CNMI Coral Reef Initiative

Bioresearch Marine Monitoring Program

BioSearch is a program designed to allow anyone to participate in CNMI’s Marine Monitoring Program and improve the management of CNMI’s marine environment.  It is difficult for a few people to collect enough information on animals or events that are rare.  By combining the efforts of many, many volunteer divers it is possible to gain an understanding of the local marine environment that has never been possible with annual surveys at specific sites.  The program seeks to collect information about animals and the environment: 

ANIMAL DATA

Animals such as sea turtles, sharks, and certain large fish have become less common over the years.  BioSearch will help with our understanding of where these animals can still be found and if there are areas that they seem to prefer. This will help us better identify areas to protect to allow for their recovery. Some animals, such as Acanthaster planci (the crown-of-thorns starfish), are known to  go through population explosions that can have serious effects on reef communities.  Information about when and where these outbreaks are occuring improve the chances of effectively managing them.

ENVIRONMENTAL DATA

Occasionally, short-term enviornmental changes occur and have long-lasting effects on local marine life. A coral bleaching event in 2003 effectively eliminated a staghorn coral community in the Saipan Lagoon for the foreseeable future. Other problems, such as mud and silt pollution from on shore runoff might be chronic, and by documenting how often this problem occurs, management efforts can be better targeted address the problems.  Volunteer observations and reports have helped drive a mulitagency effort to revegetate the watershed at Lau Lau Bay shore dive site.

WHAT WE HAVE… SO FAR

Raw data, and alot of it… Oh yeah, and some graphs.

Saipan
Tinian
Rota

Dive

Boat

Cliff

Dive

Boat

Dive

Boat
Grotto None None Fleming None Pearl/Pona Pt. Pearl/Pona Pt.
Lau Lau Sasanhaya Sasanhaya
Obyan Senhanom Senhanom
Others Others

WANT TO HELP?

Volunteers are to contact Dave Benavente at Coastal Resources Management at (670)664-8303 or dave.benavente@crm.gov.mp

Download the most recent BioSearch Divelog.

ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS

Dive Rota, G4 Security, PMRI, CRM       

PAST PARTICIPANTS

We would like to thank those people and organizations that have helped out with BioSearch in the past.

Abracadabra, All American Divers, Brett Donahue, Chad Griebenow,  Blue Sea Sports, Dive Rota, Eric Javier, Glen Palacios, Hiro, Marine Fantasia, MOC, Ron Sikkel, Seashore, Stingray Divers, Susan Marchitti,  Yuji Fujie, Moana Saipan, Divesite with Saipan, Heart of Gold Divers, Saipan Aqua Jet, SDR, CMLC Artha, Approach.