Waitt Expedition-Tuamotus and Kirbati

The Waitt foundation once again partnered with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography 100 Islands Challenge team, along with participants from the Center for Insular Research and Observation of the Environment (CRIOBE - French Polynesia), Korero O Te ‘Orau in the Cook Islands, and The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii. The challenge for this international team of volunteers was to survey coral reefs at a subset of atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, as well as re-visit several islands in the Southern Line Islands, Republic of Kiribati. Over 14 days this expedition would make 300 scientific dives across 8 islands (Millennium, Flint, Vostok, Takapoto, Tikehau, Rangiroa). These dives were used to compose 47 photomosaic benthic surveys (14 resurveys of permanent sites) and 59 reef fish surveys. The data would help characterize coral reef communities as part of the 100 Island Challenge and provide the local governments with data in order to inform their conservation choices.