ResourceNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve final reserve operations plan
Operations plan for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, prepared by NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program in consultation with the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan serves as the managem...
ResourceState of the Reserve Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, 2000-2005
This report provides a summary of progress made toward implementation of the Reserve Operations Plan (ROP) and the activities and accomplishments of NOAA's Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve (reserve). It is a review of the managem...
ResourcePreliminary species inventory for marine invertebrates associated with the coral reef communities of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
ResourceSatellite detection of 2002 coral bleaching in the Hawaiian archipelago
During the 2002 summer, a major coral bleaching event occurred throughout the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The NOAA Coral Reef Watch's satellite near-real-time coral bleaching HotSpot/Degree Heating Week (DHW) monitoring system successfully detected the...
ResourcePapahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve was created on December 4, 2000, by Executive Order 13178. The Executive Order was amended on January 18, 2001 by Executive Order 13196 making the establishment of the Reserve complete. On Jun...
ResourceFirst record of mass coral bleaching in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
"Records the first time mass bleaching events have been observed in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands during a September 2002 expedition."
ResourceBaseline levels of coral disease in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
"There has been a worldwide increase in the reports of diseases affecting marine organisms. In the Caribbean, mass mortalities among organisms in reef ecosystems have resulted in major shifts in community structure. However, our ability to fully understan...
ResourceDynamics of debris densities and removal at the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands coral reefs
"Previous marine debris studies in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) have focused on the density, type, and tonnage of debris in various reef and island habitats. Cleanup efforts have grown from a single ship working for a small amount of time to m...
ResourceHabitat and endemism of recruits to shallow reef fish populations: Selection criteria for no-take MPAs in the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve
"Temporal abundance and spatial distribution patterns are described for shallow (< 15 m-deep) reef fish populations at French Frigate Shoals (FFS) and Midway Atoll (Midway), two isolated oceanic atolls 800 km apart in the NW Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), du...
ResourceSharks and jacks in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from towed diver surveys 2000-2003
"Sharks (Carcharhinidae) and jacks (Carangidae) were surveyed using towed divers at the atolls and banks of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) during annual surveys from 2000 to 2003. We compared numerical and biomass densities of these predators am...
ResourceSecond recorded episode of mass coral bleaching in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
"Mass coral bleaching involves multiple species over large areas. A second known episode of mass bleaching was documented in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) during September/October 2004. Bleaching was observed in 10 species of the three dominant...
ResourceHistorical and present status of the pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
"Populations of the black-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, at Pearl and Hermes Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were first reported in 1928 and heavily harvested over the next 2 years. Approximately 150,000 pearl oysters were either ...
ResourceCommunity structure of hermatypic corals at Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: Stemming the shifting baseline
"The distribution and abundance of scleractinian corals at Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands was determined by georeferenced towed-diver surveys that covered close to 27,000 m2 of benthic habitat and site-specific surveys at 21 sites during ...
ResourceCommunity structure of hermatypic corals at Maro Reef in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: A unique open atoll
"Percent cover of shallow-water (< 20m) scleractinian corals at Maro Reef, an open atoll with no perimeter reef in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), was quantified from analysis of imagery recorded along more than 81 km of benthic habitat by to...
ResourceCommunity structure of hermatypic corals at Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: a legacy of human disturbance
"Percent cover of shallow-water (less than 20 m depth) scleractinian corals at Midway Atoll, a classic atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), was quantified from analysis of imagery recorded along more than 49 km of benthic habitat by towed di...
ResourceNew records of the fish genus Grammatonotus (Teleostei: Perciformes: Percoidei: Callanthiidae) from the Central Pacific, Including a spectacular species in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
"A second species of Grammatonotus from the Hawaiian Islands, tentatively identified as G. macrophthalmus Katayama, Yamamoto & Yamakawa (Callanthiidae), is recorded from French Frigate Shoals and the Northampton Seamount based on observations from a r...
ResourcePatterns in Benthic Coral Reef Communities at Pearl and Hermes Atoll along a Wave-Exposure Gradient
"This study compares percentage cover of benthic organisms at the species level at Pearl and Hermes Atoll (PHA), the largest atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, to determine((1) the degree of difference among sites, (2) whether wave-exposure zones...
ResourceSpatial and temporal comparisons of benthic composition at Necker Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
"Necker Island, a remote island located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, provides a unique opportunity to investigate species-level algal and benthic invertebrate assemblages and assess temporal variation of coral reef ecosystems exposed to minimal a...
ResourceEcological characteristics of coral patch reefs at Midway Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
"Ecological aspects of coral patch reefs were studied from 1981 to 1985 in Welles Harbor, Midway Atoll. Water temperatures varied from 17oC in February to 28C in August. Sizes of reefs studied were described by mean area (59 m2), mean volume (52 m3), vert...
ResourceAlgal monitoring studies on remote tropical Pacific reefs. 57th Annual Meeting of the Phycological Society of America
"Coral reefs of US-held islands in the central Pacific Ocean are among the most pristine in the world and represent over 93% of the reef systems under United States jurisdiction. The remote location of many islands has limited past algal research, resulti...
ResourceAcrosymphyton brainardii sp. nov. (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) from French Frigate Shoals, northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Acrosymphyton brainardii sp. nov. is described from the remote and unpopulated French Frigate Shoals, northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The new species is distinguished from other known species of Acrosymphyton by its extremely long carpogonial and auxiliary...
ResourceMarine algae of French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: Species list and biogeographic comparisons
"French Frigate Shoals represents a relatively unpolluted tropical Pacific atoll system with algal assemblages minimally impacted by anthropogenic activities. This study qualitatively assessed algal assemblages at 57 sites, thereby increasing the number o...
ResourceRelative abundance of macroalgae (RAM) on Northwestern Hawaiian Island reefs
"The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) represent one of the last relatively intact tropical reef ecosystems in existence, yet macroalgal community dynamics of the 10 atolls, islands, and reefs situated in the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve remain vi...
ResourceBenthic composition of a healthy subtropical reef: Baseline species-level percent cover, with an emphasis on reef algae, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) are considered to be among the most pristine coral reef ecosystems remaining on the planet. These reefs naturally contain a high percent cover of algal functional groups with relatively low coral abundance and exhi...
ResourceNewly named nuisance alga Chondria tumulosa identified in Pearl and Hermes Atoll
"In August 2019, researchers took a dive at Pearl and Hermes Atoll (Manawai) in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. At about 40 feet below the surface, they expected to see brilliant pinks and greens, characteristic of native stony corals. Instead...