Megafauna Monitoring Initiative (MMI) – January 2020

The purpose of this initiative is firstly an attempt to assess current population abundance and biodiversity levels, highlight seasonal changes in such levels, and observe if populations are increasing, decreasing or remaining constant over extended periods of time; but also to accurately inform our guests; past, present and future, of what we are seeing and how often. We achieve this by having the professional dive team to collect data on a daily basis from multiple dive sites within the Mamanuca group of islands.

This month the Tokoriki Diving team encountered our highest number of Black Tip Reef Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) to date with 36 individuals. Surprisingly in contrast we encountered our lowest number of White Tip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus) and Grey Reef Shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) with 57 and 9 individuals respectively. Just a single Zebra Shark (Stegostoma fasciatum) was observed which is the norm with other months as it is a rare sighting.

Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) sightings remain relatively low with just 63 individuals encountered. This is an increase from December that observed just 55 however still low when compared to October and November that saw 182 and 186 individuals respectively. The Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricate) on the other hand remain relatively consistent compared to other months with 17 sightings.

All other species encounters were similar to previous months with the exception of the Tawny Nurse Shark (Nebrius ferrugineus), Marbled Ray (Taeniurops meyeni), Tahitian Stingray (Pateobatis fai), Great Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) and Bumphead Parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) that were absent throughout January.

This months MMI did however encounter 2 new species, a school of approximately 100 Brassy Trevally (Caranx papuensis), and 2 Milkfish (Chanos chanos). These species although rare, will continue to be recorded if observed in the future. See below the list of specific species and sighting numbers;

57 x White Tip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus)

36 x Black Tip Reef Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus)

9 x Grey Reef Shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos)

1 x Zebra Shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)

63 x Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

17 x Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricate)

5 x Bluespoted Ribbontail Ray (Taeniura lymma)

6 x Coral Sea Maskray (Neotrygon kuhlii)

3 x Whitespotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus ocellatus)

4 x Narrow-barred Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson)

9 x Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulates)

11 x Brown Marbled Grouper ( Epinephelus   fuscoguttatus )

100 x Brassy Trevally (Caranx papuensis)

2 x Milkfish (Chanos chanos)

Thank you (vinaka vakalevu) for reading and please join us next month to see what we encountered throughout February!