During this mission in the Austral and Cook Islands, we have covered more miles than any other Global Reef Expedition mission. During this month we will have surveyed 8 different islands in two countries and the Golden Shadow will cover
In Rarotonga, I joined the Golden Shadow to research the presence and distribution of Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) on Aitutaki and Palmerston. I aim to collect this data to add towards a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) analysis I’ve just completed
After starting the barcoding of the total fish fauna at Moorea (Society Islands, French Polynesia) in 2006 under the BIOCODE project (http://mooreabiocode.org/), CRIOBE has spent the last 7 years continuing the genetic barcoding of coral reef fishes over the 118
Upon arrival in Rurutu we made a shocking discovery – the reefs were nearly devoid of living coral. We learned that the island had been devastated by a bad outbreak of crown of thorns starfish (COTS outbreak) that occurred in
Back in November/December 2012 we were in the Tuamotu Islands on our second mission in French Polynesia. During that mission we had two local researchers (Nina and Bertrand) looking at turtle abundance on the atolls. We would drop them off
Coral communities on the first two islands in the Australs were very unusual, compared to all other reefs we looked at in French Polynesia. Unlike other fore reef communities, a very wide shelf surrounded each island, extending from the reef
The Golden Shadow arrived in Papeete, French Polynesia back in July 2012 and for the past eight months it has been our home, but we said goodbye to Papeete last week as we started our final research expedition in the
Our final Expedition to French Polynesia takes us to the Austral Islands, the southernmost group of islands located from 500-750 km from Tahiti. We are exploring four small high islands: Raivavae (16 sq. km), Rimatara (8.6 sq. km), Tubuai (45
At the end of the last mission, CREW (Coral Reef Educator on the Water) member Jim Evans was able to visit the Sedna IV which was tied up right next to us in Papeete. This ship is the main platform
Probably the most significant thing I learned on this trip is that it is possible for coral to be resilient to environmental stresses … that reef revival is possible. It was exciting to see the reaction of researchers who studied
