Suwarrow Atoll

Suwarrow is a coral atoll in the northern Cook Islands. Declared a national park several decades ago, its status was threatened in the 90s by government plans to commercialize the atoll as a base for fish processing and a site for pearl farming. A Cook Islands conservation group, the Te Ipukarea Society or TIS, launched the Save Our Suwarrow campaign and were successful in preventing the development.

Today, the only residents of the atoll are two caretakers, Harry and Charlie. They spend about 6 months of the year living in Suwarrow where Harry handles immigration and biosecurity for arriving yachts and they oversee visitors and researchers to the atoll.

Immigration formalities in Suwarrow. Note the gift of Maple Syrup for Harry, who also serves as Park Ranger.

What’s biosecurity? In part, it refers to introduced biological threats to native habitats. For example, over the past two hundred years, rats arriving on vessels have driven more bird species to extinction than in any other region of the world. Suwarrow is considered and IBA, or “Important Bird Area”. Its importance as a breeding sanctuary for seabirds is enormous. It is home to 9% of the world’s population of Lesser Frigatebird, 3 % of the world’s Red-Tailed Tropicbird and a staggering 100,000 Sooty Tern!

Each morning, we’d watch as the terns flew overhead from their night roosts across the lagoon to their daytime island. We approached the small island by tender one day, being sure to keep a good distance, and were treated to the most incredible raucous symphony of bird song, and the sight of tens of thousands of terns swarming over the tiny, low lying island.

Some months prior to our arrival, Bird Life International and TIS had sponsored a trip to Suwarrow to undertake a rat eradication program. Worldwide, over half of all threatened birds are being driven to extinction by invasive species. In oceanic islands like Suwarrow, the figure is more like 75%. The rat eradication campaign in Suwarrow is critical to the survival of these incredible birds.

Birds are not the only protected species in Suwarrow. Sharks, which we saw in good numbers, are also protected in these waters. In fact, the Cook Islands has declared all of their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters a shark sanctuary. This region is home to over 18 species of sharks, 15 of which are threatened or endangered. Pressures upon these populations come from fishing fleets seeking pelagic fish like Tuna, as well as shark fins for the Asian market. After the sharks are caught, their fins are removed and the sharks are thrown back into the sea where they soon drown. Its known that foreign fishing vessels shelter in Suwarrow’s lagoon when the caretakers are off island.

Sharks feeding inshore

The Cook Islands government has been very active in conservation projects. Further to the South begins the boundary for the Cook Islands Marine Park, established in 2012. Covering 1.1 million square kilometers and encompassing over half of the Cook’s EEZ, the park, once up and running, will be the largest one in the world. The government’s actions reflect a positive reframe available to Pacific Island states: rather than being considered small island states, they are, in fact, large ocean states. This is a much better description of the environment where most of their resources lay. Additionally, the Cooks government has made a commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2020! Pretty great!

Our stay in Suwarrow was cut shorter than we’d hoped by weather. While on the island, we managed to complete several Georeferenced GoPro Video Transects. We were surprised and dismayed by the overall state of coral and fish biomass, but more on that later.

Llyr at Anchorage Island, Suwarrow (courtesy of Chuck)