-: All right, Aloha kākou.
Welcome to our third Thursday presentation.
And we're grateful to have you here today.
There's a wonderful talk for you
with Brian Hauk our Resource Protection Specialist.
But before we get going,
we'd like to open up our presentation
in the traditional way with a mele no Papahānaumokuākea,
which is a name song or chant
that was written for Papahānaumokuākea.
And Justin will be our chanter for today.
-: Aloha kākou.
So this mele was written by Kainani Kahaunaele
and Halealoha Ayau in 2007 when the name was gifted
to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
And I will try to do it justice.
(Chanting in Hawaiian)
(Justin claps twice)
Mahalo.
-: Mahalo, Justin.
So that is the traditional way we open
in Hawaiʻi with a protocol or a chant,
something that asks for openness
and to open our minds to wisdom and knowledge
or for permission to enter a place,
basically to show respect for the place, the surroundings,
for our own internal knowledge
and to ask for openness to that.
So welcome.
Today, myself, Andy Collins and Justin Umholtz
are your hosts for today.
I am the Education Coordinator
for Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
And Justin is one of our education specialists
at Mokupāpapa Discovery Center over here
in beautiful Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
So this lecture is part of the Office
of National Marine Sanctuaries Webinar Program.
And the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
runs several sites.
These are our underwater parks for the United States.
We have many sites across the country.
Hopefully, some of you are located
near some of our beautiful places,
such as Stellwagen Bank on the East coast,
Gray's Reef,
Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico,
which was recently expanded,
which was an awesome achievement
in an area that has a lot of commercial activity.
Also Channel Islands, Monterey Bay
on the West coast of the United States,
Olympic Coast far up there in Washington.
And out here in Hawaiʻi where we are,
we have two national marine,
well one national marine sanctuary,
one marine national monument.
We have the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale
National Marine Sanctuary,
and the site that Justin and I work for and Brian,
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
And down South, not to be forgotten,
we also have another sanctuary in American Samoa
and also a marine national monument
associated with that site.
Papahānaumokuākea is the largest,
fully-protected area on the planet.
We're 582,000 square miles of marine
and only six square miles of land within that,
but the rest of it is open ocean
of deep water resources, amazing coral reefs,
and banks that support very diverse and incredible wildlife.
And we protect that area
through a very stringent permitting system
in partnership with the U.S Coast Guard
for any type of illegal fishing activities
and things like that.
So it's very fortunate
that we have this vast area of the Pacific
protected for wildlife and habitats
and for the coral reefs and other other ecosystems
found in that area.
So both Justin and I work over here in Hilo
at our Mokupāpapa Discovery Center.
It's a beautiful 30,000 square foot facility
that unfortunately because of COVID right now is closed,
but we hope to reopen in the near future
once the pandemic has settled down some more.
We have a wonderful 3,500-gallon saltwater aquarium
and many exhibits and displays in Hawaiian and English.
And we also have about 7,000 school children
that we bring through field trips
and programs in our facility.
And I'm sorry, but I was operating at my home
and my internet died.
The fortunes of living in a rural area
and I had to scramble and run down to a neighbor's place.
So I'm out on their porch and a little out of sorts.
I forgot to mention that if you have any questions
or technical difficulties with your audio
or anything like that,
please put them in the question box or the chat box,
and we'll do what we can to help you
if you're having challenges
hearing the broadcast or seeing the PowerPoint.
But our Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
protect amazing biodiverse sites across the country.
You know, these are areas of extreme richness
in terms of the number of species
and the diversity of bottom habitats
and corals, deep sea corals, and other things.
We also protect many maritime heritage sites
and a number of them in your Great Lakes
in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Also the ironclad vessels on the East coast,
the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
which was the first national marine sanctuary.
And in Papahānaumokuākea,
we also have many 19th century whaling wrecks
and other amazing maritime heritage sites
that are protected and in near pristine condition.
We also have many cultural heritage sites
across the program.
This is a picture from Mokumanamana,
the second island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Island chain.
And this is a heiau site that was used
for hundreds and hundreds and maybe thousand years
by native Hawaiians to study this movement of the sun
or also for navigational purposes, celestial navigation.
These islands also provide amazing shelter
for threatened and endangered species
like this green sea turtle and Hawaiian monk seal
that are not practicing social distancing.
They're hanging out on a tiny little islet
at French Frigate Shoals.
Nearly all the green sea turtles in Hawaiʻi
return to Papahānaumokuākea to nest and breed.
We also run education programs such as this one
where we try to instill an understanding
for why these places are important
and what people can do to protect them.
And we do outreach events with a lot of our volunteers
in various career fairs and other things.
Without our volunteers, we wouldn't be able
to do a lot of the things that we do.
We also conduct research on this place
to understand the flora and fauna
and habitats of these places
and monitoring to understand
how they're changing over time
in response to threats like climate change
or run-off from land and things like that.
And Brian's gonna be talking about
this particular topic today,
but across the program we have a lots of efforts
in resource protections such as
this amazing coral reef restoration program
we have in Florida where they outplant corals
that were grown in a laboratory or a field environment
and then put out to recover damaged habitats
such as from boat groundings and things like that.
But all of these places are very special marine environments
where we can go, particularly in this time of challenge,
you have changes, major changes
and mental stress where we can go
and try to recover from these
and learn how to reconnect with nature.
And if you're interested,
please volunteer with one of our sites.
Our volunteers are the backbone of our program.
We have several hundred volunteers across the program
that help with things such as marine debris beach cleanups
and other restoration efforts,
and also work in our discovery centers
to interface with the public.
So today, we're very fortunate to have
our awesome Resource Protection Specialist,
Brian Hauk here with his most amazing title:
"Aliens in Papahānaumokuākea:
"Some are green, but none are friendly."
You'll find that Brian has a tremendous sense of humor.
He holds an MS degree from the University of Hawaiʻi
in animal science,
specializing in reproductive physiology
and life history of fishes.
He has over 20 years of experience
as a professional and technical scuba diver
and boat operator.
He leads the logistical operations for the monument
and oversees marine alien species research,
marine debris projects, and incident response
for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
Brian has participated in numerous
remote ecological expeditions
serving as a scientific fish or benthic survey diver
and as a topside supervisor
for technical and rebreather operations.
Additionally, Brian has also been active
in training undergraduate scientific divers
in underwater ecological survey techniques
and in an effort to help prepare the next generation
of marine research scientists.
With great fanfare, I would like to turn the presenter
over to Brian and have him
give his talk.
So you should have control, Brian.
-: All right.
Hi, everybody.
Let me just get things set up here.
-: You're looking good. -: Thank you,
Andy and Justin, for that.
Everything will look all right on your end?
Andy: It looks good.
-: Okay.
Let's get started here so good afternoon.
As everybody said,
as Andy introduced,
my name is Brian Hauk and I'll be giving an update
on the status of alien marine species
in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
as of 2020.
I'd like to thank all my research partners,
which are listed on this first slide here,
and many others that have come
before me that have been involved
with this data to get it to where it is today.
So with that, let's get going.
Okay, Andy gave you a bit of a introduction on this,
but the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
is a protected area encompassing
over 1.5 million square kilometers
of areas surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
It's composed of high basalt islands,
some of the only atolls in U.S. waters,
coral-rubble islands, banks, sea mounts,
and deep sea areas down to 16,000 feet.
It's one of the largest, fully protected
marine areas in the world
and spans 1200 nautical miles
across the world's biggest ocean.
So for those of you on the mainland,
you can see that's kind of the equivalent distance
from Dallas up to Las Vegas on here.
So one of management's goals is to prevent
new alien species from being introduced
into this pristine and extremely isolated environment.
So I'm gonna talk to you a little bit today
about how we do that.
First of all, some background
and definitions and terminology.
I've been talking about alien species
'cause it's easier and funner to say the word alien,
but an alien species is also known
as a non-indigenous species.
And it can be defined as an organism
that is not native to a particular environment
and has been accidentally or purposely
introduced into a new ecosystem.
These introductions can sometimes result
in negative ecological, economic
or human health impacts.
So organisms are considered native
when they are found in an ecosystem
due to a natural process.
And furthermore, endemic species only exist
in one specific geographical region.
So just as an example,
for a couple species that live up in the monument,
the Hawaiian monk seal, which is seen here,
is endemic to the Hawaiian archipelago.
And the fish you see following it there,
that jack is a giant trevally or white ulua,
and it is native or indigenous
to the Hawaiian archipelago or that region.
Alien species can be introduced unintentionally
by vessels, marine debris, aquaculture,
or intentionally, as in the case of some species
of groupers and snappers and algae that are now found
throughout the Hawaiian archipelago.
A species becomes invasive when it demonstrates
rapid growth and spread,
invades habitats and displaces native organisms.
Though not all introduced species will become invasive,
those that do could potentially cause environmental impacts
to the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
And because it's difficult, if not impossible,
to determine whether an alien species
will become invasive in a given environment,
all efforts must be made to prevent
any alien species from entering monument ecosystems.
Additionally, one last definition to give you,
for the purpose of this talk,
we've also included the term cryptogenic
when it's unknown or unclear
whether a species is native or alien or introduced.
So the pictures on this slide
show two species of red algae that are acting invasively
and smothering the reefs in the Hawaiian archipelago.
So it gives you an idea of what I mean by invasive.
You can see how it's kind of covering everything there.
The majority of alien species that are transported
throughout the world are usually moved by ballast water
or from biofouling associated with ship activity.
Fortunately, the Northwestern Hawaiian islands'
extreme geographical isolation and protective status
reduces many of these anthropogenic sources,
which are typically responsible
for alien species introductions.
Now management focuses mainly on these human activities
as they are the main biosecurity vectors
thought to spread pathogens and alien species
into the monument's protected waters.
And you can see in this graphic of marine vessel traffic,
the gaps created by the monuments borders here,
which I've circled.
So this benefit keeps most of transiting vessels out.
and it allows management to concentrate
on vessels that are seeking permitted entry
when we're trying to battle new alien species introductions.
Let's see.
The current monument management plan was released in 2008.
And we're currently in the process
of revisiting an update to this plan.
The 2020 State of the Monument Report
is paving the way for this update
by summarizing the current status,
pressures and trends of resources
within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
The State of the Monument document
covers an 11-year time series
and consists of 232 pages of updates
provided by scientists and subject matter experts
on various topics.
So what I'm gonna be covering today is a subset
of the information that can be found
on marine alien species within this report.
Three strategies have been identified
for achieving the desired outcomes
of preventing alien species introductions
and monitoring and controlling existing species
that are found within the monument.
First is to prevent and monitor and control
alien species introductions through inspection programs
and adherence to best management practices.
Second, it's to engage monument users
and the public to promote the prevention
of the introduction and spread of alien species.
And lastly, to participate in regional efforts
by engaging in statewide international initiatives
on alien species.
Okay, it looks like we're ready for our first poll question.
So we'll see if you guys have been paying attention.
Andy: All right.
I will launch the poll.
And if you are unable to see it,
you have to exit out of full screen mode sometimes
to be able to to see the poll,
but it looks like, we're going.
We have 4%.
All right.
So what is a cryptogenic species?
All right.
As soon as we get up to 80%,
I will close the poll.
And we're at 70%.
People are settling on one of these answers.
I'll give it a couple more seconds.
All right.
We'll close, oh, a couple more stragglers coming in.
Okay.
So you should be able to see the answers, Brian.
Looks like 81% went for the third response.
So I'll turn it back over to you.
-: All right, great.
So it looks like everybody got that right.
You were listening.
Cryptogenic species is one with unknown
whether it is alien species or native species.
So a lot of these organisms are small invertebrates
that could have gotten somewhere naturally.
And if it got there under a natural process,
then it would be considered native.
But it's hard to differentiate sometimes
if that came in from anthropogenic causes
on shipwrecks biofouling and that kind of stuff.
So if that's the case,
that's where the term cryptogenic comes into play.
All right, good job.
Let's move on here.
All right, as mentioned earlier,
humans and vessels are restricted
from entering the monument without authorization.
And because of this,
this has allowed managers to develop
a vessel risk assessment program
which utilizes operational history questionnaires,
hull inspections using divers
or remotely-operated vehicles, ROVs,
combined with specialized best management practices or BMPs
that minimize the risk from permanent activities
spreading or introducing alien species.
This slide just shows a couple of those surveys
taking place where we go under water
with either divers, a team of divers or ROVs
to inspect these vessels
before they can enter into the monument.
Because whether you're looking at
terrestrial or marine ecosystems,
the obvious key to alien species management
is through prevention.
That's especially important in the marine environment
as it's typically even more difficult
to eradicate marine organisms
once they've been introduced and established
to the point where you can detect them.
So prevention is key.
Once these things are in,
the cat's out of the bag
and it's hard to deal with them.
Okay, let's see.
So all vessels and ancillary equipment
are required to be free of alien species.
That also includes rodents,
even though I'm talking about marine alien species.
I guess some rats can swim a long way.
In order to comply with the permit requirements of entering,
they have to be free of all alien species.
So that's part of what our inspection program insures.
It's important for managers to have a baseline
regarding the known alien species abundance and distribution
before policymakers can properly
develop management strategies.
This is much easier said than done.
As you've seen, this as a huge area
to try and detect and quantify
the presence of non-indigenous species.
The Biological Biogeographic Assessment
of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands,
which was published in 2009
included an attempt to try and quantify
marine alien species data.
And in this report, it listed 343 alien species
that were found within the main Hawaiian islands.
And it listed only 13 species that were considered
established in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
These 13 species consisted of one macroalgae,
nine marine invertebrates,
and three fish species.
Let's see, okay.
This next slide is the same data from that 2009 report.
It's showing the number of species by island
broken down into broad phylogenetic categories.
And you can see up at the top there
that Midway Atoll tops the list
with the most introduced invertebrates.
Because of this, one of my research partners,
Scott Godwin, has been conducting alien species surveys
around Midway for over a decade.
And his data combined with other surveys we've had
and increased service efforts from research cruises
has all contributed into the new records
that we now have throughout the archipelago.
So as of 2020,
we now know that there are
more than 400 marine alien species
recorded in the Hawaiian archipelago.
And of those, roughly 10% are considered established
in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands
with the majority being found at Midway Atoll.
Our research has found that there are currently
61 documented non-indigenous or cryptogenic species
in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands
compared to the roughly 400 in the main Hawaiian islands.
And these consist of 58 invertebrates,
two algae, and three fish.
Now these record increases are most likely
not from recent introductions over the last decade,
but it's just a result of more focused surveys
combined with increased survey effort.
Basically, the more you look,
the more you find.
And additionally, many of these organisms
are cryptic by nature.
So it's very difficult to document
and find these utilizing standard survey methods
which makes their detection a little more challenging.
Okay, wow, that was quick.
Now we're already into question number two.
So I'll turn it back over here to Andy.
Andy: Okay. Thanks Brian.
So I'm going to launch this poll.
So the question is: What atoll and/or island
has the highest number of alien species
recorded within Papahānaumokuākea?
We'll see how well your listeners,
what their attention,
how good their attention was.
Oh, everybody's,
they're focusing on the right answer.
(chuckles)
They're listening, Brian.
All right, 60% have voted.
And we'll give it a couple more seconds.
So as a corollary to this,
you might want to think about why,
why that is,
why this island has the most.
I'm sure Brian will discuss that in a little bit here.
Okay, I'm gonna close the poll
and share the results.
So we have 88% said that Midway, Pihemanu,
has the highest number of species.
I'll turn it back over to you, Brian.
-: Good job, okay.
All right.
Okay, good job on question number two.
Sorry, I had to get things set back up there.
Now I'd like to give you a little bit of insight
into why Midway tops the list.
So paradoxically, while a military invasion
was successfully fended off by U.S. forces in 1942,
the same military infrastructure that made that possible
may have also fostered a moderately
successful biological invasion.
So as mentioned previously,
many of the alien marine invertebrate species
that become established are generally biofouling organisms
that easily adapt to human-introduced substrates
like wood, metal or concrete
that are placed into the marine environment.
So these anthropogenic substrates
provide a habitat in which these organisms
can have a competitive edge over native species
within the same environment.
The Midway Atoll is a prime example of this type of dynamic
in both shoreline and submerged reef habitats.
If you look at the pictures here,
you can see how the majority of the entire coastline
there of Midway has been altered.
These stabilization efforts of shorelines
through sea walls and docks
provide a foothold for new introductions
and to harbor environments that could then spread
to nearshore and offshore habitats.
Okay, so in May of 2017,
I was fortunate enough to be able to participate
in a multidisciplinary project
with the Fish and Wildlife Service
and the National Park Service
to complete 10 days of exploratory remote sensing surveys
using a magnetometer,
combined with the diver ground truthing
to search for missing aircraft lost
in the Battle of Midway in 1942.
If you're wondering what a magnetometer is
you can see that top picture there.
It's an instrument utilized to detect anomalies
in the Earth's magnetic field.
So basically, it's like a sophisticated metal detector
that we use to tow around behind a boat
to look for objects that contain iron.
Okay.
These surveys took place at Midway Atoll
in specific areas of reported and probable aircraft loss
during the Battle of Midway.
And this was done as part of the 75th anniversary
of that attack,
which occurred in 2017 was the anniversary.
Uh-oh, there we go.
Sorry about that.
So exploration for sunken aircraft sites
served as an excellent opportunity
to survey for alien species
on these anthropogenic structures
that were found beneath the survey of Midway Atoll
making this multidisciplinary project very attractive
to funding sources and all the partners.
During this project, we surveyed approximately
207 linear nautical miles,
which you can see on this map.
The blue lines show where we surveyed.
And we utilized small boats towing that magnetometer,
and we literally mowed the aquatic lawn.
So you can see the series of blue lines
where the small boat would just go back,
up and forth, up and forth, and down across.
And then areas surrounding these spots
that were thought to be the sites for lost aircraft.
The surveys detected 137 anomalies.
And divers, including myself,
were able to ground truth 102 of them.
We also surveyed five previously known
ship and aircraft wrecks, which explains why
you see 107 alien invasive species surveys
compared to the 102 anomalies there.
That's the difference of the five discrepancies.
Of these 107 alien species sites which we surveyed
36 were found to have at least one target alien species
that we were surveying for.
Our surveys focused on the four species
shown at the bottom of the slide
as they had shown a tendency to be able to move
from harbors out into reef ecosystems.
The top culprits that we found were
the third and fourth picture there,
Amathia and Sabellastarte,
which Amathia is a colonial bryozoan.
That's that picture shown in number three.
And then a type of polychaete worm known
as a feather duster's the common name
was the fourth one that you can see there
that we found mostly.
Historically, lagoon and reef habitats
at former military bases have been altered
by the intentional dumping of human-made debris,
but also by the unintentional loss of equipment
during training or active hostilities
like the Battle of Midway.
These objects of maritime history
can act as an establishment and stepping stone points
for marine alien species within habitats
that would otherwise be difficult
for these biofouling species to invade.
Many of these lagoon habitat areas are all sand.
And then you have all these metal objects
that are kind of sprinkled from the harbor out
throughout the lagoon that we think can act
as a stepping stone to spread this stuff.
Furthermore, the documented ages of aircraft and shipwrecks,
which some are now are colonized by invasive species,
provide us a basic baseline point of initiation
for these colonizing species by giving us
some key dating insights into the mechanisms
of ecosystem change caused by these species invasions.
This map here shows the same thing
as the other one where we were mowing the lawn.
There it goes.
And it shows the 102 anomalies that were investigated.
The yellow dots here,
I'll see if I can show them on the screen,
so this is the harbor,
this kind of square area here.
And our surveys focus out in these lagoon areas
and on these offshore areas.
So you can see the majority of the targets
that contained alien species,
which are shown with these yellow dots
were found in a lagoon area, adjacent to the harbor
and within historical anchorage locations
for the large Navy ships.
You notice the absence of alien species
on these outer reefs,
so these sections out here and out in here,
we didn't find any alien species present.
So as we go back to Midway,
we're gonna continue to monitor
some of these historical sites
and see if we can investigate
this steppingstone hypothesis a little further.
All right, so as you can see
from the photos I've been showing here,
Midway is filled with interesting history
both below and above the water.
And we're very fortunate that we had
some very good photographers from the National Park Service
come with us on this project as partners.
So we got a lot of great imagery out of it because of that.
There's one of the other shipwreck,
not shipwreck, aircraft crashes
where it landed upside down.
See the landing gear coming up there.
All right, let's see.
This is gonna bring us into our third question.
My slides are moving very slowly here
with the internet delay.
There it goes.
It looked like it popped up and I'll turn it over
to Andy for the third question.
Andy: All right.
Thank you, Brian.
So our third question today is
what is a magnetometer?
We'll launch the poll.
Your answers are an automated DNA barcoding device,
a machine that detects the presence of alien species,
device that measures magnetic fields or anomalies,
or a scientific instrument used
to determine benthic habitat type.
People were being very quick on this one.
We've get some experts.
We've got some ringers in the audience today.
We'll leave it open for another few seconds.
Okay, I'm going to close the poll
and share the results.
So yeah, it looks like they got the right answer.
The device that measures magnetic fields or anomalies, 96%.
I'm gonna turn back over to you, Brian.
-: All right, great.
Yeah, I never know how difficult to make these questions
and who the audience is.
So good job everybody.
I'm glad you got all those, correct.
Okay, moving on here with the presentation.
The following four slides
that I'm gonna show are a little busy.
There's kind of a lot going on here,
but this is our current checklist
of marine non-indigenous species
or cryptogenic species that are thought to be
throughout Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
As you can see here,
the species names that are in red
indicate that they are cryptogenic
or it's unknown what their status
with regarding to being alien or native.
Species here are grouped together
alphabetically by phylum.
And then X indicates if they are known or found
at the particular island or atoll
which is listed up across the top
with these three letter abbreviations
starting from Nihoa at the beginning
and going all the way up past Midway to Kure Atoll.
So that kind of explains what you're looking at
in this table.
This first one shows the known annelids or arthropods.
This next table or next slide,
make sure it's,
it's changed on my screen here,
this shows the known species of bryozoans or chordates.
And you can notice that most of these species
are found only at Midway Atoll.
So remember how you got that right
in your previous poll question.
You can see all these x's at Midway Atoll
where most of these species are found.
Okay, on the next slide,
which will pop up here in a minute,
it will show additional chordates
which is where the fish fall into,
the vertebrates,
Cnidarians and sponges.
And you'll notice that some of these fish
are found throughout the monument.
Also some of the Cnidarians,
this hydroid here,
is found pretty much everywhere.
Lutjanus kasmira, which is the bluestripe snapper
at the top here.
It's probably found throughout the entire monument.
Our surveys, our fish surveys,
it has not shown up at Gardner Pinnacles,
but being that it's everywhere else,
I'm pretty sure those fish are there.
They just haven't turned up
on any statistical surveys and analysis.
Let's see, moving to the last slide.
Let's see, it's gonna show the remaining sponges
and red algae.
What I wanna bring your attention to
is this last cryptogenic species that
I've got circled on the bottom there,
Chondria tumulosa, which I'm gonna talk to you
in the later portion of this talk.
You can see from this table that the totals add up
to about 61 marine non-indigenous or cryptogenic
invertebrates, fish, and algal species
that have been recorded in the monument.
And most likely these populations
of non-indigenous marine species that have colonized
have come from the main Hawaiian islands,
'cause that represents the most likely source
of invasive species to the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
As a majority of non-indigenous species
found in the monument have mainly been detected
in areas of higher human activity
around Midway Atoll and other islands
with historical human presence
with ships coming from Honolulu Harbor and such.
Okay, so now that we know there are roughly
61 alien species in the monument
compared to a little over 400 in the main Hawaiian islands,
our goal is to keep out any new introductions.
So in addition to the vessel risk assessments
and hull inspections that I mentioned previously,
permittees are given relative BMPs
and are expected to follow procedures
correlating to their activities.
So this is a subset from BMP number 11
which guards against the spread
and introduction of alien species or disease.
When I say disinfection on here,
disinfection essentially consists of a 10-minute soak
in a 3% free chlorine solution
which was thought to be sufficient
in destroying any pathogens or alien organisms
that were exposed to it.
But as you'll see, this protocol was put to the test in 2019
upon the discovery of Chondria tumulosa.
So a major outbreak of an unidentified red algal species,
which is now known to be Chondria tumulosa,
was discovered during a research cruise to Manawai,
which is otherwise known as Pearl and Hermes Atoll
in August of 2019.
I was out on this cruise and this algae was something else,
you can see from the pictures here.
And it had been identified or observed as far back as 2014
when it was seen growing on the northern back reef
in cryptic assemblages with other algal species,
but it was kind of misidentified,
and it wasn't overtaking everything
and drawing the attention that it did in 2019.
Okay, so the following slides that I'm gonna go through here
are a result of lots of research.
It's a large team effort.
So I just wanted to give credit to those
that have participated in all of this.
I'd especially like to thank, but Dr. Heather Spalding
for her assistance with the discovery of the species.
Dr. Alison Sherwood and Dr. Celia Smith and their colleagues
for the work in identifying the species.
This has now been published
that this is a new species to science.
It was published in July of 2020.
And you can see a copy of the article there.
And I think the link will be pasted in the chat
if anybody is interested in looking into this further.
So on 2019 expeditions,
researchers found large thick mats of this alga,
which is often thousands of meters in extent.
It had virtually overgrown and killed
all sessile benthic organisms, including corals.
You can see some tiny corals kind of peeking out here,
but for the most part,
this is covering everything.
The heaviest infestations were found
on four reef spur and groove habitats
between five and 15 meters depths.
So this is an example of one of those spur and grooves.
You can see the sand channel here is the groove.
And the spur is this large kind of coral mound.
This is completely overgrown with Chondria tumulosa.
You can see the diver down there for reference
of how thick this stuff is.
So it was not detected in lagoon patch reef areas
nor at depths below 30 feet.
So on this cruise, we were surveying
down to a 100 meters or 330 feet.
And this algae was found down to about 80 feet.
So it's a lot deeper than than most red alga
like this grow.
So we were looking all the way from a 100 meters
up to shallow snorkeling depths.
This map here shows our survey efforts.
And you can see the colored dots around the side here
where Chondria was found pretty much
all the way around the atoll.
And the areas in the lagoon
where we did survey here and here,
there was nothing found.
Okay, that's gonna bring us into our next question.
So I'm gonna turn it over to Andy once again
for question four.
Andy: Okay. Thanks, Brian.
I'm gonna launch this poll.
So the question is what ecological category
is Chondria tumulosa currently placed in?
It's very a tricky, tricky name there.
Try saying Chondria tumulosa very fast several times.
(chuckles)
-: I know this talk has lots of large words
like that that I mess up.
(Andy laughs)
Andy: Cryptogenic's my favorite.
Okay, we have 64%.
Gonna close the poll here in about a few seconds.
Okay.
I'll close the poll
and share the results.
So kind of evenly split between an invasive alien species
and a cryptogenic species.
-: Very good.
That was kind of a trick question.
It is not known whether this species
is a native or if it's alien.
So the correct answer to that one
would have been cryptogenic.
We think it's probably an alien species,
and we just never have seen it before
or Western science hasn't.
But for the purposes of that poll,
the correct answer was cryptogenic.
So yes, nice job.
Chondria tumulosa's currently considered cryptogenic
as it is a new species to science,
and it's not known if it was recently introduced.
Or, if something has just caused it to go wild,
and it's been part of the ecosystem
and present at very low or undetectable levels forever.
So there is a slight chance that this is some native
or endemic species that's been there
at very, very low levels and there was
some kind of nutrient bloom that caused it to go wild.
I don't really think that's the case,
but until we know otherwise,
it has to be placed in the cryptogenic category.
So this is one reason why we're planning
a research cruise this summer
to go up to Pearl and Hermes to gather more data on this,
because virtually all basic information is lacking
on its current abundance and distribution,
mode of spread,
and if it has any natural predators up there.
Okay, so regardless less of its origin,
this cryptogenic species is acting quote, "invasively,"
and it's wreaking havoc on the reefs
where it was established
as you can see from the pictures there.
The development of control methods
is a very high priority for managers,
as well as biosecurity protocols
to ensure that divers, boats, and ancillary equipment
do not inadvertently serve as vectors
for spreading this algae between islands.
So even when these mats are removed,
small fragments remain that could regrow
in a very short time span.
It's thought that these algal can reproduce
both asexually by fragmentation
and sexually through the release of gametes or spores.
And these characteristics make the species
particularly challenging to deal with
to prevent further spread,
'cause you get little fragments
and they can go everywhere.
So as I mentioned,
these fragments are produce readily,
and they're two to four centimeters long typically.
They're cylindrical to flattened kind of shape,
and they're spinous.
So these branches can easily snag on various dive equipment.
They can snag body hair, beards, whatever.
So given the potential for this nuisance alga
to unintentionally spread via divers in their gear,
we initiated a series of bleaching experiments
using commercial grade bleach
which contain 8.25% sodium hypochlorite
to determine what percentage of bleach
and duration of soaking was needed to cause mortality
to algal fragments of this species.
So we conducted an experiment,
and we had bleach treatments with eight fragment replicates,
each with 1.5, three, six and 12% bleach
and seawater and freshwater controls.
Algal fragment mortality was ascertained
at the loss of all pigmentation
resulting in a white algal fragment.
So you can see in the picture there,
they're the ones on the right hand side of this picture
that are totally bleached out.
Once they were white like that,
we assumed they were dead.
While all percentages of bleach ranging
from 1.5 to 12% were effective
at causing fragment mortality within one hour,
the 6% solution caused mortality within 10 minutes.
So the 3% bleach solution utilized by our previous BMPs
caused mortality of algal fragments within 20 minutes.
But as you recall from that previous slide,
20 minutes is twice the time that was originally required.
So we kind of found that the best mix
was double the concentration
to get to that same 10 minutes soak time.
Clumps of algal fragments were even more resilient
to bleach than single fragments,
especially when they're placed inside dive gear,
inside BCD pockets, mesh bags, things like that.
They made them a bit more resilient to the bleach treatment.
So based on these experiments,
we made the following recommendation
to managers regarding work around Pearl and Hermes Atoll.
Additionally, a working group consisting
of co-trustee agency reps, university professors,
subject matter experts has been formed
to better guide the monument management board
in implementing best management practices
designed specifically for Pearl and Hermes Atoll
in preventing the spread of this newly discovered alga.
More information can be found
on that link below on the slide there.
Or you can just Google Chondria tumulosa
and have things come up.
A site on our sanctuary webpage
has some great pictures and information on that.
Okay that brings us into our last quiz question.
So I'll turn it over to Andy
for the last question of the day.
Andy: All right. Great.
Thank you, Brian.
So the last question is what was utilized
in the trial studies to kill Chondria tumulosa?
And the poll has been launched.
(chuckles)
I know who's answering one question on here.
(chuckles)
Wow, people were listening.
They nailed that one very quickly.
I'm gonna close out the poll here in a second.
-: I'm pretty sure gasoline would work,
but yeah, that's not what we utilize.
And there's no alcohol besides ethanol
for preservation allowed on the cruise,
so beer's gonna be out. (Andy laughs)
Andy: Yeah, we know who requested the beer.
So okay, 90% got it right and answered bleach.
Some of our research folks answered beer.
I know, it's true.
(both chuckling)
-: All right. Thanks, Andy.
Okay.
So that last question kind of brought us
into a closing here.
As a take-home message,
you now know that there are roughly 61 alien species
that have been found in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands
most of which consists of invertebrates
that are found around the harbors
and seawalls of Midway Atoll.
This is far better than the 400-plus species
that are known from the main Hawaiian islands.
And so myself and resource managers
hope that it stays that way.
We don't want any more in,
'cause once alien species become established in harbors,
they may be able to use these non-natural substrates
as stepping stones to move into the surrounding habitats.
So at this time hull inspections,
vessel risk assessments
and implementations of BMPs
are our best strategy for preventing new introductions
and limiting the spread of known introduced species
into Papahānaumokuākea Marina National Monument.
And with that, I think
I've got a few minutes left here.
I'll take any questions that the audience might have.
I appreciate everybody's time for chiming in today.
And yeah, we'll go from there.
-: All right, we've got a couple of questions
waiting for you, Brian.
The first one I'm gonna share is
are there any organisms at Pearl and Hermes
that consume Chondria tumulosa?
-: So on the limited surveys they did,
I was doing the deep water surveys,
so I wasn't present on the shallow water,
but these areas were absent of like all
major schools of herbivorous fish.
Typically, areas like Pearl and Hermes
and throughout the monument have huge schools
of thousands of fish swimming around.
And a lot of areas where this algae
was overgrowing like that,
the fish seem to be absent.
There were a couple species that seemed
like they were kind of hanging around,
but they were picking at other native algal species
that were sticking up through the Chondria.
The only thing that was observed
to kind of look like it was eating the Chondria
was a sea hare.
So it's a type of mollusc,
a big nudibranch that was in there.
But other than that, no,
nothing else was seen or known to be eating this stuff.
-: Great.
There was another question that came in
that you mostly answered,
but is the loss of coral from Chondria
altering the fish presence?
So I just wanted to throw that out there
if you wanted to add anything.
-: I'm sure longterm, it will.
At this point, I think the fish are just going where,
the herbivorous fish are going
where the things they like to eat are,
but yeah, this is gonna have detrimental effects
to the ecosystem.
This coral is getting smothered and dying,
so that's gonna dramatically change what lives there
and what species are gonna kind of hang out over time.
-: All right.
Well, let's take a step back and talk about you.
What led you to this career?
-: Ah, what led me to this career?
My mom got me a fish tank when I was about 10 years old
and I started mowing yards
and getting bigger and bigger fish tanks
till I had like 200 gallon tanks
with three-foot eels and things in it.
And I was living in Tennessee,
which was kind of landlocked,
but I got into scuba diving.
I got scuba diving lessons when I was 16.
That kinda opened the door.
From there, after high school,
I went down to the Bahamas to work as a dive master,
and then moved to the Caribbean after college
and things like that.
Eventually, you get tired and old
and can't lift a lot of scuba tanks anymore.
So I went back to school at the University of Hawaiʻi
and turned my kind of professional diving career
into one that was more science-based
and was able to use that background
as a dive instructor and dive master,
combined with the science to get the job
that I currently have today.
-: All right.
Andy, do I have time for one or two more?
One more? -: Yeah.
Let's do just one more.
-: Okay, a whole slew just came in.
So folks, for the ones we're not gonna have time to get to,
we're gonna share them with Brian,
and we'll email you his responses out.
The last one.
You're using a rebreather in this photo.
I assume you were doing diver visual surveys
for your deep surveys you mentioned earlier,
or did you use an ROV also?
-: No, we're using closed circuit mixed gas rebreathers
just like put this picture is.
This is old.
This wasn't part of the Chondria surveys,
but I was often a fixed survey diver
and I was collecting algal species,
'cause many of these mesaphotic or deep water species
are turning out to be new to science.
We did not use an ROV on this.
It's much easier to have a diver down there
to really pick these things up
and be able to look, inspect, collect, and things like that.
I don't want the ROV taking my job just quite.
We're still able to outperform them as divers.
So yeah, we were using rebreathers on that.
-: Excellent. Thanks.
I'm gonna sign off and let Andy take over.
Thank you so much.
-: Thank you. -: Okay, mahalo, Brian.
Fantastic talk.
Thank you, thank you so much for your time today
and for the work that you do to protect Papahānaumokuākea.
So I have a few closing slides for us today.
So remember, if you wanna to watch this presentation again,
we will have it up on our archive
within about one to two weeks.
So that link is there.
But if you just search for ONMS webinars,
you'd be able to see that and find that this
and all the other great presentations
we host on that site.
And for everybody in attendance,
you will get a certificate for attending this workshop.
And it's good for one hour
of contact professional development.
You'll get that in your email
probably by tomorrow or today.
And also we have a great upcoming webinar next month.
That's again the third Thursday,
April 15th, tax day,
but I heard today that got moved to May,
(chuckles)
fortunately for many of us,
but April 15th at 12:00 pm Hawaiʻi time
we're going to have a presentation
on the Hawaiian monk seals and updates
on their recovery efforts from Thea Johanos-Kam
who's our NOAA Lead Hawaiian monk seal population assessment
for the NOAA Pacific Islands Fishery Science Center.
And you should see a link for that very soon
to be able to register for that talk.
We hope to see you next month.
And don't forget to fill out the survey
that we have at the end.
We really need this information
to know what you want to hear from us,
what kind of webinars you'd like to see,
and also how you're going to be using this information.
It helps us to justify these programs
and to continue to have more.
So again, thank you so much for attending today,
and hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
Mahalo, Brian and Justin.
Aloha.