Kaʻū News Briefs, Monday, June 3, 2019

     Students do not have to be enrolled in a summer program at the school to receive the free food. There will be no food service on the June 11 King Kamehameha Day and July 4 holidays.

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PALMYRA ATOLL, 997 miles south-southwest of Ka Lae - South Point, is the location of the new Climate Adaptation & Resilience Laboratory, operated by The Nature Conservancy. A statement released today from TNC says the program will "focus on advancing an ambitious science agenda with the potential to benefit conservation on a global scale."

Palmyra Atoll is the new Climate Adaptation & Resilience Laboratory operated by The Nature Conservancy. Photo from the-scientist.com

     Located in the equatorial Pacific, Palmyra is co-owned and managed as an international research laboratory and national wildlife refuge by TNC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is also part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which, at 13 million acres, is one the world's largest marine protected areas.
     Chad Wiggins, former Hawaiʻi Island marine program director for TNC, who worked on fish recovery programs in Miloliʻi and beyond, is the new program director for Palmyra Atoll. He will work in tandem with exiting program director Alex Wegmann, who intentionally transitioned to director of science for Palmyra in January.
     Ulalia Woodside, executive director of TNC's Hawaiʻi Program, said, "Wiggins has served the Hawaiʻi Island team superbly and is well positioned to lead the Palmyra team, work with Alex to implement globally-important island-based conservation science, and redevelop the Atoll's infrastructure and facilities."

Chad Wiggins worked on Miloliʻi and other Hawaiʻi Island fish conservation projects. Photo from TNC

     Wiggins said he is "eager to share how the lessons we can learn from resilient atoll ecosystems like Palmyra will benefit Hawaiʻi, other island people and places, and the rest of the planet. I'm starting by listening to the smartest voice of all—the voice of Palmyra."
     Wiggins started working with TNC Hawai‘i in 2008 as the lone marine staff on Hawai‘i Island. He grew the program through a focus on community-based marine management and diverse conservation partnerships. Under his leadership, TNC has supported site-based coastal conservation initiatives spanning the west coast of Hawai‘i Island, from Kohala to Miloli‘i, including helping the Ka‘ūpūlehu Marine Life Advisory Committee establish their 10-year Try Wait rest area along 3.6 miles of coastline. Recent surveys there showed that after just two years, fish populations inside the preserve are recovering, with 60 percent more wrasses, 30 percent more parrot fish, and 46 percent more kole - surgeon fish. There is also evidence of spillover, or fish populations increasing, just outside the rest area.
     Other projects have included establishing the Conservancy's loko i‘a - fish pond, Kīholo, or Kīholo Preserve; communicating sea level rise impacts on coastal ecosystems; hosting invasive fish removal events; and expanding community networks focused on caring for fishponds and estuaries, anchialine pools, and nearshore marine resources. Today, the west Hawaiʻi coastal zone is one of NOAA's Ten Habitat Blueprint Focus Areas, selected to highlight ways to address the growing challenge of coastal and marine habitat loss and degradation.

Palmyra is 997 miles from South Point and will host a new laboratory to study resilience and climate adaptation under management of The Nature Conservancy. USGS map

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