CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by Sylvia Ginsberg
http://www.cdnn.info/eco/e020920/e020920.html
GARDNER PINNACLES, Hawaii (September 20, 2002) – Scientists aboard the R/V Townsend Cromwell and Rapture have reported finding coral, crab, snail, nudibranch and fish species never before recorded in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
One significant find was the finescale triggerfish (Balistes polylepis) a species commonly found off the coast of Baja California which was seen for the first time in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
In addition to what the research team describes as an amazing abundance of marine wildlife, researchers believe they may have found an unrecorded shipwreck at Mokumanamana (Necker Island).
Dr. Hans Van Tilburg, leader of the Maritime Archaeology team, said his team has found machinery and heavily encrusted iron artifacts typical of shipwreck sites.
The expedition is part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (NOWRAMP), a multi-agency, multi-year effort that began in 2000.
NOWRAMP's objective is to rapidly evaluate and map the shallow water reef habitats in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
To accomplish that objective, three scuba diving teams are conducting rapid ecological assessments (REAs) at various sites throughout the archipelago.
The dive teams survey three sites per day collecting as much data as possible from new territory including cultural resources such as shipwrecks and archaeological sites.
"The goal of these multi-disciplinary surveys is to simultaneously examine the condition and health of the fish, corals, algae, and invertebrates of these complex and diverse reef ecosystems in the context of their benthic (sea floor) and oceanographic habitats, which change over time," commented Dr. Rusty Brainard, Chief Scientist aboard the R/V Townsend Cromwell.
The 30-day expedition is scheduled to return to Oahu on October 7, 2002.
