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Photo courtesy of Bishop Museum
Divers conduct ecological assessments of coral reef
habitats during a six-week expedition to the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Northwest isles
offer blueprint for
reef protection

---

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

A six-week expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands showed scientists what the local damaged reef should look like.

Alan Friedlander, one of the leaders from the Oceanic Institute, said the northwestern coral reefs teemed with huge predators -- "large sharks, large uluas, things you typically don't see in the Hawaiian Islands in any type of abundance" that are signs of healthy reefs.

In comparison, at the local reef all that's left are "small-bodied, drab fish that aren't of any economic or food value," he said.

What's needed are more protected areas, such as Hanauma Bay, where restrictions on fishing allow for more variety of species and larger fish. Since larger fish reproduce at a higher rate, prohibiting fishing in some areas could lead not only to a healthier reef, but also a "spillover effect."

Observations and data brought back by the expedition will help scientists and policy makers determine how best to manage the pristine and healthy coral populations in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and possibly help restore some of the damaged reef near the main Hawaiian Islands.

With some 4,000 gigabytes of digital video data, hundreds of sediment, plankton, algae, marine- and land-invertebrate samples, and other data, 50 federal, state and private scientists returned yesterday to Honolulu aboard the research vessel Rapture.

Its sister ship, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel Townsend Cromwell, will remain at sea until next month, cleaning up marine debris.

Scientists will use the data they collected to make recommendations about how to manage the Northwestern Hawaiian Island resource, particularly in regard to fishing and ecotourism.

According to David Johnson, a refuge manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the area is used by tuna, lobster and bottom fisheries and for precious coral mining and black lip pearl oyster collection, all of which could disrupt the ecosystem.

"The management ... is more associated with looking at what level we want to fish things at, how much of the resource we want to take, which areas we want to take, which areas we want to protect ," he said.

David Gulko, principal investigator for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said the area represents 70 percent of the entire nation's coral reef ecosystem and the 10 agencies that took part in the expedition will continue to cooperate in their studies of the resource.

"This is truly one of the last natural, large coral reef ecosystems left on the planet and it's relatively unimpacted by the activities of man," he said.

But as for drawing conclusions from their findings, Gulko said they barely scratched the surface, surveying only a tenth of the area.

"We're definitely planning to do another trip," he said.