Saving Seafood

NOAA: ‘The Reefs Weren’t Damaged, They Were Just Gone’

August 19, 2019 — In October, Hurricane Walaka literally wiped East Island off the map, and with it the primary nesting grounds of thousands of threatened green sea turtles in French Frigate Shoals.

But until now it wasn’t clear what happened to the surrounding reefs and sea life in this remote stretch of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, about 550 miles from Honolulu.

Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and their partner scientists returned this week from a 22-day expedition in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

Divers discovered devastating damage to the coral at French Frigate Shoals, an atoll featuring a crescent-shaped reef. Photos show rubble not recognizable as the former coral reef, one of the most significant reef systems in the nearly 600,000-square-mile monument, NOAA officials revealed Thursday.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

HAWAII: NOAA ship evacuates biologists from Papahanaumokuakea ahead of Hurricane Walaka

October 5, 2018 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s research ship Hi‘ialakai has taken seven NOAA field biologists away from French Frigate Shoals ahead of Hurricane Walaka, which is approaching Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument today.

The field crew of three green sea turtle biologists and four monk seal biologists was not scheduled to leave French Frigate Shoals until mid-October, said Megan Nagel, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Pacific Region.

Instead, Nagel said in an email, they were “recovered ahead of their scheduled mid-October departure date by the NOAA ship Hi‘ialakai.”

On Monday, a U.S. Coast Guard crew flew a HC-130 Hercules from Air Station Barbers Point to Johnston Atoll and evacuated four U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biology field workers from the wildlife refuge.

Hurricane Walaka was a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 130 mph when it passed the tiny four-island atoll Tuesday.

Read the full story at The Star Advertiser