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May 7 2005 President
Oscar Temaru Comments on Preservation of Tetiaroa Dear Sir, I am writing to appeal to you to ensure that Tetiaroa is preserved as intact as possible for the people of Polynesia and the world. I apologize that I can't write in Tahitian or French. Tetiaroa atoll is one of the last undisturbed coral reefs left, despite its closeness to Papeete. It has enormous educational, scientific, and ecotourism value only if it continues to be as well preserved in the future as it has been in the past by the Tahitian royal family and by the late Marlon Brando, his family, and his associates. Anybody can see the potential money that can be made from exploiting its beauty, but it is much harder to see how easily it can be destroyed by unwise development. Eleven years ago I wrote a book about the impacts of global warming on South Pacific coral reefs (T. J. Goreau & R. L. Hayes, 1994, Coral Reef Bleaching in the South Central Pacific During 1994, 200p.). We examined stresses to coral reefs at sites in Moorea, Tahiti, Rangiroa, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Tutuila. I had dived extensively around Moorea three years before. The difference shocked me. In 1991 I was searching for algae that indicate pollution and I could only find them in one place: directly in front of the Club Med sewage outfall. Three years later the lagoon was choked with algae typical of high levels of nutrients derived from sewage, like the lagoon reefs near Papeete. The speed with which this deterioration took place was astonishing. The same will happen in Tetiaroa unless the strictest measures are taken to recycle all nutrients on land and prevent them killing the reef. The Tetiaroa lagoon is far more vulnerable to nutrient buildup than either Moorea or Tahiti because it has no major channels and so the water circulates very slowly. The magnificent reefs of the lagoon, which are of prime importance for fisheries, ecotourism, and biodiversity, will be wiped out quickly unless strict measures to prevent all pollution are put in place. I am a scientist who has worked on algae overgrowth of coral reefs in relation to nutrient sources in Florida, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the Grenadines, Mexico, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Saipan, Fiji, Samoa, French Polynesia, Taiwan, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Australia, and many other places around the globe. I have personally examined the changes in algae abundance and species composition down nutrient gradients in these places and have also worked on measuring nutrients in the water and their physiological effects on algae growth. On my home island, Jamaica, I watched all of our reefs destroyed by algae following over-development of the coastline. Please don't let this happen to Tetiaroa. No ecosystem is more sensitive to excess nutrients than coral reefs. I recently wrote a long review of the impacts of nutrients on coral reefs and fisheries and the methods that can be used to control and eliminate them for the United Nations Expert Meeting on Waste Management in Small Island Developing States. This review summarized the controversy over whether algae are caused by excessive nutrients or by lack of fish and animals that eat them, and came down solidly on the side of excess nutrients as being the major cause. I concluded: "A strict policy of zero waste nutrient discharge to the coastal zone is needed. When nutrients are reduced, the algae quickly die off. Waste nutrients in the coastal zone not only destroy the ecological and economic value of coral reefs for fisheries, tourism, shore protection and biodiversity, they represent a wasteful loss of fertilizers that are badly needed on land" (United Nations Development Program, Capacity 2015 Resilience Series, Volume 3, 30p, 2003, "Addressing the Challenges of Waste Management in Small Island Developing States", T. Goreau quote, p. 17). Tetiaroa is one of the last treasures. Any development there must be strictly controlled and the strongest safeguards must be in place. Baseline studies need to be done to ensure that they are effective. We are counting on your leadership to preserve Tetiaroa forever from being destroyed by greed or ignorance. Sincerely yours, Thomas
J. Goreau, Ph.D. |
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