American Samoa & the Pacific Remote Islands: Palmyra Atoll

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.

The strategic goal of this research is to improve scientific understanding of coral reef ecosystems throughout the Pacific, and serve as the basis for improved conservation and resource management. The recent designation of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument highlights the importance of this research.

With their extremely isolated location, many of the Pacific Remote Island Areas host a vibrate marine ecosystem. Previous Pacific RAMP cruises have documented relatively high coral cover and diversity; and high densities of large-bodied reef fish including large numbers of apex predators such as Grey Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) and Scalloped Hammerhead sharks (Sphyraena lewini). Many of these apex predators are rare near human population centers. AS in previous years, this Pacific RAMP cruise will perform a suite of standardized multi-disciplinary methods which include Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA) for fish, corals, other large invertebrates, and algae; towed-diver surveys for large-bodied fish and habitat composition; and oceanographic studies, which include the measurement of conductivity, temperature, and density of the water column (CTD casts); water sampling; and deployment of sea-surface temperature (SST), subsurface temperature recorders (STR) and acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCP). Scientists will also be deploying Ecological Acoustic Recorders (EARs) to learn about changes in the presence and activity of marine mammals, fish, crustaceans and other sound-producing marine life when researchers aren't there to record it otherwise. Autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) will also be deployed as part of the CReefs project. ARMS are simple, standardized collecting structures designed to roughly mimic the structural complexity of reef habitats. They allow for the identification of small, hard-to-sample, but ecologically important cryptic invertebrates. ARMS are being utilized throughout the Pacific and globally to systematically assess spatial patterns and temporal changes of biodiversity. Use of the EARS and ARMS are an exciting addition to RAMP data collection efforts.

Follow along below to learn more about where we are going, what we are seeing, and what we have found ...

Friday, April 9, 2010

Palmyra Atoll

By Paula Ayotte

Palmyra Atoll from above. Photograph by Stuart Sandin

Leaving Jarvis on our 400-mile northward transit to Palmyra, we’ve again crossed the equator and have arrived at this low-lying atoll. Palmyra is considered a true atoll because it has reefs encircling three sub-lagoons and supporting many islets. Having surveyed the fish populations here in 2006 and 2008, I’m curious to see if the milkfish (Chanos chanos), blacktip reef sharks (Carcharinus melanopterus), humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), schools of twinspot snapper (Lutjanus bojar), and manta rays (Manta birostris) that I remember will again make their way into my transect to be counted. Palmyra was discovered by the captain of the American ship Palmyra in 1802, but was not claimed until 1862 when ownership was asserted by Captain Zenas Bent and J.B. Wilkinson for the Kingdom of Hawai’i. Although Palmyra was also claimed by United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, it was not actively mined as approximately 180 inches of rainfall per year made it too wet for guano accumulation.

A school of Rainbow
Runner (Elagatis Bipinnulata).
Photograph by Danny Merritt

The British also claimed Palmyra in 1889. The Pacific Navigation Company bought Palmyra in 1885 and the company’s interests were conveyed in 1911 to Judge Henry Cooper via petition to the Land Court of the Territory of Hawai’i. Judge Cooper sold all of Palmyra except two islets to the Fullard-Leo family in 1922. In preparation for possible war, the US Navy attempted to lease Palmyra from the Fullard- Leo family in 1938. However, in 1939 the US Congress authorized construction of a naval base at Palmyra, and the US filed suit to annex the atoll. Up to 6,000 servicemen occupied Palmyra Atoll Naval Air Station during the World War II era. In 1947 the US Supreme Court, returned ownership of the atoll to the Fullard-Leo family. The 1959 Hawai’i Statehood Act specifically excluded Palmyra, and by that time US Navy occupation had ceased and all other federal presence at the atoll ended. Subsequently, the atoll remained abandoned except for resident caretakers supported by the Fullard-Leo family.

Manta Ray (Manta birostris),
Palmyra Atoll. Photograph by Chip Young

In 2000, Palmyra was purchased by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and in 2001 the USFWS purchased all of Palmyra from TNC except for the main island (Cooper) and established the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). In 2006, TNC completed construction of a research station at Cooper Island, where up to 20 scientists and staff can be housed. While we’re here we hope to have the chance to meet with several of the scientists currently on the atoll to discuss our common research goals and find out what their experiences have been working for weeks or months at a time on Palmyra.

2 comments:

Butch Almberg-Florida, USAApril 11, 2010 at 12:54 AM
Very much interested in your observations from Palmyra.
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L. DarlingApril 22, 2010 at 8:28 AM
Great photos and diagrams!! It really helps non-scientists understand. Cool!!
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