Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

11. STATUS OF SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL PACIFIC
CORAL REEFS ‘POLYNESIA MANA NODE’: COOK
ISLANDS, FRENCH POLYNESIA, KIRIBATI, NIUE,
TOKELAU, TONGA, WALLIS AND FUTUNA
ABSTRACT
BERNARD SALVAT
The Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Niue, Tokelau, Tonga and Wallis and Futuna are
7 independent or autonomous countries or territories including 347 islands with coral reefs
and an EEZ of more than 12 million km 2 . The total population of this region is approximately
450,000 inhabitants throughout half of the islands, with 80% concentrated in the urban
centres of 7 islands.
Coral reef habitats and biodiversity decline in scale and scope along a west to east gradient
in the Pacific. Cyclones are rare and only impact on the reefs at decadal scales. Crown-ofthorns
starfish have appeared with varying levels of intensity throughout this area, with most
major outbreaks occurring in the 1970s in French Polynesia. Bleaching events with high
mortality were also reported there in 1991, as well as some localities throughout the region
during 1999 and 2000. Pollution, primarily from eutrophication and sedimentation is
concentrated near urban centres. Although coral reef resources are important for
subsistence and local commercial exploitation, documented information on reef stocks
and exploitation of resources is limited, except in French Polynesia. Tourism (about
300,000 tourists per year) is still in the early stages of development in the region with the
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