[Coral-List] French Polynesia Reef Report

[Austin Bowden-Kerby]

Dear Coral List Community,

The encouraging report on coral reefs of French Polynesia and the
associated press report which Doug so thoughtfully shared in my opinion is
a bit misleading.  This "good news" masks the fact that a formerly
Acropora-dominated system has collapsed, and although it has recovered, a
major species-shift has occurred- from Acropora to Pocillopora.

>From what I have gathered in discussions and from observations, this same
phase shift has occurred on various reefs throughout the IndoPacific-
including the Line Islands and  the Seychelles. And this same shift
happened in Hawaii hundreds of years ago.  In the Caribbean, the Acropora
corals were the first to go......and are all but gone on many reefs, and
they are now the focus of intense restoration efforts.

>From my observations over the decades, Acropora corals, especially the
larger table and staghorn forms, are not only the first to go from
bleaching and associated post-bleaching predation and disease, but these
Acroporas are also the last to recover after mass die off.

My recommendation is that when we use coral cover as a measure of reef
health, that it is important to sort the corals to genera, as this phase
shift from Acropora to Pocillopora or to Porites is clear, and it warrants
further study.

Regards,

Austin


Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods for the Future
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
https://www.facebook.com/C4Conservation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009j6wb
TEDx talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PRLJ8zDm0U
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>


>
> Message: 5
> Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2019 08:23:04 -1100
> From: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
> To: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Subject: [Coral-List] coral reefs of French Polynesia
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAOEmEkH-Cty3VGvLy0CegYQ3DWah0iE1dkSBuvVsRuiVf2arvw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> As coral reefs suffer around the world, those in French Polynesia are
> thriving
>
>
> https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/coral-reefs-suffer-around-world-reefs-french-polynesia-are-thriving?utm_campaign=news_daily_2019-12-16&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=3126352
>
>
>  French Polynesia Final Report in English:
>
>
> https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/French-Polynesia-Final-Report-ENGLISH.pdf
>
>
> (there is also a version of the report in French, just change the word
> "ENGLISH" to "FRENCH" and that will probably work.)
>
> Cheers, Doug
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> Pacific Islands Regional Office
> Honolulu
> and:
> Consultant
> PO Box 7390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>
>