by Benjamin L. Richards
The Hi'ialakai is back in Pago Pago for the change-out between Leg 2 and Leg 3 of the expedition. We held a one day education and outreach program for local school children and members of the public on March 23 and conducted calibration dives between the outgoing and incoming researchers on March 24. We will be spending the next few days refitting the ship and small boats for the next leg of the expedition, meeting with local government and agency representatives and getting some much needed rest before we head off to the Line Islands (Jarvis, Palmyra, and Kingman Reef) on March 27. Stay tuned for new discoveries as we reach the Line Islands and start making our way back north.
About the Expedition
On January 21, 2010, scientists from the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (CRED/PIFSC), along with visiting scientists from the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego State University, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and local agencies in American Samoa, departed on a three month expedition to Johnston Atoll, Howland and Baker Islands, American Samoa, Jarvis Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Kingman Reef aboard the NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai. This is the fifth biennial Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP) expedition to American Samoa and the seventh to the Pacific Remote Island Areas. The expedition is sponsored by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) and is divided into three segment sequentially led by Chief Scientists Benjamin Richards, Rusty Brainard and Jamison Gove.
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