In the heart of the South Pacific, the Phoenix Islands Group is one of Earth's last intact
oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems.
The coral reefs and bird populations of the islands are unique and virtually untouched
by man.
Since the beginning of human settlement in the Pacific, the Phoenix Islands have represented
a marine wilderness, remote and inaccessible, and consequently subjected to very little
human exploitation.
The Reef Ecologic Team are travelling to Kiribati at the request of the local government.
Designated a protected area in 2006 and a World Heritage location in 2010, there is
much work to be done to transform the Phoenix Islands into a world-class marine park and
potentially a hotspot for tourism.
Adam Smith is the director of Reef Ecologic.
He is leading the ambitious project of developing a sustainability plan for the island of Canton,
the only inhabited island in the Phoenix Islands.
Marine scientist Nathan Cook is tasked with developing a monitoring and evaluation plan
for the entire Phoenix Islands protected area.
While engineer Matthew Dean is to provide advice on what is needed to restore, repair
or replace old and outdated infrastructure on Canton, allowing easier access to the region.
So we're just getting ready for our first meeting with the Ministry of Environment,
Land and Agriculture and a whole suite of other representatives from different government
departments.
It's our great pleasure also to come to Kiribati and to work in partnership with you on this
very important project.
This is the first of seven meetings and our aim here today is to introduce the team but
also to share with you some of the work we've done before in the Great Bay Area Marine Park.
With formalities out of the way, we discussed our plans with the director of the Phoenix
Islands protected area implementation office.
So we came into being well, years back since 2003.
We have the first management plan, 2010 to 2014 and it sets out the activities, management
activities that we need to maintain the appreciate nature of the islands.
This is a fantastic program with Refugee Ecology, I think it's important that we, the plan
is there.
We'll see you when you get back.
It's going to be an adventure.
Thank you.
We've just finished day one of meetings, we thought it went really, really well.
We engaged with around 25 people from a whole range of different government departments.
The director was fantastic, very welcoming, the knowledge we shared, we discussed plans
for the future and we're very excited to go to Canton and start this work.
So we've just gone 11.30 after our little bit of a wake and we are ready for takeoff.
Oh, great to be here.
Murray.
Good to have you.
Thank you.
Welcome to Canton.
Yeah, welcome.
We'll see what the weather is doing.
This is Canton, home to a few residents here as part of the Phoenix Islands protected
area management program, palm trees, spectacular seabirds, white sandy beaches, pristine coral
reefs, this place is truly unique.
This week we consulted the local community about their hopes for this plan.
We explored the natural resources of the island and have gotten to know some of the key people
who will be critical to ensure this sustainability plan delivers on its desired outcomes.
This is our humble abode here on Canton, it's pretty luxurious, running water, power and
free air conditioning from the ocean, which is imperative at night.
A pretty good little setup and we're privileged to be treated so well.
Come back in and then do a sight that they found.
How are we doing Adam, excited?
The marine team consisted of Nathan and Adam.
At each site the team entered the water armed with a camera and a speargun.
This initial foray was to select an appropriate survey site and scan for potentially inquisitive
sharks.
After a few minutes the team traded cameras for writing slates.
Adam would record reef fish while Nathan recorded benthic life along three 50 metre transects.
The team worked efficiently and successfully surveyed more reefs than they had planned.
In this way we collected important data to enable an accurate assessment of the island's
resources.
So far it has been very special, this place has a lot to offer, the future of our sustainable
marine team, and it's just spectacular, it's just spectacular, it's just spectacular.
Wow.
How's that coral cover?
That is pretty spectacular.
So we've done 12 different sites outside the reef and in the lagoon, we're going to do
our last fish and coral surveys, it's very sad that it's the last one because it's been
such a fantastic time.
My major role here is to look after the marine environment and also to come on the terrestrial
life and one of it like the bed just flying over, designing and I think I'm fortunate
to be here because I was involved in the three expeditions before I was assigned as a coordinator
in the house.
I think the Phoenix Islands is one of the highly pristine islands that the fishes and
corals are living as they are and for me and my family, we enjoy coming all over the canton
because it's a unique opportunity to come because only few are selected from the row
and I was glad that I was one of them.
I've been commissioned to look at the infrastructure here on the canton, so that includes the airfield,
behind us here, the road infrastructure, some of which is missing here and the port which
is about another kilometre down from us at the channel.
So we're looking at current conditions and what they need to do to bring it up to standard
so that they can start bringing tourists into the island and hopefully promoting tourism.
So we're here on Canton Island, we're doing some work to try and develop a sustainability
plan and the week has exceeded expectations on so many levels.
First of all, we were keen to get more knowledge on the biology of the island, particularly
the fish, the sharks, the turtles, the corals and the birds and we've documented a lot of
that and it's been amazing, particularly the fish life in some areas and the coral abundance
has some sites over 90% so that's been fascinating.
Very interesting has been the cultural side of things, living with and working with the
local people from Kiribati, eating with them and this plan is all about their and tourists'
future use of Canton.
Thank you very much for opening your home to us, we feel very much like family, this
has been one of the best weeks I think I've had in my life to explore your island, to
meet with you, to help make a difference to the future of sustainability on Canton.
I used to be back at Tarawa but I must admit I had such a fabulous time at Canton but we've
got to protect this place, it's so important.
Yes, so a series of meetings and workshops in Tarawa over these last couple of days is
going to help us refine the plan and hopefully come up with something that's close to a final
version that we could use to try and flesh out that draft plan which is based very much
on our ecosystem research plus where we observe the locals are fishing and what are potential
heritage sites and come up with a plan for both the land and the water that meets current
and future needs.
So we've had three days back in the capital with some really productive consultation and
workshops with the PIPA management committee and our other stakeholders and right now we're
just off to our final official engagement with a meeting with the High Commissioner at
the Australian Embassy.
I think the whole range of partners and preparing a plan, both for Marina and to Astriel.
Well we've completed our task, we've just come from the Australian Embassy where we
met with the ambassador and the second secretary, we've briefed them on what we've been doing
at Canton and here in Tarawa, wow, we've really crammed in a lot over the last ten or twelve
days.
Yeah it's been busy but super productive and a truly fantastic experience.
Thank you.
