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
In 1998, we visited Rangiroa Atoll shortly after sea temperatures rose 6 degrees greater than summer norms and caused massive coral bleaching. Virtually all of the branching coral Pocillopora died and a quarter of the mound-shaped coral, Porites, lost almost
Corals in tropical reefs are like trees in a forest. We all know from the tiny acorn, the mighty oak tree grows but where do the mighty corals come from? You’d think we know all there is to know about
Our CREW member Jim has written a blog about his initial experience with us on this research mission: “It is an incredible opportunity to spend time with scientists who are doing the research that gives us the science that we
