June 24-July 15, 2000
COST & SPONSORSHIP
The cost is divided by seven (7) sponsors at $15,000 each. This tax deductible sponsor fee INCLUDES full personal passage and complete facilities and services PLUS the joint contribution towards: three (3) other FOC scientists and one (1) half-funded researcher completing an approved marine science, research or conservation project plus one (1) half-funded medical practitioner available to care for the entire team crew and passengers.
SCIENCE PLAN
This is a multi-disciplinary scientific expedition to the Phoenix Islands in the South Pacific to measure key aspects of the marine environment around distant and virtually uninhabited coral islands. These islands, which are part of the Kiribati Group, are rarely visited; this voyage will be the first systematic survey of this near-pristine marine habitat. We will use a combination of methods to identify and quantify the abundance and distribution of marine mammals, the diversity and condition of the coral reefs, coral fish, and the distribution and diversity of marine algae. These data will then be compared to other marine environments in order to assess the impacts of human activity and to better understand the condition of the pre-human ocean.
This expedition is part of the New England Aquarium's Primal Ocean Project, which is a global effort to document ecologically healthy regions of the ocean that resemble pre-human, or pre-exploitation, conditions. The Primal Ocean Project has a scientific component which uses survey and census techniques to rapidly assess ocean areas, and a public education mission to develop films and educational materials on this topic for use in schools, aquariums, museums, and zoos. The Primal Ocean Project attempts to take a positive approach to marine conservation problems by highlighting robust ecosystems and identifying goals for rebuilding the oceans.
The NAI'A/NEAq Phoenix Island expedition is the first in this series of projects in the Primal Ocean Project. The 120-foot steel motor sailer NAI'A will depart from Fiji, site of the largest and closest international airport to the Phoenix Islands. After a five-day crossing, the vessel will arrive in the study area where research will be conducted. The voyage will take place June-July of the year 2000.
Marine Mammal
Marine mammal distributions and abundances in the South
Pacific are known primarily from anecdotal accounts (Reeves, ). This
expedition will provide an opportunity to assess what is believed
to be a major dolphin habitat. We will survey, photograph and video
all dolphin and whale species observed during the voyage. The results
will be presented to the International Whaling Commission as background
for their debate on the need for a marine mammal sanctuary in the
South Pacific. The sanctuary proposal has not advanced in recent years,
partly because of the lack of data on what species occur and where
they occur in the South Pacific.
Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are threatened world-wide from bleaching, coastal development
and other factors. This expedition will provide data on an unexplored
equatorial reef system which will add an important dimension to the
global perspective on coral reef health. We will use three methods
for rapid surveying of reefs for coral diversity and condition, as
well as benthic cover. These methods should answer the following questions
with respect to the studied reefs:
1. What is the benthic community structure?
2. What is the coral diversity from site to system-level scales?
3. What is the coral community structure from site to system-level
scales?
4. What is the state of coral health?
Coral Reef Fishes
Coral reef fishes will be surveyed for their distribution and
abundance in this region. The world's oceans contain nearly 14,500
species of fishes. Distribution of littoral fishes (the inshore species)
is quite disparate. The Indo-West Pacific Region contains nearly 3,000-
which is approximately one-third of the species of shallow inshore
species- making it the most diverse of the four recognized regions
(Helfman, Collette and Facey '97). This abundance of tropical marine
fish species is thought to be most greatly affected by the biodiversity
of other marine taxa especially the hermatypic (reef-building) corals.
The Indo- West Pacific Region contains about 500 species of coral
which is an astounding number when considering that the western Atlantic
region has approximately 10 times less (Rosen 1988). The Phoenix Islands
are situated at the eastern edge of this extremely rich region and
given its remoteness should be an excellent example of uncompromised
fish diversity and abundance.
Marine Algae
Marine algae species and distribution are unknown for this
region. We will be working with University of the South Pacific (USP)
phycologists to collect and record marine algae of the region. The
analysis of the collected specimens will take place at the USP in
Fiji and this will be the first algae survey of the region.
