Currently, the Society’s Marine Program’s main focuses are:

Marine Protected Area (MPA) Establishment and Management
Spawning and Aggregation Sites (SPAGS)
Fish, Coral, and Sediment Monitoring
Income Generating Activities for MPA Communities

MPA Management and Establishment
There are eleven (11) MPAs (marine protected areas) designated by state law in Pohnpei. CSP currently works in close collaboration with local communities and the municipal and state governments in five of these MPAs - Nahtik and Kehpara in Kitti, Dehpehk and Mwand in U and Sapwitik in Nett. Local Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) members from each of the MPA communities help CSP marine staff and the Pohnpei State Office of Marine Conservation deploy boundary markers, no-take signs, and mooring buoys to delineate the areas.

CSP and its government and community partners are in the initial stages of developing a network of the local marine protected areas. The main goal of the local network is to increase compliance and/or enforcement in the MPAs by involving and building the management capacity of the state conservation officers, municipal police and community leaders/conservation officers. This network will provide a forum where conservation managers can share and learn from each other, as well as from other MPA networks in the Asia-Pacific region, and work collaboratively to gain support from traditional and government leaders. This will include funding to support MPA management, on and off-island trainings and learning exchanges, and allocation of necessary equipment and supplies to managers/enforcement officers.

Spawning Aggregation Sites (SPAGS)
Fish populations are highly vulnerable during their spawning and aggregation periods. Groupers aggregate at peak times throughout the year on a section of reef for the purpose of reproduction. This mass-spawning event replenishes the grouper fish stocks on surrounding reefs for the rest of the year. If they are fished heavily during times when they are aggregating, it will diminish the following year’s recruitment size dramatically. As a result, CSP has been studying these populations to find out when they are present and what species, sizes, and numbers are present to develop population trends. From our findings we are better able to determine the level of protection needed during these times to insure the population of groupers in Pohnpei is not diminished.

Fish, Coral, and Sediment Monitoring
It is important to monitor and record the current state of Pohnpei’s fish populations, coral reef, and sediment build-up in order to keep track of any positive or negative changes over time. In partnership with the community, CSP conducts fish monitoring in the five MPAs. Monitoring fish populations measures the effectiveness of the MPAs management systems. Fish monitoring only takes place bi-monthly, in and around the MPAs, in order to show significant changes that occur over time. The outcomes of the fish count can be used to prove if the fish stocks are increasing or decreasing inside and outside of the MPAs. The monitoring focuses on three of the preferred local market fish families - Scaridae (Parrots), Lethrinidae (Emperors), and Siganidae (Rabbit).

CSP currently monitors the coral in three MPAs, including Dehpehk, Dekehos, and Sapwitik to determine yearly changes in the coral community due to environmental and physical factors. The marine staff monitors coral inside the established MPAs and compares the findings to the coral outside of the MPAs. The exterior coral serves as a control to determine the factors that are changing the reef composition.

Another factor for a healthy coral environment is water quality, which can be measured by the amount of sediment in the water. CSP monitors coral sedimentation in the Lenger MPA, as well as in adjacent reefs to sand mining areas. All samples are collected, dried, and the weight is recorded. The resulting data is plotted to determine sediment load throughout the year.

Income Generating Activities
As an alternative income generating activity, CSP helped to establish and continues to support the Lenger Island community in sponge farming. Along with community members, CSP helped set up two farms and has agreed to assist in maintaining a third farm donated to Lenger island community by Dick Croft, a businessman promoting compatible economic development in Pohnpei. With community support, CSP helps grow, harvest, process, and sell the sponges. The markets we have developed include local hotels and restaurants, U.S. private interests in Washington D.C., the Community Conservation Network in Hawaii, The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, and Swatch supporting conservation work located in Tokyo, Japan. The sponges can be purchased in the CSP office or on-line at merchandise@tnc.org.