Beach time!

The office has been full on recently with community and business consultations following on from the BioRap carried out in February, however luckily for the team, this week also included a pilot beach restoration project in Talihau community.

The project brought together by SPREP, Joanna Ellison, Senior Lecturer at University of Tasmania, Ministry of Environment and Communication and VEPA aims to reduce coastal erosion through ecosystem based adaptation.

So what is ecosystem based adaptation (EbA)?

EbA uses biodiversity and ecosystem services as an adaptation tool. Ecosystem services are the benefits of the ecosystem to humans i.e food, water, resource, security etc.

Damage by pigs on fragile coastal vegetation.

Looking for sites around Vava'u, it was discovered that many of the beaches were suffering from coastal erosion, caused by both human impacts such as sand mining, burning of vegetation and littering as well as pigs destroying the fragile vegetation as well as wave and storm damage.

The site chosen for the pilot project was Talihau, a coastal community who has moderate to severe erosion along the beach. The road had collapsed in part after Cyclone Ian in 2014, however this area needs considerable work done before an EbA. However, the eastern end of the beach was suitable for a rehabilitation plot.

Beach clean up by the girls.

The fence being built.

A fence is erected around the site to prevent further damage to the vegetation from pigs and human use and in heavily scoured areas palm fronds and vegetation are stacked on the edge to catch sand brought into the beach from high tides, waves and storms.

Palm fronds placed below greenery and then staked down to prevent waves washing them away.

Access path between the fenced area to reduce impacts on vegetation and scoured areas.

Palm fronds are placed along scoured lip of coast to help catch sand.

The community of Talihau has named the project "Ma'ae Kaha'u 'o Talihau" and will monitor the progress of the protected site, the palm fronds will be changed out when needed and eventually beach vines will be planted to increase the coastal security. The Ministry of Environment and Communication and VEPA will continue to assist the community. Signs are being made to show the value of healthy beaches.

School presentation at GPS Talihau by Winnie from MEC and Paul from SPREP.

This is an important step in protecting coastlines and it is hoped that more beaches and communities will have EbA restoration programs in the future.

World Ocean's Day 9th June 2014

Yesterday here in Vava'u we celebrated World Ocean's Day. The event was co-ordinated by VEPA  and Endangered Encounters and sponsored by many of the local businesses in town as well as a large number of volunteers collecting rubbish underwater and along the shoreline.

Marine pollution and marine debris are 2 of the many  issues that are oceans are facing, rubbish thrown both directly into the water as well as rubbish blowing in from the shoreline here our creating issues to our marine environment.

Our poster was made by kids at the Vava'u Public Library Fun Day.

Volunteer diver bringing up tyres.

Hanite working hard.

Lisa and Kat sorting rubbish.

ANZ Bank volunteers.

No clean up should be carried out without a specialist BBQ chef.

Rubbish placed in trees is removed by Brian and Tracy

 We would like to thank all of the volunteers that gave their time to help with the event, both in cleaning up and also making it fun.

Sponsors of the event provided sausages, gloves, rubbish bags, water, tents and all the essentials to make these event successful. Below is a list of sponsors:

Endangered Encounters, Riki Tiki Tours, VEPA, Beluga Diving, ANZ Bank, Seventh Heaven, Pafilio Tangitau Store, Mounu Island Resort, Teisa and Kalolo, Coconut Car Rentals, Trouble in Paradies, Vava'u Shipwrights, Seahorse Power, GIO Recycling, WestPac Bank.

Malo e lelei Vava'u!

G’day! As the new Australian volunteer at VEPA I thought I should write a quick introduction about myself and what I hope to be doing here in 2014.

My name is Eileen “Kat” Tuite and I will be working within the VEPA office for 12 months in the volunteer position of Environmental Education Program Trainer. My role here is to work with the local staff and volunteers to assist in creating suitable environmental education programs that they can deliver to the community and schools within Vava’u. During my time here I hope to contribute to VEPA’s venture in increasing awareness of conservation and environmental issues, as well as encouraging engagement with environmentally sustainable initiatives in ways that serve to effectively manage environmental issues at a community level. 

I have a background in teaching Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science in secondary schools in Australia. Prior to that I completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours at the Australian National University, with majors in Zoology, and Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology. I have worked with Australia’s CSIRO on ecological research projects, and have volunteered with wildlife rescue groups in both Australia and Vietnam.

I am a keen environmentalist, and whilst teaching Science in secondary schools I worked to integrate concepts of sustainability and environmental issues into the curriculum and students’ lives. I have always been particularly passionate about wildlife conservation, but I am also known to be an avid composter, an enthusiastic recycler, and a bit of a green-thumb in the garden.

In all my travels so far I have rarely seen a place as spectacularly beautiful as Vava’u, it is truly a place that needs to be conserved and maintained for future generations. I am excited to have this opportunity to live in Vava’u, and I am looking forward to working alongside the students and communities in contributing to vital environmental conservation efforts.

So until you here from me next time,

Toki sio!

Coral Bleaching event in the Vava'u Group.....

A rapid survey team assessing the reefs on Tonga reports observations of the first stages of mass coral bleaching.  The SPREP (South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme) BioRAP (Biodiversity Rapid Assessment Programme) working in the northern Tonga group of islands called “Vava’u” reports about 1-3% of corals are bleached.  Some corals are white; others partly white, and others are neon colors like light blue or yellow. 

Due to increasing water temperatures, the NOAA Coral Watch program previously announced a bleaching watch for Tonga (February 2014).  The team, recorded seawater temperatures rising in the last week to about 30.5^o C, as well as the appearance of bleached corals.  Most of the bleaching observed was between 10 meters and the surface, however individually bleached coral colonies were observed up to depths of 30 meters in some places. A range of coral species was recorded as bleaching.

Corals bleach when increased seawater temperatures occur over a period of time; the corals, which are made up of skeletons, animals and single-cell plants, are placed under stress. When the algae (zooxanthellae or plant living within the animal), which give corals not only its color but also the ability to photosynthesize and feed, are released by the coral colony, the coral becomes bright white. As the coral has lost the plant component it loses them as a food source and is under extreme stress to survive.  Corals may recover from bleaching events if seawater temperatures decrease to within the limits of coral development. Bleaching events effect many different areas of the marine ecosystem including the reef fish as well as weakened coral reefs provide little protection for shorelines.

Area of bleaching coral within the Vava'u archipelago.

Most days have been sunny, with very light winds and small waves, but February 28th was cloudy and rainy when the team departed Vava’u.  The SPREP BioRAP team was surveying reefs and terrestrial ecosystems in the Vava’u group in support of conservation planning in Tonga.  The Kingdom of Tonga is located north and slightly east of New Zealand, and east of Fiji in the Pacific, and the Vava’u group of islands is at about 18.6500^o S.

The coral reef areas identified as bleaching sites will continue to be monitored and recorded for further analysis.

The marine team was based on the Waitt Institute Scientific Platform to conduct the marine surveys of Vava’u as part of the BioRAP programme with SPREP, Ministry of Lands, Environment, Climate Change,  and Natural Resources, Waitt Foundation and VEPA.

BIORAP Survey of the Vava'u archipelago

This is a vital and important survey initiated by Ministry of Lands, Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, SPREP, Waitt Foundation and VEPA, to explore the habitats of both land and sea for species diversity, species habitat and to collaborate resources for the improved ecosystem health of coral reefs, sea birds, reptiles, marine mammals and not forgetting plants.

As part of the marine team, we have 10 researchers involved in identifying, counting and monitoring the health of one of the most important ecosystems for Pacific Island nations, coral reefs. Coral reefs provide valuable protection and ecosystem services to both cultural and commercial avenues in Tonga.

Our studies include
Coral Taxonomy - species identification
Coral Health monitoring - percentage of coral cover, disease and invasive species impacts.
Reef Fish Biodiversity - species list and abundance.
Commercial Fish - fish used both culturally and commercially and there abundance for sustainability.
Invertebrates -  crustaceans, molluscs, nudibranch and other small yet vitally important organisms that clean, provide nutrients and food to other marine life.

Our team consists of 4 Tongan partners, 2 from Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forests and Foods and 2 from Ministry of Lands, Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, as well as overseas scientists residing in American Samoa, Hawaii, Singapore, Australia and oh little ole me!

So what does BIORAP mean - its a rapid assessment of the biodiversity of the islands and marine life in Vava'u. There are many areas that have data deficient statistics and though this survey is short, so much valuable data will be collected and passed on to the government and communities to fill gaps and to exchange with local knowledge on the status of the ecosystems.

None of this would of happened without a lot of input from varying parties striving towards the same goal, to improve and protect the ecosystem health and species habitat of Vava'u for a sustainable future.

For the marine team, we are currently based on the Waitt Institute Scientific Research Platform, with a crew working above and beyond to enable us to carry out and conduct these surveys of the outer coral reefs. We have spanned far and wide including Fonualei, Toku, Maninita and many other far reaching islands.

Lutjanus kasmira - Blue lined snapper.

Acropora sp. - healthy coral.

Monitoring of introduced species Trochus niloticus.

We have 7 more days to go as I write this, at present we have conducted over 30 hours of studying the reefs and their dynamics underwater and other hours are left to compile the data we collect as we blow bubbles.

This is a fantastic project, one VEPA holds very dear to its heart, but without all the hard work from all the partners, scientists and funders, this would not be happening. We have a long road ahead and a lot more data to collect in the next week, but we will keep you updated as we can.

Malo
Karen