Notes from the field
Expedition diary, April 14th - May 11th, 2008.
Day 1The team tucked under the lee of Tanjung Bobo (1 deg 2.747 mins N; 127 deg 26.601 mins E), happy for the respite from rolling in the swells, and the Marine Ecological Assessment started in earnest. The socioeconomic/resource use team headed off to two villages that occupied them for the day. The monitoring team set off to do their counts of benthic cover and fish indicators of resilience. The biodiversity team dived straight into counts of fish and coral species and recording reef resilience. Energy levels were high and most managed 4-5 hours underwater.
It is fitting that the team was greeted by thickets of the fine-branching and most elegant stagshorn coral, Acropora halmaherae, first found and described here in Halmahera. They have learned that this is the nesting season for the Olive Ridley turtle and that one came ashore two nights ago. Three turtles were seen underwater and divers now have been briefed on turtle identification and encourage to report the species seen.
Something has impacted the reefs here about 10 years ago. It could have been linked to the 1998 worldwide bleaching event or an outbreak of the crown-of-thorns starfish, a voracious coral predator. However, every impact has a trade-off and the rubble banks are home to numbers of exquisitely colored nudibranchs (shell-less snails with exposed gills). These beautiful creatures, called sea slugs by the irreverent, find good food and shelter on these recovering areas of dead coral.
The coral and fish diversity lists are started and we already into the low 200s for both fishes and corals.
Doi Island (2 deg 15.505 mins N; 127 deg 46.102 mins E) – the team covered the North Loloda Islands today, finding very different environments which kept the species counts climbing for both corals and fishes. One site had absolutely transparent water and schools of fishes, including some dogtooth tuna that kept the scientists talking. They recall a school of Napoleon wrasse and aggregations of snappers as two significant findings over the last few days. They also covered more sheltered habitat that showed typical whorls of leafy corals and large patches of branching forms too.
Extending out from the shore beside a village on Rau Island (2 deg 17.224 mins N; 128 deg 9.723 mins E) to the reef crest, the shallows and upper reef slope supported a vibrant, colorful coral garden. Not a coral was broken and the reef community radiated with resilience! In this day and age of heavy exploitation and climate change impacts, such a sight is increasingly uncommon and truly inspiring. A moderate current washes between two islands, flushing it with clear water and sweeping away silt and rubbish that might choke the corals. The site is truly resilient and has great potential for inclusion in a conservation area.
The site was moderately rich for fishes overall, but yielded some unusual species and the highest site count for Kent Carpenter in his focal depths. It was exceptional for corals. Emre Turak scored 222 shallow water coral species, a personal best for this seasoned surveyor of Indo-Pacific reefs, and likely another 50 more when the deeper water species are included. Gerry Allen’s record on fish diversity reaches over 200 spp daily and now has nearly 600 after only 4 days – this is unprecedented in his lifelong experience.
Asril Djunaidi brought in good news from landed on a turtle beach and found the tracks of hatchlings that made it successfully down the beach and into the sea. Villagers say leatherback turtles nest there. The village team has also turned up interesting information, including use of turtles. There have yet to find any traditional management in practice, but arrived in a village during a meeting to revive the adat, or traditional management system.
The crustacean species are mounting too. Ucu Yanuarbi has recorded 42 species so far with many hermit crabs still to be indentified. Mark Erdmann has added 34 species of mantis shrimp, including three new records for this area for a total of 76 identified crustaceans, excluding the many hermit crabs.
The next day was a very rewarding all around, a good and fun diving in East Morotai (2º 11.554’ N; 128º 57.366’ E). Andreas Musjadi’s ‘Yahoo!!” showed his excitement after sightings of 30 large bumphead parrotfishes, a group of Napoleon wrasse, and a small aggregation of coral trout, among sharks, barracuda, and other great fishes. If the aggregation has been there as long as the huge coral head that towers above it, fishes would have been using this site to spawn for more than 1,000 years.
Pacific species showed up today in the fish counts. Coral species generally have a wider geographic distribution and so there are no likely Pacific influences. Indra Bayu Vimono has raised the echinoderms over the 30 species mark, with all the feather stars still to be added, and crustaceans are up at over 130 species, with a number still to be identified.
The big news is that we have two new dottyback fish species, and another suspected new species still under close scrutiny.
A live female olive Ridley turtle was found in a village today. The guys had a whip around and raised the money needed to buy and free it to nest another day. The land team, Imran Taeran, Anwar Ibrahim, and Erick Zulhikman found the traditional sasi system alive and well in this village. Woe betide any community members that infringe the traditional regulations governing the garfish fishery.
Rod snorkelled with a group of 8 spinner dolphins off the reef in 120 feet of water. He doesn’t know which is more exciting, swimming with dolphins or being in water so clear that the bottom is quite clear over 100 feet down.
