are very proud to have been instrumental in kickstarting this major conservation effort and we congratulate the New England Aquarium and Conservation International for making our dream a reality.
The Primal Ocean Project
Who'd have thought an adventurous dive trip into unknown territory
would have captured so many hearts and minds? The Phoenix Rising Expedition
to the Phoenix Archipelago in Kiribati in 2000 was such a monumental
success from both the marine science standpoint and thanks to the
sheer abundance and beauty of the coral reef and fish communities,
that we headed back there in June and July 2002.
The New England Aquarium, Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute,
and the National Geographic Society conducted a multi-disciplinary
scientific expedition to the remote Phoenix Islands in the South Pacific
country of Kiribati. The expedition helped to shed light on the condition
of the pre-human oceans and the impacts of human activity. These rarely
visited and mostly uninhabited islands are uniquely positioned to
answer questions about the diversity and condition of marine life
in environments unexploited by the growing human population.
NAI'A, in conjunction with the New England Aquarium and the World
Wildlife Fund, first set sail to explore the remote Phoenix Islands
in Kiribati from June 22 - July 15, 2000. Our second survey expedition
ran June 5 - July 10, 2002.
NAI'A chose the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati to launch the first of
a series of ambitious and adventurous voyages of discovery. The journeys
aim to realize both the dreams of bold dive travelers to explore remote,
pristine and mysterious locales as well as to provide marine scientists
and conservationists with a rare and invaluable opportunity to understand
and protect our oceans. The scientists and divers proved a superb
partnership.
The Phoenix Island Group in Kiribati consists of eight (almost entirely
uninhabited) atolls that sit about 1000 -1500 nautical miles northeast
of Fiji. We visited there originally as part of the TIGHAR Amelia
Earhart search when we dived only along the southern edge of Gardner
(Nikumaroro) Island. The mantas, schooling trevally, turtles, sliver
tip, gray reef, black tip and white tip sharks totally thrilled us.
During our brief time actually looking, we also encountered a large
pod of spinner dolphins (and perhaps some bottlenose) as well as a
few distant whales. The water was beautifully clear and the steep
hard coral slope was perfectly pristine. "So, this is what a
coral reef looks like without people or anchors to destroy it!"
We vowed then to return to fully survey the region in the hope that
we might discover one of the planet's few remaining precious ocean
oases - and then campaign for its protection.
Mary-Jane Adams, two-time Phoenix researcher and veteran of more than
70 live-aboard expeditions, summed it up best:
"It was an unforgettable experience and a major highlight
of my 25 years of diving. The Phoenix Islands experience exceeded
my most optimistic expectations. Diving with New England Aquarium
biologists greatly enriched my understanding of tropical reefs and
their inhabitants. If I ever get this kind opportunity again I will
grab it."
For more details, read the Background
outline, the Voyage Summary and the Voyage
Press Release. You can re-trace our journey through the Daily
Reports from the Ship by WWF Marine Conservation Officer, Sangeeta
Mangubhai. Check out Cat Holloway's exhilarating write-up, Sharks
on Prozac, Coral on Steriods. Also, see the New England Aquarium
site at: www.neaq.org.
NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
Features NAI'A's Phoenix Islands Expedition
"On the healthy reefs of the Phoenix Islands, scientists find new species and clues to preserving paradise..." Explore along with us:
Follow our Dispatches from Sea
For a Good Read:
Karen Burns and Thomas King
Amelia Earhart's Shoes
by Thomas King, Randall Jacobson, Karen Burns and Kenton Spading
"Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart?" has been an enduring
question since she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared somewhere
in the Pacific on July 2, 1937. This book posits that due to bad weather,
Earhart and Noonan missed their refueling stop on Howland Island in
the mid-Pacific and landed on Nikumaroro. Working from a wide range
of fields its authors are an archeological consultant, a geophysicist,
a forensic anthropologist and an army engineer. This book claims that
human bones and a shoe found on Nikumaroro indicate that Earhart possibly
landed and died there. This is a must for "what happened to Amelia"
fanatics, and also those who are interested in how science can be
used to test the veracity of theories about historical mysteries."
-Publishers Weekly