A few special events happened this month! Check out the May newsletter to find out more about the redeployed wave buoy off Majuro, RMI, and the recently released tiger shark study. Visit our website or Voyager to access tools, data sets, and more!
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PacIOOS Instruments and Tools
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| PacIOOS partners gather for a blessing ceremony. |
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Majuro Wave Buoy Now Back Online
The PacIOOS wave buoy off Majuro, Marshall Islands, was successfully redeployed this month. The buoy was sent to sea with blessings from our partners, including the National Weather Service WSO, the U.S. Embassy, and the College of the Marshall Islands, a
ccompanied by heavy rain -- a true blessing in times of severe drought.
Located approximately 0.5 nautical miles (NM) off Delap Point on the Southeastern end of Majuro Atoll, the wave buoy measures wave height, direction, period and sea surface temperature. All data are available online.
PacIOOS is grateful for the generous financial support from the U.S. National Weather Service
(NWS) Pacific Region Headquarters, U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System
(IOOS), Republic of the Marshall Islands Government via the Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (
COSPPac) of the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, and an anonymous private donor (via the College of the Marshall Islands) to fund the buoy!
Data are managed by the Coastal Data Information Program (
CDIP
) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Long-term partnerships with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and CDIP enable data streaming into the PacIOOS website and PacIOOS
Voyager
.
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Recovery location of the Hanalei wave buoy. |
Finding the Needle in a Haystack
On March 7, the Hanalei wave buoy broke free from its mooring and started drifting north. Strong winds and high seas prevented staff from recovering the buoy right away. PacIOOS reached out to partners and ocean stakeholders to seek potential support from other mariners at sea. On May 11, the buoy was drifting approximately 500 nautical miles away from its original location when PacIOOS heard from Sean Martin, president of the Hawaiʻi Longline Association. One of Sean's longline fishing vessels, FV Mariah, was within 10 miles of the buoy, and Captain Bob Bryan and his crew took up the challenge to find it. With a diameter of 3 ft, wave buoys are relatively small and difficult to locate in the constantly moving ocean. Captain Bob used his skills to track down the buoy and bring it safely back to port upon the completion of his trip. Mahalo nui loa to Sean Martin, Captain Bob and his crew for their support in recovering the PacIOOS wave buoy. Ocean observation assets are important to a wide range of ocean users, industry partners, federal and state agencies, and the general public. PacIOOS greatly appreciates the joint partner efforts to keep the network of buoys operational!
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41 tiger sharks were tagged for the study.
Photo Credit: Mark Royer. |
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Tiger Shark Study Reveals Findings
Shark researchers Dr. Carl Meyer, Dr. Kim Holland and their student team from the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at the University of Hawai'i completed a study to better understand tiger shark movement patterns around Maui and O'ahu. The State of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) commissioned the study to find answers to a spike in shark bites off Maui in 2012 and 2013.
A total of 41 tiger sharks were tagged off Maui and O'ahu to track their movements over two years.
The study revealed that tiger sharks prefer the insular shelf habitat (from the shoreline to a depth of 600ft), supporting a wide variety of shark prey. Maui Nui has more shelf habitat than all other Main Hawaiian Islands combined, which not only supports resident tiger sharks but also attracts sharks from other parts of Hawai'i. Areas around Maui that are most frequently visited by sharks are in close proximity to popular recreation areas, which may explain the increased level of shark encounters. Learn more about the study results and access the full report.
PacIOOS makes
tiger shark tracks
available online and provides funding for ongoing and future tagging efforts.
While the tracks do not serve as a warning or real-time monitoring system, they raise awareness about the ocean environment and inform long-term decision-making.
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PI-2: Training Workshop on Ocean
Observations and Data Applications 
To continue the progress gained at last year's Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP) workshop (PI-1), more than 30 attendees gathered in Noumea, New Caledonia, to further discussion ocean observations and data applications (PI-2) in the Pacific Islands. The goal is to increase capacity to collect, analyze, and communicate oceanographic data across a number of sectors, such as meteorology and climate services, fisheries, marine trade, and tourism. Increasing capacity in these sectors will enhance the livelihoods of Pacific Islanders, and will allow them to more effectively engage in the global ocean community. The Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) hosted the workshop, which was also supported by the Joint
World Meteorological Organization (
WMO
) - Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (
IOC
)
Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM), NOAA's Climate Program Office (CPO), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), and Pacific Community (SPC).
PacIOOS staff were invited as trainers to share information about the existing framework in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands, provide insights into accessing real-time and climate data, and discuss how ocean information supports decision-making and community resilience.
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 Council on Ocean Resources Meeting
Council members of the Hawai'i Ocean Partnership came together to discuss the current status and future outlook of the Hawai'i Ocean Resources Management Plan (ORMP). The ORMP serves as a framework for the State's activities relating to the management of ocean and coastal resources. Four ongoing climate change initiatives were presented in more detail: 1) Building code amendments to reduce vulnerability to coastal hazards and climate impacts in the City & County of Honolulu; 2) Statewide sea level rise vulnerability assessment and adaptation report; 3) Appropriate coastal development and management of coastal hazards; and 4) Building resilience to coastal hazards and climate change in Hawai'i. The University of Hawai'i School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and PacIOOS are collaborating partners in the climate change initiatives.
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Daniel Coffey and other HIMB researchers tagging a shark. |
The Next Generation of Tags & Scientists
Daniel Coffey, Ph.D. candidate at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (
HIMB) Shark Research Group, is testing the next generation of electronic tags to measure and record dissolved oxygen data from free-ranging fish. Under the supervision of Dr. Kim Holland, and supported by PacIOOS,
IOOS, and
Wildlife Computers, the team of researchers successfully demonstrated the capabilities of a prototype dissolved oxygen pop-up satellite archival tag with trial deployments on bluntnose sixgill sharks. In addition, Daniel is testing dorsal fin-mounted satellite transmitters to collect information on swimming depth, ambient temperature, and oxygen, typically mounted on scalloped hammerhead and tiger sharks. As part of his research, Daniel calibrates electronic tags before deploying them in the field,
sets up and tests land-based receivers, and collects and analyzes the data.
Daniel's research is broadly focused on understanding how marine predators utilize and move through their environment and investigating what underlying ecological and physiological mechanisms drive this behavior.
He not only enjoys presenting research findings to the scientific community, but also likes to share his work with a wide range of audiences to bring science closer to the people and to ultimately enhance ocean literacy in Hawai'i and beyond. Daniel received his undergraduate degree in marine biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Masters degree in biology with a specialization in aquatic ecology from Lund University in Sweden, in collaboration with the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University.
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Based within the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, PacIOOS is the Pacific Islands regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (
IOOS®
). PacIOOS is a partnership of data providers and users working together to enhance ocean observations and develop, disseminate, evaluate, and apply ocean data and information products designed to address the environmental, economic, and public safety needs of stakeholders who call the Pacific Islands home. For more information on PacIOOS, please visit
www.pacioos.org
.
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Copyright © 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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