The REPICORE team headed back out to the Pacific in mid-June, only this time the final destination was not a Melanesian island but a Polynesian one – Oahu in Hawai’i. Instead of fieldwork, the purpose of this trip was to attend the 13th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Honolulu, …
Three weeks ago, the largest cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere hit Fiji. At the time that the cyclone hit, the water around Fiji was around 1.5°C higher than usual, and consequently was experiencing high amounts of coral bleaching (see previous blog). Unusually high water temperatures are associated to …
So it seems that Fiji has been unable to escape the extreme water temperatures of the 2015/2016 El Niño after all. Two of our team members (Steven and Ryan) last week reported temperatures in Savusavu (on the south of Vanua Levu) rising to over 35°C in shallow reefs. Further west …
The transition from fieldwork into a laboratory is an interesting one; from days baking in the sun (or soaking in the rain) filled with carrying tanks and diving gear, spending hours underwater and living in a wetsuit to days sitting in a lab, wearing a lab coat, dealing with corrosive …
Tiles at our deeper site within the tabu (closed to fishing) area fixed onto pavement and secured at an angle to prevent sedimentation. One of the tiles which was adjusted to contain a microstructure, with 196 holes (1mm deep) on both the top and underside. A coral recruit from within …
Three weeks and 80 dives later, the benthic and fish teams are well underway with their projects. This time has been focused in three lagoonal reefs within close proximity to Suva, the capital city of Fiji. This part of the lagoon all belongs to one Qoliqoli (traditional …
