Aquarium researcher says Phoenix Islands coral reefs showing signs of recovery, climate change impact November 2, 2009

BOSTON - Randi D. Rotjan, a coral reef researcher from the New England Aquarium, is inspired by the rich scientific offerings she discovered during a recent journey to the remote Phoenix Islands in the Central Pacific, the world’s largest marine protected area. “Recovery was the take-home message of the trip,” she said, noting coral reefs there appear to be recovering from a severe bleaching incident, a worrisome result of global climate change and warming water trends.



Rotjan will share photos, stories, and impressions from her first expedition to the Phoenix Islands Protected Area on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Aquarium’s Harborside Learning Lab.



Rotjan was part of a team of 15 diverse scientists – including a National Geographic magazine underwater photographer – who returned just a few weeks ago from the Phoenix Islands. Located 6,000 miles from Boston and about 1,000 miles southwest of Hawaii, the islands are mostly accessible by boat, very few are inhabited, and, in some cases, the islands are a full 24 hour boat trip apart. Rotjan and her colleagues spent most of their time diving underwater to gather data about coral reefs, fish, shark populations, gelatinous zooplankton, and other research about a place that is facing the challenges of pollution and global climate change despite being so geographically distant from the industrialized world.



The Phoenix Islands are considered one of the last intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, and consist of eight coral atolls and two submerged reef systems. Gregory Stone, the Aquarium’s Senior Vice President for Ocean Exploration and Conservation, played a major role in working with Kiribati (pronounced “Keer-i-bas”) officials to create the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) last year. About the size of California, PIPA surpasses the scope of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Northwest Hawaiian Islands protected areas. PIPA has been nominated to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.



In 2002-2003, PIPA’s coral reefs suffered from intense heat, causing severe bleaching over a 28-week period. Bleaching can nearly kill off coral reefs, but encouraging to Rotjan and her colleagues was that “we saw really strong signs of recovery,” she said. She has already started writing two or three papers about her discoveries for scientific journals.



Compared to other coral bleaching events, Rotjan said PIPA reefs seem to be rebounding faster because there is less pollution (although plastics and even flip flop sandals often drift ashore there as trash), more fish, less agricultural – or chemical – runoffs into the ocean, and not as much human traffic, so they seem to be faring better. Since the recovery is so remarkable, the team is gearing up to return in 2011 to monitor progress. Rotjan is helping Stone raise funds and coordinate that expedition.



Chronicling the recent expedition to PIPA for National Geographic magazine was world-renowned underwater photographer Brian Skerry who is the Aquarium’s newly appointed Explorer-in-Residence. The magazine plans to feature Stone and the team in an upcoming issue.



Rotjan, 32, of Medford, earned her neurobiology undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her doctoral degree in from the Biology Department at Tufts University. PIPA was her first experience with a high-diversity Pacific coral reef, and her first ever with such an intact fish population. “It was pretty incredible,” said Rotjan, who regularly wrote about the trip for the Aquarium’s blog. Writing and submitting by satellite phone, Rotjan’s witty entries captivated high school students in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, a fellow coral researcher, and journalists – all of whom corresponded with her - en route.



She shared anecdotes about rampant seasickness among the team as they sailed through 20-foot seas, and offered fun facts about their trip such as the team had over 100 bags total to check on their return trip. And, during 11 days, she ate 33 meals, did 37 dives, and received at least 89 bruises.



Her personal view of climate change was very affected by her Phoenix Islands experience. “Small things are really important, such as recycling,” she said. “But systemic and systematic changes to how we live our lives are needed, and such efforts will be critical to successfully temper the effects of climate change. We’ll need much more support from governments, as well as new technologies, and a new way of cultural thinking, to protect vitally important ecosystems like the coral reefs of the Phoenix Islands.”

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