THIS year’s APASEEM conference is set for Nov. 15, 16, and 17 at the American Memorial Park auditorium, which seats up to 112 people. E-mail John Furey at jfurey.saipan.com@gmail.com for more information.
Day One:
Wednesday, 15 November 2023:
5:30 p.m.
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1. Johnson, Dr. Lyza, Johnston Applied Marine Sciences
Coral Reef Restoration in the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands: Status and Next Steps
Island communities rely heavily on coral reefs for coastal protection, food, income from fisheries and tourism, and cultural and recreational activities. Unfortunately, the CNMI was among many regions that experienced catastrophic coral die-offs during the third recorded global bleaching event from 2014 – 2017. Survey reports indicate that over 65% of coral cover was lost on shallow reefs of Saipan from 2012 to 2018, with some sites losing over 95% of their corals. In response to this mass mortality event and dire future climate projections, local and federal resource managers began to prioritize reef restoration efforts that will improve ecosystem and community resilience to climate change. Subsequently, the first ocean-based coral nursery was established in the Saipan lagoon in 2019. Since that time, the nursery has expanded, new species and propagation techniques have been incorporated, and we have begun to outplant nursery corals to degraded reef sites. With demonstrated success in pilot efforts, coral outplanting to restore degraded reef habitat will be substantially scaled-up in the coming year and beyond. We will also be incorporating state-of-the art technologies to improve the resilience of restored coral communities. This presentation will provide an overview of these efforts to date as well as the next steps.
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2. Tyler, Grant, and Skeele, Rebecca, Pacific Coastal Research & Planning
The Watershed Wishlist: Implementation of Community-Based
Restoration Projects in Laolao and Achugao Watersheds
In October 2023 Pacific Coastal Research & Planning kicked off a multi-year, collaborative project focused on environmental restoration in two of Saipan’s priority watersheds: Achugao and Laolao. The project aims to implement site-specific habitat enhancements and stormwater improvements that were identified in the respective watershed management plans. Based on community input that is currently being solicited, 1-2 project sites will be selected for conceptual design, engineering plans, permitting, and implementation. This presentation will highlight some of the potential restoration sites and actions, and offer an opportunity for the audience/community to provide their input and vote on which projects they would like to see implemented.
3. Spaeth, Travis PE, CUC
PFAS in the CNMI
PFAS (Per & Polyfluorinated Substances) in the CNMI is a relatively new issue for the public water systems in the CNMI. It was found to be in multiple CUC entry points back in 2015-2016. CDR Travis Spaeth P.E. will discuss the history of PFAS in the CNMI, what is happening from a regulatory perspective both locally and across the US, and what is being done to reduce PFAS in drinking water in the CNMI.
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4. Freeman, Jeremy, Archaeologist, CNMI Office of Planning & Development
Rising to the Challenge: Archaeological Testing at the Oleai Sports Complex
for the 2022 Pacific Mini Games
In June 2022 the CNMI hosted the 11th Pacific Mini Games at the Oleai Sports Complex or OSC in the village of Oleai in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The PMG is an event held every 4 years that includes nations throughout Oceana and includes a variety of sporting events that athletes from the participating nations compete. In March 2022 staff from the Infrastructure & Recovery Program conducted archaeological testing and survey within the OSC and adjacent areas for proposed improvements to the OSC for the anticipated 2022 PMG. The OSC grounds contains a multi-component site. Previous archaeological evidence has suggested the potential for a transitional Pre-latte Phase component along with Latte Phase deposits. The grounds also served as the burial grounds for the 2nd Marine Division from World War II. The archaeological testing was conducted to evaluate evidence for the transitional Pre-Latte Phase component and to better characterize the distribution and integrity of the archaeological deposits. This paper presents the results of the archaeological testing of the OSC grounds and surrounding environs and provides some future avenues for research.
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5. Greene, Robbie, M.Sc., Pacific Coastal Research & Planning
Have a Problem? There’s a Map for That: Leveraging Geospatial Technology and Spatial Data to Address Environmental Management Challenges in the Marianas
What do tsunami evacuations, historic landmark designations, and fishery evaluations all have in common? Their effectiveness depends on maps, underlying spatial data, and the technology to analyze and visualize that information. PCRP completed several seemingly unrelated projects in 2023, each of which hinged on the use of geospatial tools and geographic information systems. This presentation seeks to demonstrate the immense value of geospatial information and tools by highlighting their application in these projects: (1) Tsunami Evacuation Planning for Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, (2) Delineation of Tinian North Field National Historic Landmark, and (3) Visualization of Fishing Effort Distribution in the Marianas EEZs. Publicly accessible resources are provided to the audience to encourage further adoption of geospatial technology among scientists, managers, and educators in the Mariana Islands.
Day Two:
Thursday, 16 November 2023:
5:30 p.m.
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1. Bubb, Ilan, Research Associate, Johnston Applied Marine Sciences
Ongoing research to assess the patterns and trade-offs of thermal tolerance in scleractinian corals to inform active reef restoration
Coral reefs represent one of the most biodiverse habitats on earth and are a globally important ecosystem providing $93 million in revenue (inflation adjusted) annually to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands alone. Unfortunately, climate change is a major threat to coral reefs as exemplified by the 2013-2017 global bleaching events that resulted in a 60% loss of shallow water corals in Saipan. Recent research however has shown that many corals have the potential to adapt to warming waters through environmental and genetic mechanisms with minimal trade-off effects. Yet studies investigating this variation in thermal tolerance are often limited in geographic scope, the number of species studied and report conflicting results. Thus, to contextualize adaptation to warming waters in CNMI specific corals, The National Marine Fisheries Service has funded Johnston Applied Marine Science to study variations in coral thermal tolerance through use of the Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System. Furthermore, reciprocal transplant experiments will be conducted to clarify trade-offs linked to increased thermal tolerance and to disentangle the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to thermal tolerance. Results from this study will be used to guide sexual and asexual coral propagation and facilitate coral reef restoration in the CNMI.
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2. Lansangan, Aisha, Step-Up
Culturing Caulerpa sp. with Various Levels of Dissolved Oxygen
Caulerpa is a tropical alga that is Earth’s largest single-celled organism. It is part of the Caulerpaceae family, which is a family of green algae. Caulerpa thrive in warm, shallow seas around the world. In an experiment done by Serapion, et al., it was shown that Caulerpa had the highest growth rate in the middle layer of water, around 3.75 meters below the surface. There are different species of Caulerpa; this research focuses on Caulerpa sp. found in the near shore waters of Saipan, the capital of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
This study involved observing the difference in the growth rate of the Caulerpa sp when they are given different levels of dissolved oxygen. The Caulerpa sp was cultured using a recirculating method, where water was circulated from a fish tank into different buckets. The buckets contained the same amount of Caulerpa sp. at the beginning of the experiment. Each bucket has an aeration pump that was set to pump in different levels of dissolved oxygen for each bucket. We hypothesize that dissolved oxygen levels in water will affect the growth of the Caulerpa.
This project contributes information about culturing Caulerpa sp. native to Saipan. With this knowledge, local farmers will be able to cultivate and sell Caulerpa sp. Caulerpa sea grapes have many benefits including antioxidants, diarrhea medicines, coughs, lowering blood pressure, and are believed to be “beauty foods” so they can be classified as economically valuable foodstuffs.
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3. Urena, Mary Fem, Mary, Coastal Planner I, BECQ
Shoreline Monitoring: Measuring Changes of CNMI Beaches
In consideration of shoreline erosion concerns, DCRM has taken a monitoring approach to understand the dynamic nature of the CNMI’s changing shorelines and use the data to inform coastal zone management. Since 2017, the Shoreline Monitoring Program has surveyed and documented change at selected beach sites of Saipan, Managaha, Tinian, and Rota. Storm and swell-generated waves drive sand all along the islands’ nearshore area, resulting in coastline areas with erosion (sediment loss) and others with accretion (sediment gain). Shoreline Lead Mary Fem Urena will describe how DCRM conducts the Berger Level rod-level transit technique to conduct beach profile analysis, and explain how to use the published beach profile products available to the public.
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4. Park, Yelin, Step-Up
Comparison Bioinformatics Study: Novel Machine Learning Algorithms for Detecting Zooxanthellae Expulsion for Insight Into Coral Conservation Efforts
Zooxanthellae expulsion (Coral bleaching) is a significant concern for biodiversity and economic prosperity, considering mass bleaching has now occurred in every region worldwide. This study’s objective was to evaluate computational algorithms: CSV Classification, Image Classification, and Object Detection to determine various numerical variables in dynamic equations in marine applications, especially those that depend on complex oceanographic measurements and conservation technological fields.
Regarding CSV, we combined two distinct models: KNN and LGBM, to develop a hybrid model that capacitated anomaly detection. Among various models, the accuracy of CSV Classification was outstandingly high when utilizing the LGBM hybrid model resulting in a substantial increase (30%) in the AUC score compared to the default LGBM model. Through Exploratory Data Analysis, the MobileNet model for Image Classification had an accuracy value of 100%. For Object Detection, while most of the previously proposed methodologies have utilized either YOLO v4 or YOLO v5, this paper takes account of the YOLO v7 algorithm.
This approach enables the visualization and monitoring mechanism for coral reef bleaching by paralleling the real-time segments. By enabling Hyper Parameter Tuning, it modified the batch size to identify the balance between faster convergence and memory usage. Utilizing YOLO-v7 resulted in a 0.72 mean average precision (mAP) score, significantly improving over previous versions. While several published studies appear to lack the appropriate levels of validation and accuracy due to their region-based research; this study focuses on a broade rapproach and comparative analysis to analyze future trends, making provisions for coral conservation.
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5. David Cabera, Talaya Club Director
Sustainable Fishing in the CNMI: Empowering Communities
Through Online Courses
In response to the pressing need for comprehensive education on sustainable fishing practices and fishery management in the CNMI, the Talaya Club introduces the “Online Courses on Sustainable Fishing Practices and Fishery Management in the CNMI” project. This initiative aims to empower communities by offering a carefully curated curriculum, covering essential topics such as traditional fishing methods, marine conservation, and responsible fisheries management. Through engaging online courses, participants will not only gain insights into ancestral practices but will also develop a deep connection with the ocean and a sense of responsibility for its well-being. The courses lay the foundation for fostering a community that actively practices sustainable fishing, ensuring a bountiful sea for generations to come. The project’s objectives include the establishment of a comprehensive curriculum, the provision of accessible and engaging online courses, and the instillation of responsibility and stewardship among participants, setting the framework for future collaboration and phases in the Talaya Club’s mission.
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6. NRM Presenters through Kelsey McClellan (Posters or 5 minute lightning talks)
