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Protecting Palau’s Reefs

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For thousands of years, Palauans have practiced “bul,” which is a traditional method of ecosystem conservation. In this practice, coastal communities will close areas to fishing and prohibit access for a designated amount of time, though not indefinitely. This traditional practice has become the basis for a large network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Palau. Most marine conservation efforts in Palau are led by individual states, which established their first internationally recognized marine conservation area as far back as the 1950s. Since then, many states have established MPAs and the national government of Palau has implemented large scale MPAs offshore, protecting 80% of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from commercial fishing.

Palau’s Coral Cover Was the Highest We Found on the Global Reef Expedition

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On our Global Reef Expedition mission to Palau in January 2015, our team of scientists surveyed 85 different coral reefs, stretching from Angaur in the south, through the majestic reefs of the Rock Islands UNESCO World Heritage Site, all the way to Kayangel Atoll and Ngeruangel Reef in the north. The team explored barrier reefs, atolls, fringing reefs, reef channels, back reef environments and lagoonal patch reefs assessing the community dynamics and health of corals, fish and other benthic organisms.

Perhaps one of the more striking takeaways from this mission was the incredible coral cover and diversity. Palau boasted over 40% live coral cover across all sites surveyed—the highest overall average live cover observed on the Global Reef Expedition. To put that number into perspective, when the GRE visited reefs in Fiji we recorded an average of just over 30% live coral cover. Even when compared to other locations that are well known coral hot spots, like French Polynesia and areas of the Great Barrier Reef, Palau’s live coral cover still appears to be unrivaled.

KSLOF publishes our findings on the status of coral reefs in Palau

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The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is proud to release our findings on the state of coral reefs in Palau. Our research, based on extensive underwater surveys, found Palau’s reefs had the highest live coral cover of all the reefs studied on the Global Reef Expedition, a scientific research mission to assess the health and resiliency of coral reefs around the world.

Published today, the Global Reef Expedition: The Republic of Palau Final Report summarizes the Foundation’s research on the status of coral reefs and reef fish in Palau and provides conservation recommendations that can help preserve these outstanding coral reefs for generations to come.

Now Accepting Artwork for the 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge!

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The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is now accepting entries for the 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge! This annual art contest inspires students from all over the world to be creative while learning about important ocean science and conservation issues. The theme for this year’s competition is “The Magic of Mangroves,” and scholarships of up to $500 will be awarded to the winning entries. 

Happy Graduation J.A.M.I.N. Students!

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I am happy to announce that we are graduating our first group of J.A.M.I.N. students in Port Antonio, Jamaica! It’s hard to believe that it has been three years since I first starting planning the program with our partners at Alligator Head Foundation (AHF). As the saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun!” These past two years have given me countless wonderful memories while working with my partners at AHF. Sometimes it feels like they have been with us since the program’s inception. It is incredible what two like-minded organizations can accomplish when they work together. Thank you to all of the staff at Alligator Head Foundation for your tremendous work ethic and determination throughout the program. Special thanks to Denise Henry, who led the program for AHF. I couldn’t have done it without you. The Living Oceans Foundation looks forward to partnering with AHF in the years to come.

J.A.M.I.N. Students’ Discovery a First for Port Antonio

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Despite an earthquake, our resilient J.A.M.I.N. students from Port Antonio and Titchfield High Schools were back in their classrooms and ready to investigate the presence of mangrove disease earlier this year. Our students were the first to research the occurrence of mangrove disease in Port Antonio, Jamaica. They were ready and eager to begin.

J.A.M.I.N. Students First to Investigate for Mangrove Disease in Port Antonio

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Giggles, chatter, and the sound of squeaking rubber boots echoed through the mangrove forest surrounding Alligator Head Foundation, where second year J.A.M.I.N. students from Port Antonio and Titchfield High Schools trudged through the thick mangrove mud to reach their square quadrats. Inside the quadrats, they used scientific equipment to collect data for a variety of environmental parameters such as salinity, dissolved oxygen, and mangrove tree height. They also gathered red mangrove leaves that contain necrotic (dead) tissue. The students later conducted an investigation to see if these leaves contained the presence of a disease-causing fungus.

Titchfield High School – A Window into History

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The last time I was at Titchfield High School in Port Antonio, Jamaica, I took a moment to look out the window at the old cannons that line the walls separating the school from the clear turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I was there with my colleagues from Alligator Head Foundation to implement the J.A.M.I.N. program. It’s hard not to let my imagination run wild, wondering what happened on this spot centuries ago when, long before it became a high school, it was a well-armed British defensive structure called Fort George. And so, the story begins…

Our coral reef mapping paper is one of the most popular articles in Coral Reefs this year

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The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) would like to congratulate our science team for having one of the most popular papers in the prestigious journal, Coral Reefs. Last week the journal announced that our coral reef mapping paper, High-resolution habitat and bathymetry maps for 65,000 sq. km of Earth’s remotest coral reefs, was one of the top three most accessed articles published in the past 12 months.

“After spending five years surveying and mapping some of most remote coral reefs in the world on the Global Reef Expedition, it is heartening to see our years of hard work getting the attention it deserves in the scientific community,” said Alexandra Dempsey, KSLOF’s Director of Science Management and a co-author of the paper.

Our paper in Coral Reefs showed how we created high-resolution maps of coral reefs on the Global Reef Expedition using a combination of satellite data and field observations.

Meet Our High School Art Contest Winner

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The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation would like to introduce you to the first-place high school winner of our Science Without Borders® Challenge art contest, Stacey Lei. Stacey lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where she attends West Career and Technical Academy. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Stacey. She is very humble when talking about her artistic abilities. To my surprise, I learned that Stacey has not had any formal art training. She truly has a natural artistic ability.