Ranking coral ecosystem "health and value" for the islands of the Hawaiian Archipelago

Abstract

An evaluation of the "health" and "value" of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) in relation to the main eight Hawaiian Islands (MHI) was undertaken as part of the process for evaluating the NWHI for possible designation of this area as a National Marine Sanctuary. Biological information for the NWHI region is very limited due to its extreme Isolation, but sufficient data on five important biological Indicators were developed for both the NWHI and the MHI. These Include: reef fish biomass, reef fish endemics, total living coral cover, population of the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal Monachus schauinsandi, and the number of female Green Sea Turtles Chelonia mydas nesting annually on each island. These diverse data sets were used in a simple Integrated scoring and ranking scheme for all the islands of the archipelago. The resulting composite scoring is essentially an index of biological integrity. The final result graphically demonstrates the value of the NWHI in a manner easily understood by the public, government decision makers and managers. Further, the contrast of the NWHI to the MHI illustrates the diminished condition of reefs close to human population within the Hawaiian Archipelago. This approach proved to be very useful in the Integration of diverse data sets.