Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 4. Marine Resources
Draft 1 March 2007
with increased distance from the lagoon opening. The richest fish populations were on the
reef slope outside the lagoon.
In 1977, a female whale shark, Rhincodon typus, entered the lagoon on Abariringa (Nolan
and Taylor 1978). It was about 8.1 m (26.5 ft) long (half grown). The shark was tagged.
Attempts to chase it out of the lagoon were unsuccessful. It stayed in the lagoon at least 14
months.
Grovhoug and Henderson (1978) reported on the 1973 inshore fish surveys of Abariringa
(Canton). In deeper waters, SCUBA divers completed fish counts using a weighted 30 m
transect line. In shallow water, snorklers swam a pre-determined distance to survey fish. The
cumulative fish species checklist was increased to 264 species from 50 families (including
the 146 fish species observed during these surveys, see Table III-4.13). Fish abundance (for
quantity of fish and fish species) was highest immediately outside and in the lagoon passage.
Within the lagoon, fish abundance decreased with increased distance from the lagoon
passage.
Table III-4.13. List of fish species observed during the 1973 surveys.
(source: Grovhoug and Henderson 1978)
37