Protect Pacific Whales..

A very exciting time for our beloved whales as the focus for 2016 and 2017 SPREP programme, more information on the websites below:

The Pacific Island region is home to over half the world's species of cetaceans, whales and dolphins, including some of the least known, and as such members of the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP) agreed to focus their activities in 2016 and 2017 on a targeted regional campaign on whales. 

The ‘Protect Pacific Whales – Ocean Voyagers’ Campaign provides an opportunity for SPREP and all its Members and partners to celebrate these magnificent creatures, raise awareness on whales and their conservation, but also on ocean conservation. What happens in the ocean will inevitably impact whales.  The campaign will also address the problems facing them as ocean-dwellers that will surely ultimately impact us all.

The programme of work that is envisaged for the Protect Pacific Whales Campaign is an ambitious mixture of scientific research, training and capacity-building, exchange of information, and cultural and artistic celebration.

Join us to celebrate  whales and their place in Pacific cultures, promote their protection in the face of emerging threats, support measures to enhance their conservation, and to maximise the economic return available to Pacific island communities from the development and application of best-practice guidelines for whale-watching.  

For more information, visit our website (English and French versions available) https://www.sprep.org/yearofthewhale  and contact us at pacificwhales@sprep.org.

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.

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