MAJURO — An uninhabited atoll in the Marshall Islands has a good chance to become the Pacific’s first coral atoll to gain World Heritage recognition, said two American scientists who just completed a two week survey of the area.
“Spectacular” and “striking” are the adjectives used to describe the marine and land resources, respectively, on Ailingnae, an uninhabited atoll that will be nominated next year for World Heritage status.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service coral reef biologist James Maragos and supervisory wildlife biologist Elizabeth Flint said they were extremely impressed with the level and quality of underwater marine life and above ground flora and founa.
Both biologists believe that Ailingnae has a good opportunity to become the first coral atoll World Heritage site. Because it’s uninhabited, Ailingnae has “maintained its natural attributes,” Maragos said.
Historically, Ailingnae served as a food gathering atoll for the neighboring inhabited atoll of Rongelap, both of which are in the northern Marshall Islands. Rongelap Atoll Mayor James Matayoshi is pushing a plan to have Ailingnae designated as a protected area and requested the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct the just-completed survey.
“Ailingnae is extremely healthy,” Flint said. “Its plants are intact, there are few invasive weeds. The seabird population is good.”
But, she added, what distinguishes Ailingnae as a “striking” island is its population of large coconut crabs. The population is so healthy, “they’re walking around the island at mid-day,” she said.
“A good argument for World Heritage designation can be made for Ailingnae,” she said. “These kinds of places are getting increasingly rare.”
Added Maragos: “There’s so much marine life, fish species and corals. In our 10 days at Ailingnae I found a comparable number of species as were found in Enewetak Atoll during all the years of nuclear testing (1946-1958) with a marine laboratory on the atoll.”
There are only three World Heritage sites in the Oceania region: a high coral island in the Solomon Islands, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and a coral reef area in the Philippines.
“Ailingnae has a good chance (at World Heritage recognition),” Maragos said. “There is no single coral atoll that is a World Heritage site.”
The survey team that included more than a dozen scientists from the U.S. and Australia, as well as instructors and students from the College of the Marshall Islands will issue a report shortly to evaluate the atoll against World Heritage nomination criteria and make recommendations for management to insure protection of Ailingnae, according to Maragos.
“World Heritage status won’t confer any protection on Ailingnae,” Flint said. “It’s important that Rongelap (local government) and the Marshall Islands government protect it, through ordinances or laws.”
Both Maragos and Flint echoed Mayor Matayoshi’s fears that foreign fishermen poach marine life from this uninhabited atoll and represent a threat to the long-term health of Ailingnae’s environment.
In the late 1980s, Maragos was involved in a survey of northern islands with a similar goal of establishing sanctuaries. But that earlier effort, which did not result in any action other than the surveys, was missing the clout of local governments, he said.
