Copyright 2000, WWF South Pacific Programme
April 10, 2000

Unusually warm seas in the South Pacific this summer have led to the bleaching of coral reefs from as far north as Papua New Guinea, south to Fiji and east to the Cook Islands. Temperatures in some areas were as high as 31 degrees C as late as mid-April, giving little relief to coral reefs - many of which began to show signs of bleaching in mid-February. Satellite recordings by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) have revealed unusually high temperatures in a wide area across the Pacific (see map). NOAA predicts mass bleaching episodes by tracking the development of "hotspots" in the world's oceans. Coral bleaching occurs when reefs are stressed, usually by excessively warm water. When the coral goes into stress, it expels the algae living inside it. These algae, called zooxanthellae, enable the coral to turn light from the sun into energy and oxygen and they help provide the corals' colour. Prolonged bleaching events, like the one observed this year in the Pacific, have resulted in the death of 95 per cent or more of bleached corals in many parts of the world. Most corals that are completely bleached, eventually die after being invaded by green algae.

Some Fiji reefs worse hit than others

Fiji's reefs have also been affected by bleaching in the past few months with some areas worse hit than others. According to Dr Robin Cumming, a biology lecturer at USP, while Fiji had experienced bleaching in the past, the current episode was much bigger than previous events. A team of marine scientists, including Dr Cumming, flew over Fiji in late April to gauge the extent of the problem. They reported that the reefs in the south and south-east of the country were the worst hit. One scientist, Dr Nick Dulvy also from USP, said that at least 12 per cent of coral in the Beqa Lagoon in Fiji's east, had died as a result of bleaching.Fiji-based marine biologist Ed Lovell was reported saying that most of the bleached coral would survive to reproduce. Cook Islands bleaching

Coral bleaching has also hit the Cook Islands this season.

WWF Cook Islands Project Coordinator, Jacqui Evans says she has observed complete bleaching of about 30 per cent of corals in Rarotonga lagoon. "But we haven't done any quantitative surveys," she says. Cook Islands dive master, Eric Bateman says bleaching has also been observed on the outer reef slope of Rarotonga. He says it has been an unusually long summer. "Water temperatures have only just started to cool down, and it's nearly May," says Bateman. Resident marine biologist, Steve Lyon says, it's likely the islands in the northern group of the Cook Islands are worst hit. "And the lagoon on Rarotonga is probably suffering more than the outer reef slope." Ministry of Marine Resources staff are doing bleaching surveys on the reefs of Aitutaki island and on the uninhabited atoll of Manuae. These islands are located 140 miles north of Rarotonga. Coral bleaching could become an annual event, scientist warns

A reef in Kadavu, Fiji shows signs of bleaching. By 2030, coral bleaching events like that seen on reefs around the South Pacific this summer, will occur every year. That is the dire prediction of Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Centre for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland. In a report published in the Australian scientific journal, Marine and Freshwater Research, he predicts that with the expected doubling of current greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere by 2100, sea temperatures are likely to increase to the point that coral reefs will experience near-annual and severe bleaching events. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are produced through the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The increase in human-produced greenhouse gases over the past century is heating up the atmosphere and causing global climate change. WWF SPP asked Professor Hoegh-Guldberg how this predicted increase in the frequency of coral bleaching will impact on Pacific communities who depend so heavily on healthy coral reefs. He said if the current trend of frequent bleaching events around the world continues, there will be an inevitable impact on fish populations. "When you lose living coral, you're left with just the skeleton of the reef," Prof Hoegh-Guldberg said. "The fish won't disappear overnight but that will eventually change." As the richness of the food chain reduces through the loss of coral abundance, fish populations will decline, he says. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg points to Jamaica in the Caribbean which has experienced regular bleaching events over the past 10 years as well as heavy pollution through nutrient run-off from the land. Now, many of Jamaica's once rich coral reefs have become grown over with algae and are unable to sustain a diversity of fish. In parts of the Caribbean live coral cover has gone from a healthy 60 per cent to just 5 per cent, Prof Hoegh-Guldberg says. While the South Pacific is yet to see this sort of dramatic loss, there are signs that bleaching is becoming more regular in this region. Over the past decade, bleaching has hit reefs in Polynesia (Tahiti) and Micronesia (Palau) and parts of Melanesia (PNG and Solomon Islands). "We are not only going to see more and more frequent (coral bleaching) events, we'll see more and more intense events," Prof Hoegh-Guldberg said. He said it was essential that South Pacific governments join forces to put pressure on developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. "Climate change is real and it's not going away," he said.

The common acropora coral is one of the main species affected in Kadavu.

PNG reefs bleached again

When the sea temperature in PNG's famous dive spot, Kimbe Bay, reached 32 degrees C in March, Max Benjamin knew the corals would bleach. The President of the PNG Divers Association was right. Before long, he observed at least 10 per cent of corals bleaching on many of the area's reefs. Mr Benjamin is concerned about the increasing incidence of coral bleaching in PNG. "In the last four years there has been a lot of stress on the reefs," he said. There was a bleaching event in 1996, then in 1997 a drought and high winds affected the reefs. In the summer of 1999 bleaching affected around10 per cent of corals. Now, it's happened again in 2000. "The reefs look OK but it's nibbling away at them every year," he said. "It's beyond our control - we just sit and hope that the temperature will drop." Fiji a step away from marine conservation area

All seven village communities from Ono Island in Fiji's Kadavu province have unanimously agreed to support and recognise the establishment of the country's first community-managed marine conservation area. On April 19, the Ono Island district council - a gathering of the village headmen of the Ono Tikina - endorsed the marine conservation plan put up by the village community of Waisomo. WWF has been working with the Waisomo community on the plan to protect their marine environment for the past two years. The recent agreement takes the plan another step closer to official registration with the Fiji Government. The next stage of community consensus building will be to get a formal letter of consent from the Kadavu provincial council (May 3-5). Then, a submission to the Department of Fisheries can be made to officially register the site. Once the site is registered, the agreed management guidelines set by the communities are enforced within Department of Fisheries legislation. Waisomo village is the first community in Fiji to propose a marine conservation area within their qoli-qoli (traditional fishing grounds). Etika Rupeni, WWF Fiji project officer, said: "The key to success to date in our work in Ono has been facilitating community interest in protecting their marine resources and building supportive networks with government, NGO's and educational institutes like the University of the South Pacific." WWF has been approached by other communities in Fiji for similar support in establishing of community-managed marine conservation areas. Weaving a web of worldwide coral reefs

Coral reef conservationists from WWF offices all over the world hit Fiji this month to work intensively on an exciting new global reef initiative called Coral Web. The week-long meeting developed a global framework for WWF's coral reef conservation work in a number of large marine areas or "ecoregions". The reefs of Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands and Cook Islands were among the marine areas targeted at the meeting. The group, from WWF offices in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa identified ways to link up their work to achieve a sustainable, effective network of global coral reef conservation. Among the issues highlighted in the Coral Web development process were: the need to develop ways to enhance conservation through improved lesson learning; how to link field actions to policy advocacy; strengthening WWF's institutional capacity and that of its partners and stakeholders; and more effective use of communications. According to Sangeeta Mangubhai of WWF SPP, the idea for Coral Web arose from a shared desire within WWF to achieve greater conservation impact on a larger scale within a shorter timeframe. For more information: smangubhai@wwfpacific.org.fj Capturing conservation lessons

WWF South Pacific Programme could become the testing ground for a new initiative aimed at capturing and sharing the lessons learned from our community-based conservation projects. A week-long meeting of 19 WWF network staff in Hua Hin Thailand (April 16-20) agreed on a framework of activities aimed at improving the organisation's project learning. It identified the South Pacific Programme as a potential trialing point. According to WWF SPP's Kath Means who attended the workshop along with SPP colleagues Alison Cleary and Kesaia Tabunakawai, the meeting examined the important elements of lesson learning and the common issues about how best to share lessons with others. Common questions included: how to identify the most useful lessons and the aspects most valuable for sharing; how to capture lessons most efficiently; the benefits and values to WWF of lesson learning; how to improve our learning; and what it means to be a learning organisation. It is likely that some of the suggested activities developed at the meeting will be trialed initially within the WWF Fiji project. Plan to save a freshwater fish

Alarmed at the decline of a freshwater mullet, known as buri, leaders of Rarakisi village in South Choiseul, Solomon Islands, asked WWF to help them come up with a management plan for the fish. Four WWF Solomons staff went to Rarakisi in April to study the fish's behaviour and look at issues that might be leading to its decline. They found out that the fish migrates down-river to spawn in May and June and lays its eggs on the roots of a tree that grows along the river banks. The team also found that an explosion of the water hyacinth weed around the mouth of the Vurulata River is likely to be affecting the survival of both eggs and juveniles of the buri. They said the weed is probably compounding the problem of buri over-harvesting by local people. WWF will recommend that the Rarakisi community bans all harvesting of the fish for at least three years. They will also increase awareness of biological control techniques for water hyacinth through regular video showings. More Marovo communities go green

Three more communities in the Marovo Lagoon area of the Solomon Islands have started working with WWF to protect their forests and marine environments. Landowners from the Ungana, Mahola and Biche communities joined WWF Solomons staff in April for a two-week information gathering and planning workshop. According to WWF's Lorima Tuke the three communities have become increasingly conservation-minded as mining and oil palm developments around Vangunu Island encroach on the environment and disrupt the people's lives. During their two-week visit to Marovo, Lorima Tuke and WWF's resource planning officer Rence Soreh compiled a community profile that includes information on community economics and customary land law. The people expressed interest in establishing forest reserves, marine protected areas and carrying out efforts to regenerate populations of certain depleted marine species. A draft community resource conservation plan will be presented to the communities in mid-May. WWF Solomons is now working closely with seven Marovo communities. Goats wreaking havoc on Fiji islands

Introduced goats are devastating the soil and vegetation of many Fiji islands, a botanical research team from the University of the South Pacific has found. During April, a team of biologists led by Dr Shahina Ghazanfar surveyed 11 mostly uninhabited islands around Kadavu in southern Fiji. WWF assisted the research team by arranging access to the islands through the traditional landowners. Village elders participated in the research by identifying the Fijian names for many of the plant species. Dr Ghazanfar said where goats are present, the soil on the islands is usually heavily eroded and plant diversity is often reduced to two or three species that are unpalatable to goats. The two goat-free islands surveyed were found to have far higher plant diversity (up to 30 species), much less grassland and greater numbers of animals and birds. Goats were introduced to Fiji in the 1950s to provide a source of income to local communities. This source of cash continues to be a strong disincentive to the goats' removal. Marine Turtles still under threat

Despite decades of conservation efforts, six of the world's seven species of marine turtle are still in danger of extinction, WWF, warned in a new publication. 'Wanted Alive! Marine Turtles in the Wild' emphasizes that threats such as over-use mean that no population of marine turtles, can be considered completely safe, even when stable as a result of long term conservation and management. Up to 300,000 turtles are killed each year as 'bycatch' in trawling nets, shrimp nets and longlines for tuna and swordfish. Tourism is also a major threat to turtles. The construction of seawalls,, hotels, marinas and the entire infrastructure associated with coastal tourism and commerce have destroyed large areas of turtle nesting beaches around the world. Publications available at the WWF SPP office in Suva, see contact details below. Published by: Communications Team WWF