Marine Protected Area Network

©USGA Map

There are eleven Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that have been designated by law. CSP currently works in close collaboration with seven of these areas: Nahtik and Kehpara in Kitti, Dehpek/Takaieu and Mwand (Dekehos) in U, Sapwitik in Net, and Namwen Na and Namwen Nanhngih in Madolenihmw.  The goal is to establish a collaborative MPA management network.  This entails the building of community support for the MPAs, the education of citizens to improve their compliance, and the development of the capacity of conservation enforcement officers to impose the established rules and regulations.

CSP along with the help of the community Youth Conservation Corps and the Pohnpei State Office of Marine Conservation demarcated the MPA’s with boundary markers, no-take signs and mooring buoys, which are now maintained.  CSP works with the government and community partners to develop and strengthen the network of the local marine protected areas. The main goal of the local network is to increase compliance and/or enforcement in the MPAs by involving and building the management capacity of the state conservation officers, municipal police and community leaders/conservation officers. This network will provide a forum where conservation managers can share and learn from each other, as well as from other MPA networks in the Asia-Pacific region, and work collaboratively to gain support from traditional and government leaders. This will include funding to support MPA management, on and off-island trainings and learning exchanges, and allocation of necessary equipment and supplies to managers/enforcement officers.

MPA Management Plan

The Marine Program started a mission to facilitate adaptive management plan for Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in mid 2006 and throughout 2007.  The project’s first site is at NahtikMPA, working with the communities of Woan Koapin Soamwoai (WKS).  WKS is comprised of four villages, Mwoakot, Soamwoai, Enipein Pah and EnipeinPowe.  The MPA management planning project was initiated with technical support from Micronesia Conservation Trust (MCT), Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) Network, and Pacific Islands Marine Protected Areas Community (PIMPAC).  The purpose of MPA management plan is for WKS communities to construct a document that will guide all management activities to be implemented in their marine area.  It also details the resources of the area as well as the goal for its management, objectives, and activities.  Specifically, it sets out a program of management activity that will be carried out for the next three to five years.  CSP and WKS communities have drafted and are currently undergoing the final review of WKS Management Plan for NahtikMPA. Other MPA communities such as Dehpehk and Takaieu are geared up to partner with CSP and initiate the establishment of their MPA Management Plan.

And Atoll Biosphere Reserve

 © O’Hare

On October 2007, CSP and partners received some of the most exciting news ever.  After countless hours of hard work, the partnership between the Nanpei Family, UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) program, and Pohnpei State Government finally paid off.  And Atoll was finally nominated becoming the nation’s 2^nd Biosphere Reserve following Utwe/Walung Biosphere Reserve in Kosrea.  And Atoll is one of the most significantly unique islands in Micronesia.   The reserve will contribute to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity.  On a global scale, the oceanic islands of the FSM are home to some of the most biologically diverse coral reefs in the world.  Its proximity to the Indo-Malay region, and the vast distances between the islands favored high endemism and species diversity.  Unlike Pohnpei’s existing Marine Sanctuary System, And Atoll Biosphere will consist of three zones.  Core Zones, where strict protection measures will be applied to protect the key fish spawning and turtle and bird nesting areas; the Buffer Zones adjacent to the core zones to regulate fishing activities, and encourage non-damaging activities such as recreational diving, snorkeling, etc; and the transition zones to allow for better management of the fish stocks.  CSP and partners are proud to be partnering with the Nanpei Family and are keen to work alongside UNESCO-MAB program on this newfound initiative.

MPA Monitoring and Enforcement

It is also important for CSP to monitor and record the current state of Pohnpei’s fish populations, coral reef, and sediment build-up in order to keep track of any positive or negative changes over time.  In partnership with the community, CSP conducts fish monitoring in the five MPAs.  Monitoring fish populations measures the effectiveness of the MPAs management systems and occurs bi-monthly, in and around the MPAs, in order to show significant changes that occur over time. The outcomes of the fish counts can be used to prove if the fish stocks are increasing or decreasing inside and outside of the MPAs.  The monitoring focuses on three of the preferred local market fish families - Scaridae (Parrots), Lethrinidae (Emperors), and Siganidae (Rabbit). CSP currently monitors the coral in three MPAs including Dehpehk, Dekehos, and Sapwitik to determine yearly changes in the coral community due to environmental and physical factors. The monitoring of the exterior coral serves as a control to determine the factors that are changing the reef composition. Another factor for a healthy coral environment is water quality, which CSP measures by the amount of sediment in the water. Coral sedimentation monitoring occurs in the Lenger MPA, as well as in adjacent reefs to the sand mining areas. All samples are collected, dried, and the weight is recorded.  The resulting data is plotted to determine sediment load throughout the year.

From top: biophysical monitoring, Community Conservation Officers with an MPA sign, sponge farming © CSP,

REA: Evaluating diversity and quality of the marine environment

In 2005-2006 CSP conducted a rapid environmental assessment of Pohnpei’s reefs, surveying the diversity of coral, fish and seagrass populations.  The information identified areas that are a high priority for conservation. The assessment revealed new coral species and range extensions. The REA final report highlighted two significant findings concerning Pohnpei’s marine resources. All three surveys, coral, fish and seagrass, unanimously found that sediments and pollution produced from terrestrially based human activities such as land clearing, dredging for roads and buildings, and human and animal wastes are having noticeable and significant ill effects on Pohnpei’s marine environment. The second unanimous finding was that And Atoll contains significant fish, coral and seagrass habitats that, if conserved, would make a significant contribution to biodiversity conservation for Pohnpei and the Eastern Caroline Islands. High numbers of crown of thorns have also been documented, which are believed to be changing Pohnpei’s coral communities, and have been increasing due to nutrient and sediment runoff.  A policy memo was drafted and submitted to the Pohnpei leadership based on the findings with recommendations for marine resource management for Pohnpei State. CSP and partners conducted numerous community awareness targeting the strong fishing communities.

Click here to learn more about the REA

SPAGS: Spawning and Aggregation Sites

Fish populations are highly vulnerable during their spawning and aggregation periods.  Groupers aggregate at peak times throughout the year on a section of reef for the purpose of reproduction. This mass-spawning event replenishes the grouper fish stocks on surrounding reefs for the rest of the year. If they are fished heavily during times when they are aggregating, it will diminish the following year’s recruitment size dramatically. As a result CSP has been studying these populations to find out when they are present and what species, sizes, and numbers are present to develop population trends. From our findings we are better able to determine the level of protection needed during these times to insure the population of Groupers in Pohnpei is not diminished.

RARE: Elimoang campaign

CSP is currently conducting a RARE campaign which identifies and promotes a  marine species, as a type of ‘flagship’ to increase public awareness and support for marine conservation.  The projected solicited community opinions and from this, formulated a campaign of events and publication materials to promote protection of this species and its environment.  Previously, CSP led a terrestrial RARE campaign, which highlighted the endemic Serehd.  This campaign led to the establishment of the Serehd as the national bird.  The flagship species is the mangrove crab, locally known as the elimoang. Posters, a puppet show, cartoons, comic booklet, stickers, songs, billboards, murals, radio shows and bracelets were created to support the campaign.

All activities focused on information concerning the destruction of elimoang habitat due to dredging materials to be used for the circumferential road around Pohnpei, over-harvesting of crabs in general and overfishing of immature crabs, waste disposal in mangrove areas, clearing and filling of mangrove areas for parking lots and pig pens, sediment run off from coastal construction and general awareness concerning the importance of MPAs. These concerns are not just affecting the mangrove areas, but also the sea grass beds and coral reefs

The campaign was not a campaign to stop fishers from harvesting mangrove crabs, businesses from selling crabs, nor people from eating them. It was aimed at raising awareness about the species, its habitat, life cycle, food, sexual maturity, and its role in its ecosystem. Working with the Pohnpei State Attorney General’s Office, the campaign sought to strengthen the law that combines lobsters and coconut crabs with mangrove crabs by establishing open and closed seasons, as well as size limits. Our post-survey results showed that the campaign had made an impact within the fishing community. A significant increase in the number of fishermen who discuss the importance of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) with their peers was seen from the post survey results. Also, fishermen interviewed supported the ban on fishing within MPAs after the campaign.

Alternative Economic Development

CSP continues its aim in promoting alternative economic development with MPA communities. CSP completed yet another great year in 2006, in close partnership with the Marine Environmental Research Institute of Pohnpei (MERIP), through working with community members in establishing and maintaining sponge farms. A farmer’s mini cross-site visit was hosted by MERIP in 2006 to update farmers on the status of sponge farming in Pohnpei, to exchange lessons learned, to share the importance of practicing environment-friendly aquaculture integrating with the importance of MPAs and to establish a network of farmers to help enhance the practice of compatible economic development in Pohnpei. Currently, there are 13 farmers with 19 sponge farms around Pohnpei. Most of these farmers are connected to Pohnpei’s MPA Network, which includes MPA communities of Enipein, Lenger, Parem, Mwahnd, Dehpehk/Takaieu and Namwen Na. CSP will aim to help MERIP to improve sustainable economic development. In addition to sponge farms, MERIP and CSP have pioneered the culturing of soft corals. Only a few soft coral farms have been initiated with plans to expand throughout MPA communities around Pohnpei.

The markets we have developed include local hotels and restaurants, U.S. private interests in Washington   D.C., the Community Conservation Network in Hawaii, The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, and Swatch supporting conservation work located in Tokyo Japan. The sponges can be purchased in the CSP office or on-line at merchandise@tnc.org.

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Freshwater gobie, reef fish & clownfish © Gerry Allen,