Pacific projects for 2009.

We will undertake two projects this year, one  based in Vanuatu and another in Papua New Guinea.

Vanuatu

OceansWatch members are finalising plans to join together in Vanuatu to undertake reef surveying work with OceansWatch marine biologist Natalie Riddler and others.

2009 sees the first project of this nature undertaken by OceansWatch.  It will give yacht-owning members an opportunity to join OceansWatch in the conservation work being done with remote communities in the Pacific. It also gives our non-yacht-owning members a chance to contribute and share their skills with the cruising members.

This trip is being organised by Marine Biology graduate Natalie Riddler, who has spent the last couple of months preparing for the trip at the OceansWatch office near Tutukaka, Northland, New Zealand.

Preparation has included updating her First Aid skills, learning Reef Check surveying methodologies and hearing about how OceansWatch operates.

This year three yachts have committed to hosting Natalie and her dive buddy for various sections of the Vanuatu project. Initially Natalie will have another Marine Biologist, Emily Duder from New Zealand supporting her and Natalie is still sorting through many other applicants for the latter part of the season.

Host yachts this year are likely to be:

Nathanial and Betsy on Bahatai, Isabelle and Schelmi on the beautiful new Wharram 46 Waka Taitea and Reef Check trained members David and Gail on Fifth Season. Assisting the team will be Sam from Ramprasad, Ritchie from Ka Pai and Russell from Rustler if he can get his huge job list finished in time!

This will be the second visit to Vanuatu by OceansWatch, after their successful 2008 campaign aboard Magic Roundabout. Once again OceansWatch will be assisting the Vanuatu Fisheries department and working closely with Reef Check Vanuatu representative Katie Thomson. Last year Magic Roundabout visited five communities. This year those communities will have repeat visits for more detailed survey work and some new surveys will be carried out on the reefs in other areas, mainly north of the capital, Port Villa and as far north as the Banks Islands.

The first week in Vanuatu will be spent near Port Vila accompanied by the Magic Roundabout team, on route to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. In Port Vila the OceansWatch teams will undertake more Reef Check training and Cleo Pandelaers, the 2009 SCUBA instructor will also be running a PADI Open Water training course for Vanuatu fisheries staff.

After the training week Magic Roundabout heads to the Solomon Islands whilst the Vanuatu team will move to Havanah Harbour, North Efate to repeat the surveys OceansWatch did in 2008.

Epi is likely to be the next stop, responding to a request for a visit in 2008. The team will then head north for repeat surveys in Pentacost and Maewo and new survey sites will be visited as the OceansWatch flotilla heads up to the Banks Islands.

If anyone is interested in being a part of this trip a vacancy still exists to assist Natalie in September/October. You need to be an experienced diver, preferably a sailor too and have marine biology or similar academic qualifications. Apply to julia@oceanswatch.org or find out more about OceansWatch at www.oceanswatch.org

Read our OceansWatch Vanuatu Blog to keep updated with this project !

 

 

Papua New Guinea

 

From June to October OceansWatch project lead yacht Magic Roundabout will be undertaking a combined marine/humanitarian project in New Ireland, New Britain, Madang district and Karkar Island.

Chris Bone and his team plan to depart from Whangarei, New Zealand on a similar
trip in June 2009. The 2009 trip will also include the Solomon Islands. By late October OceansWatch will have helped several coastal communities to preserve their marine
environment and work towards building sustainable livelihoods. "

What I really like about OW is that they involve local communities in their marine conservation. I think this is really necesary if you want to get some real and long term results. Those people's livelihood depends on the coral reefs, it's important that they realise that a healthy reef will support them for a lifetime and their future generations" explain Cleo Pandelaers. The Belgian marine biologist and dive instructor will join the 2009 expedition.

Some communities on the remote islands of Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea are looking forward to a second visit from the yacht Magic Roundabout. After their 2008 visit to Karkar Island, PNG, OceansWatch member Brian Barone, engineer at URS Corporation in Auckland, worked out a plan to build a freshwater pipeline for the people of three villages and a school on Karkar Island. The existing spring is difficult to
access and women work long hours to carry water back to the village. Another spring for Marangis Village is very low-lying and consequently threatened from rising sea level associated with climate change.
OceansWatch hopes to install a gravity spring fed system this year and establish a locally managed marine protected area, in co-operation with the islanders.
The community of Rennell Island, (a world heritage site) in the Solomon group, has also asked OceansWatch to visit them to help establish a marine protected area (MPA). OceansWatch will survey the area and help facilitate the MPA establishment process.

Surveying coral reefs, particularly for anthropogenic impact is an important aim of OceansWatch. Following international Reef Check guidelines, they established several survey transects in Vanuatu and PNG in 2008 and wish to repeat the surveys during the 2009 trip. "To achieve a proper database and judge whether factors such as over-fishing or climate change are affecting a reef, it is very important to monitor consistently for several years" says the marine biologist Danika Tager who helped with the organization of the 2009 trip.“We follow a bottom-up strategy to create locally managed
marine protected areas”, Chris Bone points out. As OceansWatch is based on voluntary work, membership fees and donations only, it has no money to offer the island
communities, only knowledge and experience from sailors, divers and scientists. “The island communities really care about their environment, we just need to help them with scientific monitoring and facilitation” says Chris Bone.

Magic Roundabout Itinerary 2009

Éfaté (Vanuatu) : Here OceansWatch will undertake Reef Check training for crew, other OceansWatch members and locals in cooperation with the Vanuatu Fisheries Department. Survey
techniques will incorporate CoralWatch, which assesses coral bleaching.

Rennell Island (Solomon Islands) : Lake Tegano in the southeast part of the island is the former lagoon and is the largest in the Pacific. Here OceansWatch will work with the Hatana Conservation Volunteer Committee (HCVC) to help them establish a marine reserve.

Peava, New Georgia Island (Solomon Islands) : OceansWatch has been invited to visit the people at Peava, who are already working towards establishing sustainable marine resources for their community.

Karkar Island (PNG) : The communities of Mater and Marangis villages are keen for
an OceansWatch return visit. Chief Anton contacts OceansWatch about once every 3 weeks with updates on what’s happening in the community.
Here we hope to build a fresh water supply for Marangis, Kargos, Mom village and Mater primary school and help the community set up marine protection measures. OceansWatch did initial surveys in 2008. It will work in Karkar with the
Madang LMMA Network.

Manus Island (PNG) : Our goal in Manus is to assist LMMA network representative
Rebecca Samuel in working with the community to set up a
marine protected area and to establish sustainable fisheries management plans.

Nanavaul and nearby Islands (PNG) : The small islands Nanavaul, Nusa, Nusalik and Nago are situated only a few kilometres distance from the main island of the New Ireland province of PNG. People regularly visit the main island to buy and sell their fish and vegetables, to get freshwater during the dry season or to collect mud crabs in
the mangroves. Reef check surveys were done in 2008 by OceansWatch and
we have been asked to return by the community to repeat our surveys and continue training members of the fisheries management committee in Reef Check surveying.

St. Matthias Group, Mussau and Emirau Islands (PNG) : OceansWatch worked with community landowner Kiethson last year. He stayed on the project lead boat for one week and was trained in Reef Check surveying. He asked us to visit his Islands. The reef should be very healthy as the local people belong to the vegetarian religious group Seventh Day Adventists and have various taboos on harvesting from the reef.

New Hanover (PNG) : Here OceansWatch is looking at an Eco Tourism Company called “Our Planet Retreats“. 12 percent of their earnings goes into conservation projects.
After New Hanover the OceansWatch team will set sail for Cairns Australia via Garove Island, PNG where Chris hopes to drop of some adzes for the local canoe builder.

Australia : From Cairns to Sydney Magic Roundabout will visit major centres as it sails south to promote its work and
that of its partner organisation Reef Check.

ETA back in New Zealand is December.

You can follow Magic Roundabout adventure reading our blog.

 

To apply to join any future trips as a full time crew please refer to our volunteer page.

 

If you have conservation orientated research that could be facilitated by some use of a yacht in either Vanuatu or Papua New Guinea or elsewhere in the South West Pacific please read about how to apply here.