Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 9, 1 September 2014 — Assessing erosion at the French Frigate Shoals [ARTICLE]

Assessing erosion at the French Frigate Shoals

In mid-August the Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) team arrived in the French Frigate Shoals (FFS), the largest coral reef in Hawai'i. As the 18-mile-long atoll ages, the few small islands that make it up are slowly sinking into the sea and losing its limited above-water landmass, among them Tern Island and Fa Perouse, whieh from a distance looks like a ship. The FFS is the largest breeding area for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal as well as the nesting area of almost all the remaining endangered Hawaiian green sea turtles. The RAMP team split up into groups with the scientific group conducting research over several parts of the atoll, performing multiple dives, surveys and collecting small samples to be analyzed when they return to the lab at the University of Hawai'i. To see if artifacts had moved in the recent storm activity, members of the maritime heritage team visited two shipwrecks - the Two

Brothers, a 19th-century whale ship that sank on the reef off Shark Island, and a sunken barge. To learn more about RAMP, this survey or Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, visit www.papahanaumokuakea.gov.